Misidentified

Last night was the super-exciting opening of "The Trojan Women" at City Garage Theatre in Santa Monica. Sold out, as usual; it's so much fun to have a full lobby and audience, with people spilling out into the alley.

Patrick came with me, and when I walked over to the theatre at about 10 minutes to 7, he went to get a cup of coffee instead of waiting around in the lobby. When I was walking down the alleyway, I saw the following tableau:

Under one of the few lights in the alley, a tall, distinguished but youthful man on a black bike wearing a suit jacket and dark pants was speaking with two bike cops. You know what "tall, distinguished but youthful" means, don't you? It means, that I, horribly nearsighted and bleary-eyed, for one second, thought it was Stewart Copeland. I gasped, laughed at myself, kept walking, and went into the theatre, where a few of my friends were excitedly discussing... football. I went into the booth and put my purse down, and when I came back out, the man on the bike was standing in the doorway of the theatre. I knew it wasn't Stewart Copeland, but I guess I wished it was so much that again I gasped a little. He left, and I started cracking up.

My friend Paul questioned why I would think he would be riding around Santa Monica on a bike, and of course Paul, the voice of reason, was right, but it would've been fun had it been him, wouldn't it! Technically the passport I gave him can't be used for opening night, and we were sold out, so the only available seat would have been the extra stool in the booth, which isn't exactly the best seat in the house for watching the show (I can't see the whole left [stage right] side of the stage unless I stand up and lean on the wall of the booth)... but that could've been okay, I think.

Hey, Stewart, don't forget you have that passport, okay? It's good for 4 admissions for any Friday or Saturday shows. Sundays are "pay-what-you-can." You can use it once for four people, or four times for you, or twice for you and a guest...