Thoughts on The Phantom of The Opera (and how to treat people)
The show was incredible, I cannot say enough about the amazing singing and orchestra that just blew you away. The sets and all that goes into the design of those sets are incredible. The time and effort people put into designing them to move and work and flow so easily is just a clinic in running an operation. We expect excellence from a Broadway caliber show and last night I saw it delivered. I did not see the back of the house and the chaos that ensues or the countless hours of practice and rehearsal that delivered the show. But I know the audience saw the perfection that was on stage and heard the amazing voices and music as it was meant to be delivered. Once it ends there was huge amount of applause to celebrate what was just put in front of us on the stage. Even afterwards we along with 50+ other people waited in the cold to get autographs from the actors. And they were so kind and loving to their fans even though they do this every nights for months on end. But they treat each fan as an individual and love that so many enjoyed their performance.
Where am I going with all of this? I can't help but compare this to the amazing feet it is to design build and assemble a car or run a company. Hey I work in automotive so it is how I think.
When it comes to building a car I am amazed of the pure logistical nightmare it is. You have up to 1,000 suppliers bringing parts into a plant all of which must arrive exactly on time, designed to work and fit, and have been built to and arrive to spec from all over the world. And on any given day 100s of things can and often do go wrong from supplier shortages, company bankruptcy, embargoes, packaging getting lost and that list goes on and on. Yet somehow the parts get to the plant and the car is assembled. People who go to buy a car don't see all the effort it took to bring that car into the showroom. The same goes into running a company everyone has a role and for a truly great organization they understand the vision. For a play it is to deliver a performance that moves the audience. What is the purpose of your organization? Is everyone working towards the same goal or purpose? Like those actors meeting fans are you proud of what you do and are you happy to share it?
On another note something that came from the show that was not on stage but I found interesting is how we interact with others and realize, we are all people here.
During the first half of the play there was a couple that was talking to each other behind and off to the side of me and the person who was beside me turned around and told them to shut up. The reaction and feeling was immediate of tension the results was this couple stopped talking.
Behind me and my daughters were also two women and their teenagers who would occasionally whisper to each other. I at one point turned around as said would you mind please holding your conversation to the end of the show. The result was also that they stopped talking. But the difference was after the applause I turned around and thanked them and they said thank you back for asking so politely and we then had a wonderful conversation about the play and Broadway and our families.
they were extremely wonderful people and I was so glad that we were able to interact after the show briefly. Will we see any of these people ever again? probably not but I wanted to point out that treating others with respect and kindness is the right way to go if for anything to treat people like people.
Even those who talk during live performances or those that might use a cell phone during a performance (luckily we didn't see any of that, so good job audience for staying off your phones).
In conclusion the play was not only amazing to watch but to also think about the logistics it takes to put on such an amazing performance and also treat people with kindness and understanding is always better.
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