Joseph's 'agitation' was naturally blocked back, and there were still three quarters of an hour before the start of the broadcast of "Heavy Dà Problem", and the previous performance was still underway, and the ticket inspector at the 'door' naturally couldn't let Joseph in, so he could only let him touch his nose. After sitting outside and waiting for a while, the previous performance was over, and the cleaning staff signaled that the venue was all cleaned up, and then Joseph and Hugo couldn't wait to walk in.

The two men walked up the stairs to the second floor and found their place in the VIP box, where the entire theater was empty, with no one but the staff who were pulling up the stage curtain, and the huge chandelier in the center of the theater pushed the 'creamy' yellow light to the entire theater space, and the small light bulbs around it cast a lazy halo to dispel the darkness in the corners.

Hugo sat in his seat, carefully surveying every corner of the theater, and it was hard to imagine that it had been a noisy and prosperous place fifteen minutes ago, and the heat that had remained in the air after the end of the show gradually settled down and fell into an ethereal silence. As the time of the performance approached, people began to walk in one after another, and since Hugo and the two of them had purchased VIP seats on the second floor, they could condescendingly watch the noise below.

I don't know if it's because the "heavy dà problem" is not a world-famous repertoire, so there are not many tourists who come to watch the scene, but more local audiences dressed up. Although Broadway has gradually declined in the face of various forms of entertainment such as cinemas and the Internet in the 21st century, the 90s is still the golden age of Broadway, and the upper class aristocrats of New York are proud to enjoy a 'fine' theatrical performance, and are very happy to go to Broadway Avenue to cheer, and even opera and drama are called the most solemn invitation representatives when dating. So, even if there are no tourists, it's not surprising to see local audiences come to see the play.

It's just that the attendance rate at the scene is really disappointing, this theater is not large, at most about 300 people, but at this time it is not even half full, and there are only five minutes left before the official start of the play. No wonder Hugo and Joseph were able to buy 'door' tickets just now.

"Why are there so few people?" Joseph asked with a frown, his voice lowered, apparently unable to comprehend the withering scene in front of him.

If Hugo had been asked this question before the Golden Globes, he would have been puzzled, but now Hugo has understood one thing, there is no immortal popularity, even if he is an artist who goes down in history, it is just a name in the history books, and there is no attraction for the younger generation. That's clearly the case with Katharine Hepburn.

In 1982, the seventy-five-year-old Catherine won the Oscar for the fourth time with her performance in "Golden 'Color' Pond", after that, although Catherine still has film works, but has gradually faded out of the big screen, after 1985 only appeared in two TV movies, on the one hand, because of the growth of age made her face very strict health problems, on the other hand, because she put her only "essence" on the stage play.

The stage play, where Catherine started, will now also be the place where her career as an actress will end.

"Because no one knew Catherine would be on this show." Hugo said with a little regret and disappointment that he had just learned from a casual conversation with the theater ticket inspector that Catherine would only appear on stage a few times a month or two to perform the play "Heavy Dà Problem" because of health problems, and that every Broadway play had at least three sets of cast members performing normally, so it was difficult to know when she would show up.

"But, she's Katharine Hepburn! Why no journalist knows! Joseph was still indignant, and it could be seen that his affection for Catherine was a genuine admiration from the heart. Although Joseph did not say it, Hugo speculated that perhaps Joseph became an agent because of Catherine's influence.

"Because this is the entertainment industry, the entertainment industry that likes the new and hates the old." Hugo let out a long sigh, when an artist lacks enough exposure, it is easy to disappear from people's sight, or even be forgotten by people, even a generation of superstars like Catherine, let alone those 'flower' vases that do nothing. "Actually, even if they knew that Catherine would appear, there would not be too many people who would be willing to come. This is a 'heavy dà problem', not a 'cat'. ”

When Joseph heard Hugo's last words, he fell silent, and his first reaction was to watch the "cat", not the "heavy question", and presumably the other viewers did the same. Moreover, Catherine has spent the best fifty years of her career as an actress, and the sharp decline in attention has indeed made her lose her previous appeal.

In fact, the play "Heavy Dà Problem" was first staged on Broadway in 1976, and after a year of performance, it was discontinued. Now, after 15 years, some of the smaller theaters on Broadway will have real yàn 'sex' performances, and the number of screenings is only three in a month. These news were all found out by Hugo when he was chatting with the ticket inspector just now, so Hugo was mentally prepared for the bleak attendance rate in front of him.

But even so, when he really saw it, Hugo still sighed. Not only was Joseph indignant, but he was even more so, because Hugo seemed to see that this was his future, but at the same time he was curious, why was Catherine unwilling to give up when he knew that such treatment would be given? Vaguely, Hugo felt that he knew the answer, but he couldn't sort out a single thought.

The show was about to begin, the chandelier lights had been extinguished, but the seats in the venue were still a third empty, and it seemed that it would be impossible to fill all the seats.

Hugo patted Joseph on the shoulder, "The show is about to begin." ”

Joseph took a deep breath, gathered all his mixed thoughts, and turned all his attention to the performance that was about to begin.

Soon, the heavy red 'color' curtain in front of him was opened, and Catherine, dressed in a white 'color' long shirt and a black 'color' gold silk jacket and gown, walked onto the stage on crutches, which immediately made the audience burst into warm applause, this legend of American film history, at the age of eighty-five is still active on the stage, this fact is a miracle in itself, although Catherine's slow and slightly stumbling steps can be seen from her poor physical condition, but the audience still expressed their support for her with applause.

It's a very simple story about Lady Bazel, who lives in her one-room mansion in Oxford, but her peaceful life is shattered by her grandson Nick and four of his friends, and the new kitchen housekeeper discovers that the house contains unexplained mysteries. These miracles left Madame Bazel in a state of confusion, and she began to question her lifelong beliefs: Does God really exist?

Catherine naturally played Madame Bazel, and to Hugo's surprise, it was Christopher Reeve who played his grandson Nick. Reeve), the handsome actor who is known all over the world for his role as "Superman", after his success, still responded to Catherine's call to appear on the small stage of Broadway, which is indeed a huge surprise.

Catherine has been talked about for her bizarre and crazy comedic qualities, wit and wit throughout her career as an actress, and now on the Broadway stage, she has carried this light-hearted comedy performance to the forefront of laughter.

About a third of the way the show began, a group of people suddenly sat down in the VIP seat on Hugo's left, and in the darkness Hugo couldn't see each other's appearance clearly, only that it was a large group of people, and it looked like five or six people. There was a small noise as they sat down, and one of them took off his top hat and bowed slightly to Hugo in apology, who only nodded slightly to show that he didn't mind, and then took his attention back.

It's amazing to sit in a Broadway theater and watch a performance, the small theater is designed to be an echo so that the actors' voices can surround their ears, although due to the distance between the stage, Hugo had to use the binoculars equipped with the VIP seats to see the performance on the stage clearly, but this kind of performance is really shocking.

Especially watching Catherine perform at such a close distance, this experience is even more special, Hugo can clearly feel that Catherine relies more on the change of body language to convey emotions - this is also the special direction of the Broadway stage, and when he observes the changes in Catherine's expression up close through the telescope, Hugo knows what it means to be natural, every smile, every move is so fluid, the charm formed between gestures is constantly magnified in the line of sight, Let the beating of the heart unconsciously go up and down with the changes in the plot on the stage.

This is a completely different feeling from watching a movie, the vivid realism makes all Yiqiē endowed with a magical power, making Hugo laugh and applaud with his heart, and although the audience is not much, it is obvious that they are all professional audiences who really understand the drama, and everyone's reaction has maintained a high degree of uniformity, as if there are more than 200 people who have made friends to watch together, and the common preference makes the scene "flowers" and so lively.

So much so that when the first half of the performance ended and entered the intermission, Hugo didn't react at all, and wondered, "Why did it suddenly close, isn't the performance not over yet?" "He was clearly enjoying it, completely unaware of the passage of time.

Joseph was also fascinated at this time and sighed, "It's so 'fine'!" It's so 'fine'! So he didn't hear Hugo's question at all, but just reluctantly looked at the red curtain that slowly closed on the stage.

It turned out that a voice came from Hugo's left hand side and explained, "It's just the first half, the actors need to adjust a little bit, and then start the second half." ”