Waiting (and Waiting) in the Wings

[mgc1961]

You forget it can happen.

You finally get tickets to the show you’ve been dying to see, you settle into your seat — and it happens. The dread announcement.

An amplified voice from backstage utters those awful words: “For this performance, the part of … will be played by …”

Before the sentence ends, a groan goes up from the entire audience. The moment is bad for them, but infinitely worse for one person standing backstage who hears it clearly. The one who, somewhere earlier in the day, has been told, “You’re going on tonight.” The one who has not yet made an entrance but has already, in effect, been booed. Hearing the dismal reaction at the mention of his name is enough to shrivel the soul.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/waiting-and-waiting-in-the-wings/?hp