38-year-old Abe Calimag is so hooked on the Broadway musical Rock of Ages that he’s seen it 500 times in the past five years. His obsession has taken him to six different countries, just to watch various productions of the same show. And he’s spent a whopping $25,000 along the way.
Abe, a business consultant from Virginia, bought his first Rock of Ages ticket in 2009 because his favorite actress Amy Spanger was supposed to be in it. He later realised that she wasn’t in the cast anymore, but he decided to go see the show anyway. It turned out to be the experience of a lifetime, and thus began Abe’s love affair. During the last five years, he has traveled to London, Toronto, Australia, Manila and to several states in the US, and even taken a few cruises just to watch the production over and over again.
Photo: Abe Calimag/Facebook
The show, which incorporates hit songs from the 1980s, has obviously touched Abe very deeply. He says he fell in love with the way it made him feel. “This is not the music I listened to when I was growing up,” he admitted. “I was never really into arena rock, but there’s something about this show that brings in people like me. It’s the way they took the songs and shaped the story and conveyed the emotion,” he explained. “That’s different from anything else I’d seen before.”
“It’s just, you know, little elements, little performance choices that the actors make that are different from show to show and I just love seeing those little differences every time,” he added. “Every time, there’s a different energy. My favourite version is always the most recent that I’ve seen.”
Photo: Rock of Ages
As for all the money he’s spent, he doesn’t think it’s much when compared to the joy it brings him. “People hear a number and think, ‘You’re nuts! You can buy a car for that!’ People have seen Bon Jovi concerts a hundred times – it’s what they enjoy. This is what I enjoy,” he said.
Photo: Abe Calimag/Facebook
Abe is by far the show’s biggest fan, and all the folks who work on the production know him pretty well. He’s even had dinner and drinks with a few cast members. They don’t consider him a psycho or a stalker – in fact, the producer actually gave him a free ticket to his 500th viewing. “Seeing a familiar face in the audience gives them a little bit of a boost,” said Abe. “They know someone was there who cared enough to see them.”
Source: New York Post
