I’m planning on going to the Broadway in Chicago concert in Millennium Park in a couple days, but I guarantee that today’s experience will turn out to be better. And not just because today I got to wear a Washington Square Park Advisory Council badge and carry a clipboard.

At Millennium Park I won’t get to meet and mingle with the performers as I did today. I introduced myself to James Earl Jones II, who is the third cousin of his more famous namesake. I’ve seen, and enjoyed, the ubiquitous Jones in six shows at five different theaters over the last two years alone. He told me, prior to Porchlight’s artistic director, Michael Weber, announcing it to the crowd, that he would soon be leaving Chicago to join the national touring company of Come From Away. I also chatted briefly with Weber and the other very talented performers, Leah Davis, Michelle Lauto, Liam Quealy, all of whom were friendly and gracious.

Like today, I might get to be fifteen feet away from the singers in Millennium Park as they perform, but, for that to happen, I’ll either have to get there three hours before showtime, go through a metal detector, wait in line until they open the gates, and hope I don’t get crushed in the ensuing stampede for the good seats; or pick just the right moment once the performance starts to rush the stage, and run across it pursued by a bevy of security guards.

This was the last Washington Square Park event of the summer, if you don’t count Doggie Yoga, and I don’t. But I’ll be going to Porchlight’s upcoming Chicago Sings the MGM Musicals at the Up Comedy Club, where Jones, Lauto, and many other talented performers again will be on display.