Meeting Broadway Stars
Meeting Broadway Stars
#0Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 12:45pmI'm curious to hear about everyone's experiences meeting Broadway stars, whether it's backstage, at the stage door, concerts or just on the street! I'll post after this thread is started.
matthius202
Broadway Star Joined: 2/15/05
#1re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 12:48pmlol..umm i get really starstruck. i told sutton foster AND hunter foster that i was in love with them. i insulted bernadette peters on accident. ummm...i hugged Erik McCormick REALLY hard..haha...Chuck Wagner put his arm around me. :) Harvey Feirstein...(sp?) was really rude to me on the street. I followed Susan Egan halfway home, just because. hahaha...ummm...Kerry Butler was super sweet. hmm...still thinking....
"Be not like dumb, driven cattle. Be a hero in the strife." A Psalm of Life...Walt Whitman
#2re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 12:50pm
I got hives when I met Roger Bart...then when he left I passed out.
Of course, I was sick and hadn't eaten anything for two days.
"I am special, I am special! Please, God, please, don't let me be normal!" ---Louisa, The Fantasticks
--- ---
Intolerant of intolerance.
matthius202
Broadway Star Joined: 2/15/05
#3re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 12:51pmhahahah....i cracked up out loud when i read that. i'm at my university's computer lab so everyon'e staring at me
"Be not like dumb, driven cattle. Be a hero in the strife." A Psalm of Life...Walt Whitman
#4re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 12:52pmYay! *claps* I'm funny!
"I am special, I am special! Please, God, please, don't let me be normal!" ---Louisa, The Fantasticks
--- ---
Intolerant of intolerance.
matthius202
Broadway Star Joined: 2/15/05
#5re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 12:53pmhaha
"Be not like dumb, driven cattle. Be a hero in the strife." A Psalm of Life...Walt Whitman
#6re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 12:56pm
Sorry! Well, I wrote an essay on how I met Hunter Foster, Deven May, Jennifer Cody, Ann Harada, Christian Borle (how could I have forgotten to post him?) and Sutton Foster (the first time.) http://sutton-fame.cjb.net/ (It's under fan encounters if you feel like searching)
Jenny Powers, Chris Gunn, Amy McAlexander and Sean McCourt were really nice and Jenny Powers talked to the whole stagedoor about the Superbowl (I'm not a football fan but whatever)....John Hickok made fun of me and Sutton Foster remembered me the second time I met her!
Updated On: 2/25/05 at 12:56 PM
#7re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 12:59pm
Of the many stars I met, one of the greatest moments was when I was brought into Lillias White's dressing room, during the show, Dinah Was. Many years before, Lillias was standing in front of me in line at McDonald's, and I was too shy to say anything to her. Then I became friends with a friend of hers and told him this story. One night he called me with comp tix to Dinah Was, and after the show was invited to the dressing room. Chuck Cooper was also in the audience, and on our way to the room, we met Adrienne Lennox. It was nice to see Lillias and Chuck reuniting after the Life. But, when my friend introduced Lillias and I, he said "This is the one from McDonald's."
"Oh, you're the McDonald's boy", she said.
I think it brought me joy to know that she had already known who I was, even if she didn't know my name.
Most embarrassing star meeting: Meeting Mandy Patinkin and asking him what it was like working with Bernadette Peters.
And of all the greatest stars: Meeting Celest Holm, who, after having an hour conversation with her, was so genuine, and sweet. Surprisingly, she was very modest and shy.
Oh, and Sarah Jessica Parker bowed to me after I told her I loved her singing voice. That was a great moment.
"Do you know what pledge time is, Andrew"? said the PBS Executive.
"Yes", Lloyd Webber replied. "My 50th birthday special must be one program that gets done a lot."
"No", mused the man from PBS heedlessy. "Not so much. Our Stephen Sondheim Carnegie Hall concert. That's a big one."
Spoons, forks and knives seemed suddenly to suspend their motion in horror, all around the table.
matthius202
Broadway Star Joined: 2/15/05
#9re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:01pmouch.
"Be not like dumb, driven cattle. Be a hero in the strife." A Psalm of Life...Walt Whitman
CJR
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/03
#10re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:02pm
I made an ass out of myself the day I met Taye Diggs.... just because damn -- he's hotter in person.
I still get teased about that.
"You're every gay man's wet dream!" ~ MA
If in Heaven you don't excel, you can always party down in hell...
broadwaynut20
Stand-by Joined: 11/27/04
#11re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:03pmVanessa Williams- didn't talk to her b/c she was in a rush, Gregg Edelman was very rude. Ernie Sabella and Stephen Bogardus were sooooo nice. Terrence Mann was another great guy. I also met Idina Menzel who was rude. Nathan Lane was and always will be an asshole but Matthew Broderick was awesome.
Chrysanthemum62001
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/14/04
#12re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:04pm
My favorite person I ever met is Sutton Foster. I have a *very* big crush on her. She is wonderful.
I met Susan Egan in her dressing room during her final run in Cabaret. I gotta tell ya, that was heaven. I adore her as well. She was sooooooo nice.
There are so many people I have met that I just adore. Broadway people are wonderful! 
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
#13re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:07pmi would have to say the best time i have had at a stage door was meeting the cast of ave q. My friend and i were waiting and i think it was shuq who told me to scream look it's john tartaglia to get peoples reactions. It didn't work oh well. Also meeting adam pascal was great. He is really nice.
"At the opening night party, they had clowns on stilts, jugglers, a chocolate fountain, popcorn, hot dogs. [My son] looked at me like I had been holding back. Like, 'This is what you do?' I had to tell him, 'No, no, darling. Opening nights don't usually look like this.' It's usually a dark bar with a bottle of vodka." ?Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Jan Maxwell
plus i proudly share the title of the shortest member over the age of 10 with wickedrentq!
#14re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:10pm
I've met:
Nathan Lane
Roger Bart
Daniel Davis (2x's..didnt seem so great either time)
David Hyde Pierce
Hank Azaria
Christopher Seiber
Christian Borle (wasn't that nice)
Cheyenne Jackson
Jenn Gambetese (the All Shook Up cast was INCREDIBLY nice..almost as nice as the Avenue Q cast)
John Tartaglia (one of the nicest guys alive! I stayed after and asked him about Zanna!)
Barrett Foa (the other nicest guy alive..talked about his name w/ him lol..don't ask)
Rick Lyon (so nice!)
Stephanie D'Abruzzo (so nice!)
Angela Ai (incredibly nice! but seemed a little overwhelmed having so sign autographs because she was a replacement)
Antonio Bandaras (really nice)
Peter Bartlett (really nice)
I've met some more, but that's all I can think of..
:)
And the other thing about the Phantom Lady was, Bert, she realized, in the city that never sleeps...
What did she realize, Kitten?
That all the songs she'd listened to, all the love songs, that they were only songs.
What's wrong with that?
Nothing, if you don't believe in them. But she did, you see. She believed in enchanted evenings, and she believed that a small cloud passed overhead and cried down on a flower bed, and she even believed there was breakfast to be had...
Where?
On Pluto. The mysterious, icy wastes of Pluto.
#15re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:24pm
Jesus GirlforTartaglia!
I've met 2
1.) The first actor I met was Jeff brooks after a production of Beauty and the Beast. I was in SHOCK. I seriously was, he played Clogsworth, now many people dont usually care about BATB actors but this was HUGE for me! He was SO nice, signed my playbill, asked me where I was from. It took a while for me to say "CT" I was like "uuuuh CT!" and then he said "CT, nice place, what town?" and I was so happy meeting a Broadway performer that I went blank and had to ask my mom where we were from--- I had forgotten..... IT WAS SO COOL, but I made a fool of myself. my dad was like "she's the passionate one about Broadway, can you tell?" pointing to my RENT cap and Wicked shirt. Jeff was really nice, but I still made a fool of myself lol.
2.) my second one..oh tihs was HUGE HUGE HUGE for me. Kristin Chenoweth after her Carnegie Hall concert in 1/25. Again, the story went like this: I had been waiting for like a year to get a chance to see Kristin Chenoweth in the flesh, and since shes my idol, I was SO SO SO happy when my dad got me tickets to Carnegie. So after the show that literally made me cry and took my breath away, i was waiting wit ha HUGE bunch of people after the concert at the stage door, after an hour, this guy comes out and says "we're sorry, but Kristin Chenoweth will not be ocming out. So soryr, I wanted to meet her too"..kay, well, half the crowd leaves, and about 10, 15 minutes later she comes out! lol! i was SO SO HAPPY. and you konw, I had my YAGMCB playbill for her to sign and a present to give her, and this one lady who was in the front noticed me and said "here take my spot, I'm sure this means a lot more to you than it does to me" I will forver be in debt to that lady, cuz I got to meet Kristin!! AHHHHHHHHHHH I first said things like "I love you!" i felt totally shaken up and honored beyond imagination. So I gave her the playbill of YAGMCB to sign and she squealed "Charlie Brown?!" it was great! AND THEN she looked s otouched when I gave her her present, and then I asked her for a picture with me and she said "oh of course!" and she hugged me in the picture, so now I can die happy
wow that was long, sorry.
"It's a great feeling of power to be naked in front of people. We're happy to watch actual incredible graphic violence and gore, but as soon as somebody's naked it seems like the public goes a bit bananas about the whole thing."
#16re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:29pmI only actually carried on more than a one word conversation with 2 of them lol.
And the other thing about the Phantom Lady was, Bert, she realized, in the city that never sleeps...
What did she realize, Kitten?
That all the songs she'd listened to, all the love songs, that they were only songs.
What's wrong with that?
Nothing, if you don't believe in them. But she did, you see. She believed in enchanted evenings, and she believed that a small cloud passed overhead and cried down on a flower bed, and she even believed there was breakfast to be had...
Where?
On Pluto. The mysterious, icy wastes of Pluto.
#17re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:30pmBroadway Stars I've had actual conversations with-Deven May, Sutton Foster.
#18re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:37pm
First the cast of Avenue Q....they are the just the nicest gang you'll ever meet...espcially John...my sharpie started to dry up while he was signing my playbill, but it all worked out...and I got my pic with him which just made my day...seriously one of the nicest people( not just actors) you'll ever meet!
I also met Richard Dreyfuss during his boston run of Sly Fox. I told the usher who took us to our seats that I was a big fan...and he told Richard backstage...and he took me around the crowd at the stage door and introduced me...he gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek which my mom got a picture of...it was amazing!
"It's the smile you smile that counts, happy thoughts in large amounts, any problem you can trounce, you can bounce right back."--Donald O'Connor
#19re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 1:52pm
The nicest movie stars I've ever met were:
Antonio Banderas
Hugh Jackman
Helen Mirren
Tony Goldwyn
Susan Sarandon
Paul Walker
On the other hand, Britney Spears is probably the biggest bitch I have ever met. I met her at LAX in 2001. There were only three people (including myself) who wanted autographs, and she wouldn't even stop. I called her out on it, and she ended up signing. The rumors are true...
#20re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 2:05pmOne of the nicest people I have ever met is Carolee Carmello. She is not just one of the nicest celebrities, but truly one of the nicest, sweetest, kindest people I've ever had the pleasure of speaking to. I went backstage recently after a performance of "Mamma Mia", and spoke to her about how big of a fan I was. We talked about "Parade", "john & jen", "A Class Act", etc. We left through the stage door at the same time, and she had a conversation-not just a few words, but an actual meaningful conversation-with every person waiting there. She signed every playbill, took umpteen pictures, the whole nine. What an amazing woman.
#21re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 2:09pmBritney Spears hasn't been able to walk down the street, through an airport, a hotel lobby, a restaurant, ANYPLACE, without being approached since she was about 16. I'm sure there are some moments when she just wants to be able to walk 10 feet without being stopped. It's not like a stage door, where you sign and then walk away and are left alone.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
#22re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 2:10pmI met Audra McDonald on Mother's Day 2000 in DC. She did a concert at George Washington University and some of her family members were in the audience. After the concert they closed the auditorium so she could spend time with her family, but I really wanted to meet her. At the same time I was nervous because I've never met anyone of her caliber. But one of the ushers I knew and she allowed me to go in. When I walked up to her, she was so nice and sweet (and tall!). We had a nice cute conversation and she also met my mom. It was the nicest meeting I've had.
The phrase "working mother" is redundant.
-Jane Sellman-
#24re: Meeting Broadway Stars
Posted: 2/25/05 at 2:16pm
It's basically the same all the time, becuase I clam up and get REALLY shy. I've met Adam Pascal SO many times, but I still can't have a normal conversation with him. I think the easiest time I've had was with Raul Esparza, because he's so personable and not at all intimidating. He's kind of shy, too.
