So, i know that previews JUST started, but was curious of what Chita's past stage door habits have been. I do know the show had a pre-broadway run- did anybody stagedoor? I saw her in Drood, but didnt stage door. Thanks in advance for the help!
Possibly for the benefit of people like me, who haven't heard him before.
I can imagine that someone like Kristin Chenoweth, who has just done two exhausting shows, and has another tomorrow, just wants to get home and change her clothes, and try to relax. But leaving the theater there are twenty people who want her to sign their Playbill and she must take a 15 or however minute long detour.
And the nicest are the ones who stay the longest, or who stop to sign at all.
I understand why some people want to have the book signed and want the star to acknowledge his or her existence for 10 seconds. For certain performers I would enjoy it also. But they should come up with an alternative to the stage door.
I think you answered your own question. People don't normally post about things as to which they have no opinion, and tend to post about things they feel strongly about. Is that hard to understand? Oh, and by the way, stagedooring is loathesome, but stagedooring an 82 year old who is using her last measure of strength to appear in a strenuous role 8 times a week is despicable. I hope her handlers have devised a way to avoid it without forcing her to remain at the theatre longer than necessary.
actually, NJ_BroadwayGirl, most do not, unless you count walking out the main doors, which is no better. At the Lyceum, those are the options, front or back.
@OlBlueEyes- It's the fact that Hogan lumps all people who stage door into one narrow category. Also, the language he uses to describe them can be down right nasty. I am certianly not the only one who has called him out on his holier then thou attitude. I fail to see how he could benifit anybody.
Can we stop having the exact same argument on this board over and over and over and over and over? Stage-dooring is not going to stop, and HogansHero is not going to stop speaking out about it. We don't have to drive every stage-door thread off track just because HogansHero posts something about how he doesn't like it.
During DROOD, Chita went down the line and signed and had any conversation you wanted with her for as long as you wanted. I even saw her giving advice to young actors and telling us all stories about WEST SIDE STORY and BIRDIE. I was amazed at how generous she was with her time.
Chita is a genuinely nice person and grateful and appreciative of her fans. You should have no problem with her at the stage door if she chooses to come out that way and interact with her fans. They don't make 'em like that anymore.
darreyl, I have not posted on this subject in a long while, but bothering an old woman who might have to miss a performance because of being exhausted from stagedoor nonsense seems even more odious than the run of the mill case. This is not a holier than thou attitude; it is just an attitude about what is right and what is wrong, and about the sense of entitlement people like you have developed and how unfortunate that is. I know the practice is not going to stop, but if one person reads this and thinks about what they are doing and doesn't, that's a better world than existed ante. One step at a time, just like everything else.
My experience at the Drood stage door was similar to that of Jordan's.
I did not expect her to exit that way and sign, but she did and I was pleasantly surprised. (Of course, I never expect someone to because I know it is fully their choice) Chita Rivera was extremely gracious.
@HogansHero: STOP referring to Chita Rivera as AN OLD WOMAN. It's a virtual slap in the face to a legendary performer who deserves respect and is still going strong and doing what she loves to do: perform and entertain. We should all be so lucky to reach our golden years and still be able to do what we love and have a passion for. Hell, we should all be lucky if we are doing what we love and have a passion for at any stage of our lives. So stop with this utter nonsense. Chita Rivera is just fine and she does not have a problem interacting with her fans. She loves and appreciated the opportunity. She doesn't need you advocating for her in any way shape or form and once again please stop referring to her as an old woman. It's so damned disrespectful.
@ lovebwy: She's 82 NOT DEAD. Again she doesn't need anyone on this board advocating for her. She doesn't have a problem with it so that's that, absolutely nothing you can do about it except maybe GET OVER IT.
It's not like there aren't barricades up ... if a performer's ONLY exit is past fans lined up and they are tired, they can say "so sorry folks I've got somewhere to be." These people are adults who can decide for themselves if they want to stay and interact or go home.
Carlos-First of all, the lack of respect is being shown by those bothering her, not those calling her an old lady, which she is and which is not disrespectful but factual. There is a this bizarre hagiography that surfaces here every so often holding that "legends" are superhuman. they are not. when she gets home after the remarkable achievement of her performance, those 82 year old bones ache just like your grandmothers do. Performers (most of them) are going to act polite because they don't want threads and articles about how they told the entitled ones to shove it. But I have been with far too many people who have had to endure entitled fans to fantasize that they are happy confronting the stage door gauntlet after busting their ass for a few hours. And that show might be 90 minutes but it takes a lot more than those 90 minutes of work. Respect. Yes, exactly. Think about it instead of yourself.
Exactly, I don't like the term "Bother" becuase that is not the case- she either chooses to sign or not, it's not a like a person is forcing her or anything like that or chasing her to sign. Get it Right.
Met her at the stage door after Kiss of the Spider Woman. Really sweet person. My cousin who lives in NYC used to do theater in the city and she likes to go to the stage doors on occasion to chat with people she's worked with, or whatever, so we went around to the stage door of the Broadhurst, I think it was. Ms Rivera walked up to us, and my cousin told her that I had come all the way from California to see her. She was a very generous, nice lady.