Nicest Broadway Stars?- Page 12

[bwayrose7]

Posted: 7/7/15 at 10:35am

I've never been to New York, but some of the nicest people I've ever encountered have been the folks at the stage doors of various national tours.

As far as actual "stars" go, I would definitely say Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana are every bit as sweet and dorky in person as they seem onstage. Met them after a concert, and they were incredibly gracious, took the time to actually chat with everyone. I was wearing a pin that had been made as part of a charity partnership with Cinderella, and Laura saw it and got all excited. Christopher Sieber, definitely. Met him years ago on the La Cage tour, and I happened to mention how much I loved his episode of "Pushing Daisies", and in return he stood around for several minutes gushing about how much fun that show was with my mom and me. Lin-Manuel Miranda is also amazingly cool. When I met him, he was with the ITH tour but hadn't officially rejoined the cast yet, so no one else was at the stage door and even I was shocked to see him. I was just a teenager but when I mentioned I wanted to write for theater, he was so encouraging and gave me writing advice that I still use to this day.

As far as non-famous folks, I would definitely say most of the younger ensemble casts over the years, like the Spring Awakening and Once touring casts. Every Wicked cast I've ever seen, for sure. Andy Jones and Audrey Cardwell from the current Cinderella tour are especially sweet- when he found out I worked at the theater as well as saw shows there, he started chatting with me about his own theater-staff days. I'm sure I could think of more but those are the real standouts.

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 7/8/15 at 4:57pm

Totally agree regarding Jonathan Groff. He is a sweetheart. I saw him get bombarded by someone who was obnoxiously trying to butt up to the front of every group to get every single autograph and she was so rude--she said "I'm trying to get every autograph so will you sign this?"  Meanwhile he was trying to talk to this sweet shy young Glee fan. He handled this so admirably. He very politely told the young woman "I'd be more than happy to sign that for you in a minute but we're totally having a moment right now so would you mind holding on just a sec?"  This make the Gleek girl swoon but he was not at all rude to the other young woman even though she was pretty rude to him. Very classy. He also grabbed one fan's phone and said "let me take the selfies!" And took a bunch of silly ones. It was so sweet. He probably stuck around for at least a half hour and gave personal attention to every single person even though his friend was there waiting for him. 

Everyone else from the cast was also positively delightful. But he stuck out because he had the biggest challenge in terms of a fairly large group of young fans and I'm sure they'll remember how well he treated them forever. 

 

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 7/8/15 at 8:16pm

So I'm gonna shill for a second: my friend and I run a vlog, and when I went to New York I shot a couple at the stage door. I knew the actors were probably tired post-show and only asked people I thought would be game - and they really were! I wanna give a shout out to Kelli O'Hara, Heidi Blickenstaff, and Max von Essen for being a part of my vlog series! They were all so sweet and willing and I had lots of fun shooting with them! So, let the shilling commence!:

Kelli: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-jDnxEvVUY

Heidi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEfZS_TUBhQ

Max: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_94N426zq6M

[laurenmwendt]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 11:29pm

SANTINO FONTANA. He's the sweetest! I've become a pretty big fan of him the last few years and have met him 8 times. The third time I met him he recognized me, and later that day he said hi to me when we ran into each other on the street. I saw him at Greg Hildreths 54 Below concert and we had about a 5 minute conversation in which he demanded that I give him a hug at the end (which I of course did). Since then he's continued to be so gracious towards me. We hug each other every time I meet him after a show/interview, and he even knows my name now. The last time I saw him was about a month ago. We had a ten minute conversation where he hugged me twice, asked if I wanted a picture, and wished me a safe trip home. I could go on but I think you guys probably get the point.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/13/15 at 5:56pm

Thank you for the message PLF.  Forgot about this thread and can now give an update.

When I chatted with Chita after a performance of Drood I told her about the incident I mentioned on the first page. She actuzlly remembered it and apologized again. And she remembered the details.

[TFMH18]

Posted: 7/13/15 at 7:41pm

Honestly, what I love most about Broadway is the community including the actors. I feel like almost always, with some exception of course, they are just thrilled to talk to people who were excited or moved by their work. Of all the theater actors I've met, and there have been a lot, I can't really think of a single very unpleasant person, even when they were clearly exhausted. 

The NICEST, NICEST which comes to mind is Megan Hilty. I'm sure shes been mentioned in this post previously but wow was she just an utter delight. The kindest. Another is Idina Menzel. If you've seen the way this woman is hounded by her fans, it's incredible that she still takes the time to make each person feel heard. 

[newenglandgal]

Posted: 7/13/15 at 9:51pm

Billy Porter is an absolute sweetheart.

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 6/19/16 at 10:47pm

Sorry to bump this old thread but just wanted to chime in while I still can that the entire cast of Bright Star is such a delight. I decided to get a poster and have it signed because I love the show so much and it's closing. Everyone came out and they are all simply delightful. Carmen Cusack took as much time as she could with each person and gave out so many hugs. Paul Alexander Nolan makes a conscious effort to make eye contact with every single person. AJ Shively and Hannah Elless absolutely could not be sweeter. And despite being the villain of the show and therefore getting boos when he came out the door (jokingly of course), Michael Mulheren is freaking hilarious. 

 

I can tell how much they all really love this show and appreciate its fans. 

[mpkie]

Posted: 6/19/16 at 11:09pm

I second that, ChiTheaterFan! Total sweethearts. I've hardly met any folks on Broadway that AREN'T simply just the NICEST human beings. Still holding out hope that NYC gets to keep Carmen Cusack. :/

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 6/19/16 at 11:43pm

mpkie said: "I second that, ChiTheaterFan! Total sweethearts. I've hardly met any folks on Broadway that AREN'T simply just the NICEST human beings. Still holding out hope that NYC gets to keep Carmen Cusack. :/

 

"

I know!  She was chatting with some fans from Japan and said "maybe someday I can do a show there."  I wanted to say "please, don't take her; no, don't take her!"  

[@z5]

Posted: 6/20/16 at 2:15am

Totally agree that the Bright Star cast is so nice, same with the cast of It Shoulda Been you...they were excellent on and off stage. Jennifer Hudson, and Danielle Brooks in particular are super nice too, as well as many others from the Color Purple. 

 

On the opposite side, there's Nathan Lane who's a nasty prick, and many people have said that. 

I really have met SO many humble and awesome actors and actresses. Some others that come to mind are Al Pacino, Lupita Nyongo, Ben Walker, Jefferson Mays, Michael C Hall, Lena Hall, Darren Criss, Audra MCdonald, and the cast of Fun Home.

[Sammytravels]

Posted: 6/20/16 at 5:26am

Beth Nicely from Something Rotten, though an Ensemblist, not a star as such, is super sweet. Ive done the stage door each time I've seen the show and she is one of the only cast members to who has been there every time. She is genuinely pleasant and has pics taken with anyone who asks. I follow her on Instagram and Twitter and it seems this is a nightly occurrence. She does a lot of PR for the show too, with school groups. I guess not everyone feels the need to interact with their audiences and I respect that, but it is extremely nice when you meet someone who's work you admire and they're engaging and gracious. I'd like to think that's how I would be, if in their shoes. 

[Wick3]

Posted: 6/20/16 at 6:57am

When I saw Hedwig last year with Darren Criss I was amazed at how nice he was to his fans (though some were clearly rude.) 

Another person who stayed until the very end even though she was clearly tired and was standing with the help of a cane was Chita Rivera. Love her! Saw The Visit last year and she took a pic/selfie and signed Playbills to every single fan out there waiting for her. 

 

[bfreak]

Posted: 6/20/16 at 7:22am

I know he isn't a Broadway star per say, but I have to share this really nice story about Kelsey Grammer from earlier this year. When he returned to Finding Neverland this past January, I had tickets for like his third performance back. A few days beforehand his wife had posted a picture of him as Captain Hook and such on Instagram, and I left a nice little comment saying how excited I was to be seeing him in the show, that I had been a fan of his for years, and then I said hopefully I'll get to stop by the stage door and possibly meet him outside.

 

The day of the show came, and about 2 hours before the show starts she direct messages me on Instagram, and invited me to go backstage to meet him after the show! It was so sweet of both of them. So I went afterwards, and he was SUCH a nice guy! It turned out me and the person I went with were his only backstage guests that night, and he was really gracious in having a nice conversation with us for a little while. Really unexpected that they invited us back like that, and I really appreciated it.

[spikethebunny]

Posted: 6/20/16 at 9:31am

I have only ever had pleasant experiences with broadway actors, but some have stood out.

Neil Patrick Harris at the Hedwig stage door surprised me, not just because he was very sweet, but because he was also very humble. He actually looked touched when I gushed about his performance (mind you, I saw like the 2nd night of previews, so maybe he was still unsure of himself). 

And I have to say Idina was super sweet. However, I was lucky enough to win a private meet and greet after one of her concerts, so she wasn't being swarmed and was very much in her element. We just sat in the theatre and chatted about music and stuff. I was heading to Disneyworld on my honeymoon the next week, and she'd just come back from there, so she ended up giving me pointers about places to eat, rides to go on, etc. Funnily enough, a few years later, she ended up being a Disney Princess. Who knew?

Updated On: 6/20/16 at 09:31 AM