What was your best/worst stagedoor encounter

[anactornamedseth2]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 1:14am

The best stagedoor experience I've had was with the cast of SPRING AWAKENING, they were all so humble and thanked you up and down when you gave them priase. It was nice to see kids my age on Broadway and it not getting to their heads.

[broadwayfan7]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 8:04am

I agree with Spring Awakening. (The tour cast is just as sweet!) Also, Stephanie J. Block is extremely nice as well!

[boonanas]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 10:00am

exit the king, everyone was incredibly nice. Geoffrey Rush made sure everyone was happy and Susan Sarandon was great considering the amount of celebrity behind her name.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 10:09am

I can't say I have a "favorite" encouter - though meeting John Schnieder after a performance of Chicago was a highlight last year. Every performer I've met at the stage door as been quite friendly. No unfortunate moments there. Usually it's the behavior of other "fans" that turn it into a negative encounter.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 2:24pm

Agreed that it is usually the fans that ruin the experience, not the actors. Sure, there are some actors that just won't stop, but that's their choice.

Anyway, nothing has been really terrible, just interesting. I guess the worst has to be Xanadu one Saturday afternoon. It was pouring, so everyone had umbrellas up. I don't know how, but some girl and her father ended up on both sides of me. They got annoyed because apparently I was getting in their way with my umbrella while they wanted pictures. This probably would not have happened if they weren't surrounding me, but stood to one side of me.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 4:26pm

I find that it is the people around me rather then the actors that make it a bad a bad time or not.

I have told the tail before of my time at the stage door at The Little Mermaid. It wasn't any of the actors or the fans that made it a bad time at the stage door. Rather the rent a cop who was guarding it made it a bad time.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 4:26pm

I find that it is the people around me rather then the actors that make it a bad a bad time or not.

I have told the tail before of my time at the stage door at The Little Mermaid. It wasn't any of the actors or the fans that made it a bad time at the stage door. Rather the rent a cop who was guarding it made it a bad time.

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 4:33pm

After a Saturday matinee of James Joyce's The Dead my friend and I were waiting to Emily and Alice (we really didn't care about Christopher Walken). Emily came out and was an absolute delight. She also told us, without our asking, that Christopher Walken would not be coming out, and we replied that we didn't care since she and Alice were the ones we were waiting for. We got a couple more pictures in and then she went back inside for a moment before leaving to get her dinner. Then moments later Alice Ripley emerged. She told us that she hadn't been planning on coming out, but Emily had had the doorman call up to her dressing room to let her know that she had some fans waiting, so she threw on her coat and scarf and came down. We of course felt really special, since she had admitted that she had come down just for us, and since Emily had taken that extra moment to get the message to her, and without us asking her to do it!

[Lamc16]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 4:40pm

I never really had a bad experience, per se, but I was disappointed when Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline didn't come out to sign after Nichols' production of The Seagull.

I have to say that the BEST experiences all took place in London in 2000. Maggie Smith was very kind, sweet, and apologetic after I waited in the drizzling rain to see her after The Lady In The Van. The ENTIRE cast of Side Man (esp Edie Falco and Frank Wood) was incredibly humble and nice and genuinely happy to speak to my sister and me and I think they were also relieved to be talking to fellow New Yorkers, lol. Also, Kathleen Turner (who was the reason for my trip across the pond) did not let me down in any way, shape or form. Night after night she was hounded by middle-aged men seeking autographs on their endless stacks of 8x10 Body Heat glossies. I stood small amongst the crowd with my braces and nervous smile, and she sought me out immediately, chatted, thanked me for coming, and then posed with me for a picture. It was the highlight of my 16-year-old life!

[legally_popular]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 4:50pm

All of my stage door experiences have been wonderful thankfully. One of my favorite memories is meeting David Burnham after Wicked one night. I was with my mom and sister, and it was both their first times seeing the show. He could really tell how much we enjoyed it. We complimented him on his performance and his CD. He was really appreciative and kept thanking us. He even shook each of our hands and asked us our names and introduced himself (although we obviously already knew who he was, lol). As he was walking to sign for the next people he turned around and thanked us again for buying his CD. Such a sweet guy!

Another one of my favorite stage door moments was after a Saturday matinee at Gypsy. We knew that Patti, Boyd and Laura weren’t coming out (and the stage door man told everyone that), but my sister and I wanted to stick around and see if Leigh Ann Larkin would come out. Most people left when they heard Patti wasn’t coming and the stage door man was even starting to put the barricades away, but we and a few other people were still waiting. I was talking on the phone to someone because we were meeting a couple people for dinner after so while I was busy with that, my sister went up to the stage door man and asked if Leigh Ann was coming out. He said she had left already but he really didn’t know who she was, so my sister was trying to explain that she played Dainty June, lol. Then the guy turns to a girl walking out the door, “Do you know if Leigh Ann is coming out?” And the girl replied, “I’m Leigh Ann.” It was the cutest thing. She was out chatting with everyone for awhile. She first talked to a group of young girls who were a dance team or something. She was asking them where they were from and about their competitions and stuff. Then she came to us. I had her sign my program and I told her “great job” and that Gypsy was our favorite show. And she was like, “Aww, really!?” And after I took a picture of her and my sister, she made sure the picture came out okay. We had to go so we said our goodbyes and she thanked us again.

David Burnham and Leigh Ann Larkin, definitely two of the sweetest people ever.


The worst experience I've had was mostly due to the fans, not the actors. I’ll get into that another time. This was long enough, haha.

[ItSucks2BAveQ]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 4:54pm

i'll never forget when john tartaglia threw his tighty whities at me at the avenue q stage door.

terrifying.

[Broadwaynut81]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 10:00pm

I must say that I have never had a bad stage door experience, I guess as long as you are respectful to the performer(s) you are there to see, and don't act all "crazed fan"-esque, you will have a fine experience. I also have done more stage-dooring in Boston, where the practice hasn't exactly caught on as it has in NYC (that being said, it is getting more popular).

Ones that stick out would be the touring companies of Wicked and Little Shop, who took the time to talk to you and interact, and sign.

If I had to choose a mediocre stage door experience, Legally Blonde on tour wasn't so great - everyone was nice and all, but I think it was because it was so crowded, and there was no real control, so everyone was crowing around all the actors, making it nearly impossible to move... not the fault of the actors but the door crew.

[philly03]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 10:11pm

My best stagedoor experience was at 'A Tale of Two Cities...the musical' with Brandi Burkhardt. Very charming, very sweet...stopped to talk to me for a little. Very gracious (as were all the Tale people!).

Worst times: P.LuPone Gypsy and Tale .. ironically the same person (and probably a poster on here) (and probably saw Gypsy the same reason I did - Tale closed the week earlier scandal..haha) Sits right outside the door (so he's the first person the actors see) with the big windowcard and talk to the people forever; at Tale they asked if Frank Wildhorn was going to be there, I like your signature, etc. -- just an utter disaster. To top off the Gypsy thing, I got blocked out by two middle-aged women who decided since Leigh Ann Larkin signed my playbill first that they were NOT going to let me get Patti's autograph -- gesh! It all worked out in the end -- blah. That night was also bizarre: someone was talking to Emma Zaks and tried to hug Patti -- cried at intermission the entire time, just bizarre.

I agree about the LB Tour: here in Philly, they told us the actors did not have to stay and therefore if you want to get their autograph, be "Aggressive but nice." I went twice: got no one on the first night, and three on the next. Go figure!

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 10:27pm

Every stagedoor experience I've had to date has been s positive, except ONE (well, one moment, anyway). SPEED-the-PLOW. Jeremy Piven's ego, women foaming at the mouth to meet/snap a picture/chat it up/ask for his number/etc. Ridiculous. Totally ruined my night and my chance at a photo-op. I approached him kindly, and AS I'M TALKING, he retrieves his cell and starts taking down some someone's number... Two seconds later, I'm extending my Sharpie, and he's slamming his car door in my face. Therafter, I dropped a BUNCH of F-bombs. What made up for that 110% was meeting Ms. Moss and the super-incredible, RAUL! Pictures, autographs, splendid conversation. The works! I wholeheartedly thank the two of them for giving me the time of day, and shining that light on a cold November evening.
Updated On: 3/17/09 at 10:27 PM

[willep]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 10:32pm

It is hard to pick a best. Meeting and talking to Dan Radcliffe was pretty amazing, he was such a nice guy. David Hyde Pierce and all the people at Curtains were incredibly nice. Ted Neeley was one of the nicest people ever. I met him after a JCS show here in Philly last month. Three of us waited for him, and the stage door people let us wait inside, and Ted talked to us each individually for a good 5-10 minutes, then he hugged you and was more than happy to sign/take a picture. Oh and David Alvarez was such a doll after Billy Elliot, he even picked our playbills up for us when my girlfriend dropped them.

I haven't really had any bad ones persay, the most disappointing one was probably November, Nathan Lane came out (the only reason I saw the show) but this really obnoxious guy kept heckling him to sign a stack of pictures and get a picture with him, which kind of ruined it for the rest of us. He signed what he could as he was swept to his car, but he was rather short (no pun intended). Maybe he was having a bad day or something.

[faith587]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 11:37pm

My best stagedoor experience was at Shrek in January.
I was supposed to be meeting a friend for dinner after the show, so I went to the stagedoor to wait for her, and a man with a notepad in his hand started asking for "Chrissy"...which is me. I told him who I was, and he opened the door and told me to tell the doorman who I was. I did, and she told us to go behind this black curtain covering the doorway to what I thought was a backstage area. Well, it was the actual stage! So we stood there for about 10 minutes, just staring out into the empty house, when my friend comes down from her dressing room, ready to go out with us, when she offered us a tour. We took a short tour due to her having to be back from dinner for her next call time, and we saw a lot of cool things, like Fiona's tower, Fiona's books, the Gingy puppets, the rat tapshoes from 'Morning Person', and we also saw the Farquaad understudy trying on his brace so he could practice walking on his knees. We met a couple of the stars on the stage too, like Chris Seiber, Noah Rivera, and Jen Cody. That was the best stagedoor experience I've ever had.

[jejr]

Posted: 3/17/09 at 11:44pm

Best - a tie Mary Martin at tryout of Peter Pan in San Francisco and Angela Lansbury at the original Mame

Worst - Yul Brynner twice - Home Sweet Homer and King and I
Updated On: 3/18/09 at 11:44 PM

[mikeyb16]

Posted: 3/18/09 at 5:11am

I've stage-doored twice so far and both haven't been worst luckily.

My first one was at WICKED in London. I saw the show a few days after it opened a few years back and was completely blown by it.
I got to the stage door after the show and managed to meet Idina Menzel, Helen Dallimore and Martin Ball - they were all very nice. I missed James Gillan as he left when I got there, I nearly had Katie Rowley Jones but a fat person pushed right in front of me. I also nearly had Adam Garcia but he got stampeded by a huge gang of screaming girls. Nigel Planer didn't come out and Miriam Margoyles was tired (I was at the end of the line by her cab and she said she was tired) so I let her go.

My favourite so far has to be the Final Performance of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang UK Tour at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, UK. I met a lot of the cast members and they were completely nice. I met Kim Ismay, Nigel Garton, Aled Jones and Rachel Stanley. I knew Rachel as I speak to her on Facebook so we had a good chat. The only ones I did miss however were Edward Peel and Tony Adams as they were sharing a cab and I also missed 'H' from Steps (he was the child catcher) as he didn't come out at all.

[wickedfan11]

Posted: 3/18/09 at 5:51am

My best experience was Legally Blonde on tour. The only people waiting were me and NJJ's friends. So all of the actors talked to me for a while.

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 3/18/09 at 7:36am

Spring Awakening definitely ranks high on the positives...all these talented kids getting their frist flush of success and acclaim and just learning how to deal with it. All very gracious and a little overwhelmed.

Worst happened way back in the early 80's and I can't even remember what show it was. A bunch of us were waiting for someone and I guess a grew a set and opened the stage door to find Catherine Hicks (post-Marilyn, pre-Seventh Heaven) behind it. We scared the crap out of each other and I kind got the look of death from her.

[madbrian]

Posted: 3/18/09 at 8:24am

Personally, I'm not much of a stage door guy, but when I bring my daughter(s) to a show, sometimes we do it. They're big NPH fans, and I got tickets when he was the guest in Fame Becomes Me. We went to the stage door, and NPH, Martin Short, and Marc Shaiman were all very gracious. Another time was Off-Broadway, when I took my middle daughter to see Dog Sees God. Everyone in the cast was very friendly, particulary America Ferrara.

[jv92]

Posted: 3/18/09 at 10:25am

"Best - a tie Mary Martin at tryout of Peter Pan in San Francisco and Angela Lansbury at the original Mame

Worst - Yul Brynner twice - Home Sweet Homer and King ans I"

Do tell us about meeting Mary, Angela and Yul! :)

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 3/18/09 at 12:31pm

Best - In the Heights, A Chorus Line, West Side Story

Worst - A tie between Mario Lopez (at A Chorus Line) knocking me over, and that awful obnoxious doorman at The Little Mermaid.

[Henry Ford2]

Posted: 3/18/09 at 1:51pm

The bus and truck company of GEORGE M! came through the Seattle area years ago. Everybody autographed my program and were far from being aloof or impolite. It made an indelible mark on my psyche. There's no people like show people.

[Elke]

Posted: 3/18/09 at 1:57pm

Best: Hugh Jackman before a performance of The Boy From Oz. There was a huge crowd. But when I asked him to sign a birthday card for my friend, he actually took the time to write 'Happy birthday!'. He didn't have to do that at all, but he did.

Worst: if you don't expect anything, you can never be disappointed.