The Official Raúl E. Esparza "Spread the Love" Thread, Part 3 — Page 48

That's one of my favorites.

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It still amazes me how I managed to miss EVERYTHING he did prior to "Chitty".

I guess when I was in high school I was completely "Rent" obsessed, and then I was on a hiatus from Broadway for a while during college when I was just being a typical college student; and those were the years when he was doing Rocky Horror, Tick Tick...Boom! and The Normal Heart.

Damn those formitive college years! And what did they get me? A BA in English. SO not worth everything I missed!

But, better late than never, I guess!

Updated On: 7/4/07 at 11:01 PM

It's always weird to me that I know so few people who saw him in The Normal Heart, since that performance is what made me such a loyal fan. I knew who he was prior to Taboo because I had the tTB CD, but TNH was the first time I saw him on stage.

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I effing love that interview... way more than I should...I know it's blasphemy, but I like it more than anything he's said on the chatterbox. He’s just so unbelievably well spoken there, especially about the experience surounding Tick Tick Boom. I haven’t listened to it for a while, thanks for reminding me!

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I love the Downstage Centre interview. Especially what he said about the ttB! experience. That cd was my first exposure to Raul back in the day.

I need to try and get my hands on the chatterbox interviews. All I can find are the Defying Gravity and Heroes clips on that site.

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Regarding contacting him though his manager, If this helps, he's repeatedly mentioned his long time manager, Elin Flack. If you live in NYC, there's probably an address listed in the phone book. His agent is now good old reliable biggie William Morris.

Speaking of notes to Raul, could someone enlighten me on something?

I wrote Raul a note a month ago and gave it to him at the stage door, and enclosed a donation for ASTEP... Mary M-C's foundation for children, and he's a Board member ... or charity of his choice. I'm glad I did because he didn't chat with anyone that night, just quick autographs/pictures for the few of us who were at the stage door and then he dashed off with Michele in the limo. I got a very prompt acknowledgement from ASTEP (not from Raul, but I didn't ask). In the misery following the Tony's I mentioned this idea of making a donation in his honor on the main board in response to someone's comment like "I wish I could do something to show appreciation for Raul", and there were a couple of very snarky comments about my idea from a couple of the frequent posters.

Did I really do something in poor taste or way out of line? I just have the impression that he values charitable work. It's another reason I find him so appealing as a person.

obsessedjb, same thing for me with not knowing who raul was before company. i didn't even know about company...my son wanted to see it when we came to nyc during spring break, and i became an instant fan of both company and raul when we saw the show on easter day.

we talked to raul after that show, and upon learning we were from the san francisco bay area, he told us he lived in fremont (a 'burb in the east bay) for a year and still keeps in touch with friends he made at the high school he attended. amazingly, we lived in fremont at the same time as raul. i checked out the 1986 yearbook for that high school, and yep, he's there in the sophomore section.

when we heard that company was closing, we managed a quick trip to nyc to see the final wednesday performances (both of them!). we also waited with many of you in the rain to talk to raul after the evening performance...he said now that he has some free time, he'll probably make a trip out this way to visit those old high school buddies. boy, would i love to have a raul sighting close to home!

Updated On: 7/5/07 at 03:01 AM

i actually took a snapshot of raul's yearbook photo, but it came out too fuzzy to post. (i need to learn how to use the manual settings on my point-and-shoot camera!) he looks a lot like he did when he gave the interview on charlie rose for tick, tick...boom in 2001: short hair, slender face, with a mona lisa smile. nothing to be embarrassed about. his eyebrows were darker then than they are now, though...why are his eyebrows so light nowadays, i wonder...grey hair?

You should post it anyway. Maybe you could sharpen it with iPhoto or some equivalent? I bet his was adorable, hee.

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I think a lot of people just didn't want to hear about Raul post-Tonys, so I wouldn't worry about it fishdancer. As long as you're proud/happy about your donation, that's all that matters. :) As for the main board in general, once you realize how to take certain people, it gets to be quite fun.

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Updated On: 7/5/07 at 11:25 AM

Must entirely disregard the serious discussion.

OMG ADAM PASCAL HIGH SCHOOL MULLET.
MULLLLLLLLLETTTTTT
MULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

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LOL! EWWWW... Mullets are gross...

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Can I just say how glad I am that he FINALLY got a new headshot? That old one looks nothing like him. And it must be like 10 years old. The new one is lovely.

Does anyone remember those early Chitty press pics, where his hair was really long? That was close enough to mullet territory for me. eek.

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