Welcome, Anthony Rapp! (part four)- Page 27

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 12:36pm

I've always really wanted to go to the 10th anniversary.

[tacos are great]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:38pm

It wasn't that I didn't understand A Beautiful Mind--I *think* I got it. I tried to pay attention. It's just that it's too long and drawn out. I know that everything that happened was like, integral to the plot or whatever, but still. Too long. I'm an 1:45 minute movie kinda guy

Or maybe it was too much for my 15 year old mind to understand and I'm just too young to realize it.

[Wanderingchild5]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:39pm

Im 15 too I kept stoping it to watch other things. It was a good movie.

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:42pm

A Beautiful Mind gave me a headache.

I'm sure it was very good, and it's not that I have a small attention span. I even *like* long movies. It just...didn't do it for me. I can't even bring myself to scan through it again looking for parts with Bender in it.

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:47pm

I saw it in the theater. I was dying. But then I watched it again, and I loved it.

[Clayford27]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:49pm

Ooh I loved A Beautiful Mind! I thought it was brilliant. :)

And yeah, I would do anything to go to the 10th Anniversary! That'd be so amazing.

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:50pm

Thanks RENTluvr!

*sighs* I would kill, kill to go the anniversary. Anyone wanna hitchike to NY with me?

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:51pm

I liked A Beautiful Mind, it got a little confusing, but it was good.

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:52pm

I'd love to go, but I'll settle for a nice pro recording, or even a muffled iPod recording. I'm not picky.

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:54pm

Edit: sorry double post, lol.
Updated On: 3/9/06 at 01:54 PM

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:55pm

You double posted 3 minutes after your initial post. That takes skill.

[CanadianSnowbird]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 1:59pm

I saw A Beautiful Mind when I was 16, it wasn't that hard to understand, you just had to pay attention.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 2:02pm

Okay, sorry guys. I rarely wait into the next day to post about fun nights, but I was just exhausted last night.

So as I begin to type my account of Anthony's signing at Rutgers last night, I will leave you with a fantastic quote of the night:

Anthony: "Well THIS is definitely going on the Internet."

(Followed by incredibly loud laughter from me)

Indeed.

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 2:08pm

Oh, I *understood* A Beautiful Mind, it just didn't hold my interest.

Posted: 3/9/06 at 2:23pm

Thanks Mandi! lol

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 2:29pm

*raises eyebrow at wicked* You have me intrigued.

[RENThead414]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 2:37pm

*is intrigued* me too

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 3:40pm

Okay. The event began at 8, so I left my house at 5:30. It was supposed to take me an hour to get to Rutgers. Figured I'd bring some homework so I could get there early to hopefully get a good seat.

Well, unfortunately, mapquest screwed me. I was on this route 18, and they told me to get off at George St--I eventually realized there was like 5 places you could leave that route to get to George Street. I went on a wrong one, and ended up on the campus--on the wrong side of town. Of course, I didn't realize this, and kept driving around clueless as to why I couldn't find the next street. Finally I got out of my car to ask a student for help, he explained that I had to stay on George Street across town. I did that, then saw another entrance to route 18. So I got off that route at 6:30 and walked into the student center at 7:30. Stupid mapquest.

So, my friend ended up having a lab to go to, but she talked to the people in charge and they said it was okay for me to go without her, as I was still technically her guest, I would just need to ask for someone. Turns out I started talking to the girl waiting in front of me who was alone, so she said I could just be her guest to make the process faster.

So we walked in and what was the very first thing we see? 6 girls in the front row singing/screaming "Take Me Or Leave Me." I can't be sure, but my guess is they started at the beginning of the show and sang all the way to that song. Then they put on the Rent OBC highlight CD which more people sang to. It was preferable over just them, but there were moments I wish wasn't sung, like talking moments "Hi, I'm Angel. I'm Mark," etc. Sounds really weird when a bunch of people are saying that stuff in unison. And oh, the "out" notes in "out Tonight" were kind of hurting my ears.

Well, that lasted until "Another Day." Then the girls proceeded to begin singing alone again. Finally, some incredibly intelligent guy screamed "shut up!" and the whole room applauded. They still tried to scream but we held out "shuuuut uuuup" and then they finally stopped. Thank god. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for those of you who had to put up with that for hours at Barnes and Noble.

Oh, I should probably briefly describe the room. It was in the student center, so while it wasn't a bookstore, it wasn't exactly an auditorium. There was a little stage but they set up a bunch of chairs in rows; it wasn't like an auditorium where the seats are all there slanted and such. Definitely seemed preferable to a bookstore though. Most of the chairs were filled, but not every. I was maybe...12/13 rows back? But the two seats in front of me were empty so I saw fine despite my shortness. But again, no standing, no way too many people, crowded feeling, so again, it was a fairly nice setup.

So after a couple of moments of applauses and nothing (didn't you guys say similar things went on in B&N?), someone got up to make safety announcements and announce Anthony. As the pointless applause was going on, the girl I was with said he wouldn't even be coming in that entrance. She was right; he came in from the back.

Anyway, so he went up on the stage. He joked that it was like a talk show setup because there was a couch there and proceeded to lie down for a bit. Said it was like Oprah...but maybe he shouldn't bring her up. Ha, then he said well I'll just stand on the table and did that for a second too. (lots of cheers from the audience).

Umm, okay, trying hard to remember the beginning. Umm, he was talking about the book and how he came to write it. He began to say that the publisher of the..old Rent book made in '96 when it came out, does anyone know about that? and a handful of Rent bibles went up in the air. So he said "well okay quite a few of them appear to be in the room." Rentheads...

So he explained about beginning to write the book. And there was someone heckling him, but I can't remember exactly what he was saying. Actually, don't know if I knew. But Anthony said something like "okay and now the heckling period starts." And the guy said more and then anthony was like, I don't know, I might get security for you soon. Or something like that.

Somewhere right around there, some girl screamed out "Will you marry me?" Anthony definitely seemed surprised and a tad shocked. He paused for a bit to look in shock, and then replied that no, sorry, he's taken. Everyone groaned. I applauded, b/c well I love Rodney, but wasn't sure if clapping showed that so I stopped. So then Anthony said: "Proposal from a total stranger. Well THIS is definitely going on the Internet." (where the quote came from)

Umm, he also asked if anyone actually saw the OBC...a couple people said yes, that they were 11/12ish. It was either here or in response to a question...but I'll put it here...he mentioned while writing the book, that he didn't really think it would be read by a lot of people that age, but at a lot of the signings he's done he's seen a lot of people that age. Usually their parents take them and they seem like they've read the book and the parents seem fine and supportive of it, so he's glad of that.

Umm, finally I think he just briefly mentioned he's been thrilled to have gotten such great responses to the book, of people sharing their experiences with him. So he thanked everyone who sent him an e-mail or anything, and apologized to those he hadn't responded to.

Okay, then I think he began reading. He read...I'm too lazy to get my book out to confirm the chapter, but he said since Jonathan's such an important "character" in the book, he wanted to read some parts about Jonathan being alive. So he started with the part about Jonathan asking Anthony to sing some of Roger's song at the concert, and Jonathan's speech at the concert, and Anthony's birthday party where Jonathan told his friend that he's the future of musical theatre, and finally Jonathan's peasant feast. Of course there was where he met Adam. When Anthony got to that part, you know he read where Adam said "hi!" and of course kind of imitated his tone and expression and from what I've briefly seen of Adam in person a couple of times...it just cracked me up because it was so him.

Finally he ended the reading with Jonathan's speech at the feast, about the importance of the show and his friends, and the cast and such. Anthony may have had a tear in his eye at that part, I don't know. It was wonderful to hear him read that though.

I think somewhere before the questions started he mentioned that he hadn't watched the documentary on the DVD yet. He just hasn't been able to do it, knowing Jonathan so well. Understandable.

Okay, then questions started. Let's see. I was definitely able to answer at least half of them. (Which character is most like Jonathan-Mark, pranks that Taye's played-graveyard scene and Cubs game, was there any welcoming ritual for Rosario and Traci-no, etc.) But there was a couple ones I don't rememeber hearing. Actually, this one my friend swore she heard somewhere...so maybe someone posted about this story, sorry if so, but it was new to me so I figured I'd post it. Someone ask if he's gotten into any fights with the cast members. He said nothing like huge, but like he, Jesse, and Adam lived together in San Francisco during the shooting of the movie. So often they would get up at 5:30 and such so they devised a shower schedule. Like each person had a certain number of minutes in the shower. So one morning at about 5:30, Anthony was in there, still with a couple of minutes left, when he hears banging on the door. Now, this story is so much better when Anthony's imitating the banging and Adam, soo funny, but Adam was just banging and in a 5:30 half-dead voice was yelling at him to get out when he still had time. Probably funnier when told by him. But ha, someone shouted that Adam had the hair so he needed more time.

Umm, someone asked who in the cast he's closest with. I knew some of this, but he said he's always been really close with Daphne because they worked together on the NYTW production, and also the bonding they did over losing mothers. He said in terms of the movie, he got really close with Traci because they spent so much time together learning the "stupid tango." After indication from the audience meaning how could you call it stupid, he said, no no it was fun and ended up great, it just was really hard to learn. He said also because he lived with him, he became even closer with Jesse, and Adam too.

Umm, someone said Mark Cohen is his teacher's idol, and Anthony said ahh so his idol is a sexually-repressed...etc, laughs from the audience. This poor girl who was shaking well she asked the fight question, but then asked who of the other actors would he like to be? He got really confused, not knowing if she meant actors or characters, and finally he was like umm...no one. I like being me. And the girl turned bright red, I felt a little bad.

Umm, someone asked if he felt he was ready for the sexual experiences he had at such a young age (Yes.) Ooh, but cute story there too. He said he's always been umm...I can't think of the word, well , you'll figure it out from the story. He had a girlfriend when he was in 4th grade, he was 8 (awws from the audience) and that they would go downstairs to his basement, put a blanket over them, and kiss-closed mouth, no tongues or anything. Haha, that was pretty funny.

Someone asked about his dancing in La Vie Boheme, if that's how he dances, he said he thinks it's how Mark dances, and kind of for a second imitated that hand thing he does at the end. Very cool to see it in person.

Umm, I don't know what the question was but...oh yeah, someone asked about specific changes in the movie from the show (another one that's been asked a lot...he began to say we actually began trying to shoot...and I whispered "Contact" in sync with him...), but when talking about the engagement party, he said there is the scene that has always gotten the biggest laugh in the whole movie whenever he's seen it. Of course, he says it's "maybe you two can get back together now." Apparently, nobody thought it was going to garner that much laughter, they thought it might get chuckles.

Of course, cut scenes question, etc. Oh, someone asked if he dyed his hair for Adventures in Babysitting. He said yes, he had to do two auditions, one with his hair and one with the dyed hair.

Oh, someone asked you know about acting, if there were times he was struggling and ever considered quitting. He said not really, Starbucks was the only odd job he had to work. He said maybe there was one time in like 2000-2001, where he was struggling that he thought maybe he thought of possibly considering something else but then he got a part in a little movie called "A Beautiful Mind." He also said you shouldn't go into the field of acting unless you're prepared for the roller coaster ride of working and not working.

Someone asked how relationships have been since the movie, he said they all keep in touch, but more of a checking in once in a while to see how each other's doing, that it's obviously not the same barely seeing each other; mentioned the 10th anniversary concert and such.

Oh, someone asked if he has seen the show since he was in it and what he thought. He said he's seen it a little, and¡Kthere were some moments in the show that he just felt the 15 of them had down so well that just isn't executed so well in other casts. He said he's seen fantastic individual performances, and some parts are wonderful, and great voices, and it was great to watch from the audience, but that overall he thinks some of the complete chemistry between the 15 of them isn't as strong in casts since them.

Someone asked if he thinks the response to the show would have been different had Jonathan not died. He said yes, there was certainly a media frenzy in the beginning with it, but he really doesn¡¦t think so overall. He asked if the majority of the people see the show b/c Jonathan died? And obviously the answer is no.

Someone said he was singing Rent songs in a choir and only he and his teacher really understand the meanings of them in Rent, and is there anyway he can help the others to get them? They saw the movie but still didn¡¦t, so Anthony said you know there's not much you can do in that situation, everyone reacts differently to it. He talked about some of the critics who respond "get a job!" and such.

Oh when talking about the say the cast had in the movie, he said they were very concerned with the church for Angel's funeral. They didn't want it to be overly religious, they just didn't see it that way, so they made sure it seemed very secular. They also discussed who should be there. They couldn't imagine most of Angel¡' family would be supportive, and that on the right side, I think near the back you see a woman with grey hair and a black veil; she's Angel's grandmother. (This sounded familiar¡ he may have said that in the commentary, but I'm not positive so included it here).

His favorite song from Rent is "I'll Cover You Reprise."

Okay, I *think* that's all of the questions/answers that had what I thought might be some new information. I'll add if I remember anymore. Wow, halfway through I thought I should have taken notes; guess I did a good job remembering without them.

Okay, now throughout this, for some reason, people kept getting up to already start forming the line for the signing. Between the time he said two more questions, and the questions were done and he was just going to sing, like half of the people must have gotten up. I shrugged, and took someone's seat in the second row. So I got to sit that close while he sang all of "Seasons in Love." Great treat.

It was also just amusing some of the reactions the whole time. The couple girls I was sitting with had lived in this area of Jersey their whole life, and have never really experienced the Rent craziness of NYC, so they were telling me this was so much more people than they were expecting (I thought there was maybe more than 200), which of course I thought there was less, and they thought the Rent singers were the extent of craziness of Rent fans.

Oh, Anthony commented on hearing the "sing-along" upstairs before the show.

Okay, he was signing in a table in the adjacent room, but the line still extended to the room we were in. I was pretty much planning on this, and as people ran to the line in the first place, I figured I'd relax and just sit until the line was done, and then be last. I still had my homework I was going to bring to do early so I did that for like over an hour . It was pretty useful, I think I accomplished more there than I would have if I were home; would probably be posting instead. Haha. But the line took ridiculously long. I think it was because they were all telling him their names; didn't have post-its or anything. A teeny bit because I don't shut up, I think he was there at the table for a little over 2 hours.

Finally the end of the line went all the way to the other room, and I saw more chairs so sat there. Ended up on the phone then so kind of chair hopped to stay with the line. When I got to the table, there were 2 girls who wanted I think tango pose photos so Anthony told them to wait. I told them to just go. They were so thankful, and took their pictures and all asked for hugs. One was shaking so much and was just making the most nervous, reddest, hugest smile for her picture it was cute. 2 of them were still kind of hanging around when I finally got to the table. In addition to the book, I brought an extremely original thing for him to sign the "No Parking" sign I took down from the pole the night I went to the Rent set, which was also the first time I ever talked to him. He smiled, seemed to think it was cool to sign, I thought maybe it would be nice to sign something different. And OMG, he's just so sweet (well, as everyone knows). He told me he's really bad with names and he apologized for not remembering mine (I've just chatted with him at Kitchen Sink and Elvis Costello concerts for a bit, so he knows me, but we're not best friends or anything) I laughed and said I might have told you once when you signed my Feeling Electric playbill, so there's nothing for you to remember, don't worry.

So then I was like so how are you? He smiled and said fine, just a little tired. I said a little? He laughed and said he had to get up 5:30 this morning to fly to the next signing. I can't believe he's doing this all; he just amazes me. I said I guess you don't spend as many late hours on BWW as you used to huh? He laughed and said no, definitely not.

Umm, oh, guess I didn't post here, but I got my first pit job in a community theatre. It's a small thing in Douglaston (it¡¦s in Queens, near Long Island), it's the first time I'm getting paid to play in a pit so I'm just really excited because I adore pit, I love playing the music, I'm such a pit geek, and now I get paid. And it's also a better production than High School. I mean the comm.. theatre isn't exactly the level of Westchester Dinner Theatre, but I'm proud. So ha, I've kinda been telling any actor I vaguely know, or even if I just start talking to them I'll just randomly burst out "I got my first pit job!" So of course I had to tell Anthony. And again, this was just so sweet. He said I'm sorry, I forgot what instrument you play. And I was like what? I never told you that...pretty sure I never told him anything about pit. And he was like really? Like he thought he should have known, which again..just...I dunno, he's just so sweet about taking an interest. But anyway he congratulated me, asked about the instrument (clarinet), show (Guys and Dolls), where it was, and you know really took an interest. Little things like that mean a lot to me

Oh, and here's where I need to be slapped. I've been acting too much like a spoiled fan. Like while I was on the phone with my friend, I realized being last I could get a special pic like the tango pose (from what I saw he wasn't getting up), but I decided I didn't want it to be like the other pics; I wanted a special pic. My friend and I tried to think of something else but we couldn't, so I figured I'd ask him, which I did. I felt soo bad. He was obviously soo exhausted, but tried soo hard. He must have been thinking really hard for at least 3 minutes. He was soo tired, I shouldn't have made him think! But again just...he's so great...he really, really tried. Like I said I actually can do some basic tango if that helps, so he took me and said well this is the starting position, but that's the starting position for almost all ballroom dances so that it's nothing special, and we actually teenily moved out feet twice so it's almost nothing, but good enough for me that I'm going to say I tangoed with him Finally he just looked so clueless I was like I'm sorry, forget it, forget it, we'll do the regular one, and we did. Granted, I got a "tango" out of that, but still, looking back, I should have been slapped. I'll slap myself next time.

Umm, I think we talked a little more before we left. Oh yeah, I told him I could have answered half of the questions, but he said there was some new ones tonight which he liked. Oh, and someone made him a bear that if you pressed something played something front Rent..I couldn't hear. (If for some reason whoever made the bear lurks on BWW, he was playing with it at this point, he definitely loved it!) So...meh, I couldn¡¦t resist saying something like aww, that's cute. I would definitely prefer bears to sandwiches. (2 slaps for me) He laughed and said no, it' all great, it's all done out of love Gah, he's so great (20,000th time I've written that this post)

Ooh yeah, I said I was so glad I could come here b/c I missed B&N but after hearing about that, I'm not upset. He just shook his head and agreed yeah it was crazy, but that they're learning how to handle the bookstores; that Dallas probably had as many people as NY (that's surprising I think) but that went much better. The other girl said B&N always messes up things like that. But yeah, the signings have been going smoother since then, so that's good to know.

I think that's it. Then he and the ppl running the event left one way and I left another, and we just agreed we'd probably see each other some point soon. I pretty much planned to be last, figuring I would have a bit more time, because I wouldn't have to rush for anyone behind me and I was right. But seriously, it was a little after 11:30 when we left. As I was doing my work, I was getting tired. I can't imagine just sitting and signing and talking and posing for 2 hours like every other day. He...once again amazes me. Oh yeah, the one trade off of going last was I got a sloppy signature...not something I'm overly concerned with

And this is probably the longest, if not definitely 2nd longest, post from "The Queen Of The Long Posts." Well, I've gotten feedback that people love all the details I put into these accounts, so I hope at least some of you do and don't mind the length. I always want to make people feel as if they were there, so yeah. Hope you enjoyed, and are in fact, still reading this post. (It took me over an hour and a half to write up...)

Anthony is amazing in case I didn't mention that

Updated On: 3/9/06 at 03:40 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 3:42pm

Good God, that is THE longest post I have EVER seen. And I write long-ass posts.

[Allie]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 3:54pm

And I read every word of it (even if your word processer screwed up some stuff!). Sounds like you had a great time, my dear!

[Atrias]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 3:55pm

Heh. That's why I posted mine in three parts.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 3:57pm

Would you guys prefer it if I broke it into 3 different parts/posts?

Yeah, sorry about the weird signals, I typed it on word so I could constantly save it, and didn't realize when I copied some of that would get all messed up. Fixed it though.

I think it's Q&As that I wrote so long about, because not just for you guys, but for myself I want to try to remember anything, because months down the road there will be so much I don't remember, so I want to write it for myself. Understandably, the only other post I've made that may compete with one is when I went to a DRS talkback.

ETA: Allie! I miss you!

Updated On: 3/9/06 at 03:57 PM

[Allie]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 4:09pm

Me too! I'll talk to you tonight, okay? I'm going out for a bit.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 4:19pm

[Clayford27]

Posted: 3/9/06 at 4:23pm

Awww wickedrentq, I'm so glad you had an amazing time at the book signing! :)