Your "Brush With Greatness"- Page 2

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/22/06 at 7:37pm

I posted this on another thread a while back, but here goes...


At a performance of Lily Tomlin's "Search..." back in the late '80s, I watched the following people each exit the stage door, one by one, after congratulating Lily on a job well done. To this DAY, I can't figure out if they all just rang each other up and said, "Let's all go TONIGHT."

Katharine Hepburn
Barbra Streisand
Meryl Streep

It was like staring at Mount Rushmore. And there weren't that many people hanging around. Maybe ten total. I was standing right next to the stage door when it happened.

As they all walked by me, gawking (and I almost dropped my Playbill twice), there were about 30 photographers that all came out of the woodwork and began snapping shots of them frantically. Apparently, someone had tipped them off that it was "celebrity night" at Tomlin's show. Ms. Hepburn took a nosedive into her limo and made a fast getaway. She was wearing a black sweatshirt and blue jeans. No joke. Meryl and her hubby, dressed a bit more upscale, smiled and walked down the street together. I couldn't believe how beautiful she was in person.

I'm not usually the "star struck" type... but I will never forget that night as long as I live.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/22/06 at 7:54pm

pab, was that the 1985 performance with Joann Callender?

[pab]

Posted: 8/22/06 at 7:56pm

Yes it was.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/22/06 at 7:57pm

I would have loved to have seen that.......sigh

[pab]

Posted: 8/22/06 at 8:04pm

Elphaba, JoAnn has been one of my closest personal friends for the past 32 years. She is a brilliant soprano and we are presently working on something together.
JoAnn Callender

Updated On: 8/22/06 at 08:04 PM

[gettinhep]

Posted: 8/22/06 at 8:05pm

Well, after the Rushmore experience, my 'brush with greatness' seems so silly.

I played a lot of tennis in my childhood. I never missed an Australian Open, either at Kooyong or in its current home at Melbourne Park. One year, at Kooyong, rain started in the early evening. I knew play would be abandoned for the day. I headed home. I tried to beat the crowds out of the place by travelling at the back of the grandstands on an outer court. I was my usual, careless self, turned the corner without slowing or looking up and careered at jogging speed into Chris Evert. She acted as though it were her fault. I hope that I am as gracious in the same circumstance.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/22/06 at 8:06pm

I had that site up already, heh heh. Her voice is amazing, and hopefully one day I will get to see her in something. Just looking at some of the things she has done blows me away.

[chealion313]

Posted: 8/22/06 at 8:47pm

Back when I was in high school and working in a fast food place, Lawrence Taylor, who was at the height of his career with the Giants, used to come in all the time and order from me. Damn, that man could eat alot.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 12:07pm

Joe, was that an Oprah/lesbian allusion?

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 12:28pm

My own claim to fame: I can be heard on a Barbra Streisand CD. I attended opening night of her comeback tour (the first one, in 1994, I think) at Madison Sqaure Garden. During break between songs when she was chatting with the audience, I shouted out 'You're like buttah' (a la Mike Meyers/Linda Richman). Barbra immeidately replied that she was getting a little verklemft, gave us a topic (the Prince of Tides was about neither princes nor tides), and told us to discuss. The banter was asknowledged in several reviews the next day, and was included in the live CD.

A couple of others, showing my age: I was on line for a ride at Six Flags in NJ with Andy Kaufman. Also, I was walking on Central Park South and a crowd was waiting for Ava Gardner to come out of her hotel. Someone tapped me on my shoulder and asked what all the fuss was about. That someone was Harry Anderson (magician/Night Court on TV).

[aspen]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 12:35pm

When I was a kid, my aunt and I saw Yakov Schmirnov(sp?), that Russian comedian... anyways he asked if I had a hole in my sock, and I did, so he called me on stage to show everybody and gave me a free book. To this day, I don't know what point he was trying to make.

A couple of years ago I was in the front row at Regis & Kelly. Regis was gone, so our guest host was *drumroll* The Crocodile Hunter! He spoke to me, and his alligator-crocodile-thingie tried to eat me. How many people can say THAT?

I've also met Chuck Norris a few times. But does that even count?

[chicolini]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 1:54pm

When I was a kid, '70s golfing great Lee Trevino gave me back my apple juice after I dropped my bottle.

More recently, Rick Steves (PBS travel guy) walked into the restaurant where I was eating in France to check that his guidebook was still accurate.

I really should get out more if this is what I consider "greatness"...

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 1:56pm

I saw Larry David of Seinfeld fame hauling ass out of Spelling Bee in Chicago. It was a glorious moment. I also peed next to Tommy Thompson, former governor of Wisconsin and at that time Director of Health and Human Services. Also, meeting Sondheim at Ravinia was amazing.

[aspen]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 6:16pm

You peed next to him? So, was he... ya know...?

[TheaterAddict7652]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 8:55pm

Actually, mine was today, oddly enough.

I'm getting some community service hours with a school- I'm working with a class of five-year-olds. Today we had a field trip to the Library of Congress. I assumed that it would be a basic trip, but it turned out to be a benefit-type thing for a program that promotes childrens' literacy. (I can't remember the name)
I entered the room with some of the kids and all the adults were talking, while kids not just from my school but from other schools as well were drawing on these huge sheets of paper on the floor. I walked over to one corner with a bunch of kids and I saw Ben Vereen talking to a few kids. I was frozen for a few seconds and then go draw with the kids at a different sheet of paper. About ten minutes later I look up and Ben Vereen is trying to find these letter stamps so he can spell out his name two feet away from me.