A Steady Rain Poster? — Page 2

Last Saturday was the first time they decided they would no longer sign autographs at the stage door (and yes, it was their own decision). Since BC/EFA started last Friday, of course they would have been signing on the 21st. They will not sign again for the rest of the run.

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig are trying to raise money for BC/EFA. They feel that they will raise more money if the only way people can get an autograph or picture with them is through donations. It's not like they are charging people at the stage door for autographs in general (Michael Landon was notorious for charging for autographs). No one here is entitled to an autograph or picture. Jackman and Craig are very generous, and they aren't even obligated to participate in BC/EFA. What they are doing is a good thing.

Seriously, these men are raising HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars for charity. For crying out loud, can't people just enjoy a memory of handshake and a kind word from an international movie star. Some people are just pathetic in their wah-wah sense of entitlement. The fact that you lose respect for someone who raises HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars for an AIDS charity because they can't sign a Playbill make me lose respect for you. I am sure if you explained to Hugh and Daniel how pathetic your life is that their signature makes all the difference in your day being ok, I am sure they would sign it for you.

WAH WAH WAH to the babies of the Broadway stage doors.

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Updated On: 10/30/09 at 11:41 AM

Cape Twirl of Doom, please find out if they are full-sized window cards for me...thanks.

No problem! I'll let you know what I find.

Also, since I won't be seeing the show a third time, if I wanted to pick up this BCEFA merchandise, could I just stop by the theater as it is letting out and pop up to buy them? Are they selling these things in the lobby or in the back of the theater?

Yup! Just come by 90 minutes after the show begins and you can come inside to buy them at the back bar.

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I have to say I am very disappointed with this situation.

First let me state that I have donated to BCEFA in the past...and plan on doing so in the future.

I APPLAUD Craig and Jackman for supporting such a noble charity...but I am disappointed with how they are doing so.

Selling the shirt and photos are a great way to raise money.

However, refusing to sign playbills, at the stage door is almost mean. I saved money I earned to go and see this show from the final row. When I bought this ticket I had always planned on "stage dooring." Did I know there was a possibility that they wouldn't sign because they weren't feeling well that day or something of the sort....of course. While I do not think that I am "entitled" to an autographed item, it creates a memory of the show that I will always have. Even my parents have playbills they have signed from when they were my age...

I cannot afford a signed poster. I always put a donation in the bucket when I leave, but it is unfair that someone who can afford to donate hundreds of dollars for a windowcard or picture can, but someone who is in High School, and saves every penny can't just have them sign a playbill.

It is not the spirit of Broadway.

Updated On: 11/1/09 at 10:08 PM

LesMiz, you need a reality check. This is a good one for you. Life is full of disappointments. Feel fortunate this is yours.

PS. You are acting a teeny bit "entitled." Stars this big could easily wait for their car to arrive and be ushered out by bodyguards. These guys shake hands and smile-that is a memory too. Memory is not limited to a signed Playbill.

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WithoutATrace, I just measured the windowcard and it's the normal size, 14x22.

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Twirl, I was going to be in the area tommorow (around Matinee time) and I was wondering if I would be able to just go to the bar after the matinee and buy a poster?

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Rudy, you know I love you, but I completely disagree with you. Hugh and Daniel are working actors, and very good ones. They just happen to have a high profile due to film work. The rabid fans have created whatever chaos has been put in place to protect them. Also, signing Playbills is not a part of their "day to day lives", it is a privilege. I feel you are writing your opinion as someone who tends to stage door, get your Playbills signed and has many photos with actors. I think you are personalizing this. No one is being exploited, and since the dawn of man, people with means (i.e. actors) have used their appeal in service to others and charities. No one is forcing people to pay $5000 for a shirt, they do it of their own free will and seemed to be very happy. There is nothing tasteless about this. Why were you not complaining when Dan Radcliffe was selling his jeans? I think people just need to relax and focus on the good these men are doing.

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Listen, folks - the Broadway experience is a personal experience. Seeing a play is a very personal experience. Wanting to meet (and yes, I know they will come out and say hello and what not, but now that experience has been systematically regulated and rendered stilted and joyless) the people who make that experience happen is part and parcel of that for many people. Having that possibility is part of mix. I feel that to exploit this mars the Broadway experience because it undermines the relationship between the actors and the audience and, yes, saps the class from the experience and leaves the actual artistry in the background.

It would be like going to a concert and getting Elton John's autograph and then him asking you for $500 for a donation to his AIDS charity.

It's in very poor taste - the height of poor taste - to charge for an autograph or picture, even if it is for a charity.

Never once did I say that getting autographs or pictures is essential or an entitlement. Rather, that was pushed upon me - not surprisingly, given the disgusting climate of this message board. A few intelligent, articulate people who are present here keep me coming back, but that's it.

Let me put it this way - when I met Jackie Mason (not on Broadway) and he was kind enough to pose for a picture with a few of us who waited for him he jokingly asked me for 6 bucks after the picture was taken. He joked about it because even Jackie Mason knows how tasteless and off-putting it is to request money in exchange for something like that.

Bottom line - "A Steady Rain" is a dramatic play by Keith Huff. Selling charity items for prices that go far beyond ticket prices - and barring less wealthy fans from those things as a result, and the ensuing tumult - threatens to compromise the actual act of staging the play...as if it wasn't taking a back seat already to stage door commotion.

The appeal of Jackman and Craig, from a personal standpoint, fails to register across my radar. I find the stage door mayhem that I've witnessed outside the theater to be inexplicable. I just don't get it. However, live and let live.

For me, it is a personal choice to avoid seeing shows where the people are there almost exclusively to and see celebrities and have no investment in the content of the play or musical being staged. I only make exceptions to that where there is an actor or actress I really admire in the production and wish to see perform, such as Marcia Gay Harden in "God of Carnage," for example. I feel this way because I believe the audience is a crucial part of what you're going to see.

Seeing the June 13 evening performance of "Exit the King," for example, was absolutely the most pleasureful experience I have had sitting in a Broadway audience. It was because the audience was there to *see the play*. You're never going to get that kind of an audience surrounding you at "A Steady Rain," and there was probably no audience like that to be had at the "All My Sons" revival, either. I also evoided "Equus" for that reason, in spite of Richard Griffiths' presence. When Scarlett Johannsen (sp?) drops in to perform in that Arthur Miller revival it will be the same case.

As if the artistry and genuineness wasn't already compromised enough...you get the idea. Hopefully.

It would make more sense to add an extra benefit performance of the show and donate the profits from that. It would probably raise as much money, if not more.

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Updated On: 10/31/09 at 11:10 PM

wow it seems i started an extreme dialogue on this matter.

I'm sorry I have never asked for much when seeing a show and BCEFA is almost always the charity i tend to donate to but it kind of hurt me that the tradition of seeing a show and going to the stage door to congradulate and take a token away has been comprimised and made in a MONEY MAKING scheme. I find it hurtful and hard to believe that people who have $400 to donate would really be upset that people outside are getting it for free. Not only does that cheapen what the point of a DONATION is but it cheapens the spirit in which the donation is given. Not only are they hitting people up in an extremely hard financial climate for the cost of the ticket at full price but a poster that is probably 350$ overpriced. I personally cannot affort $400 for a poster... I remember just a few years ago i could go to a show and buy a signed poster from bcefa for only $50 (which i would also go to the stage door and have my playbill signed too) It suddenly over the last couple years creeped up to $75 to $100 where most shows charge now. I find this disappointing... You know I think the spirit of what BCEFA represented has changed... and while i still agree it is a good cause helping people who really need it which is obviously the point in the end. I find it sad that they have cheapened what it has represented in the past. It now caters to people extremely well off. Which I find ironicly is not what they represent.
As far as Jackman and Craig.... I find it sad that they refuse to sign. Its not going to hurt them or the cause for bcefa. Many shows sell and people buy and many people still sign. Now I wont say that people are entitled to an autograph because you're not but it is a very longtime tradition that dates back as long as I can remember and most people respect that. Fans are the reason they are where they are and and though fans are not entitled it would be nice if they were respected. I find what currently goes on as disrespectful. To me it says... If you cant afford to buy a piece of us then we don't want you as a fan. PERIOD! Which I don't think is what they would like to portray... Give they may have been told by bcefa or the shows producers to not sign outside... However if they choose to do so they could. Who is going to tell Hugh Jackman you're fired cause you don't follow our no sign rules. Come on!
The whole thing is PETTY and stupid and saddening. While to some it seem trivial or stupid to get an autograph that is fine they have the right to think so. I just think that to each their own.
Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig should RESTART signing playbills outside the stage door and stop this Bougeois entitlement.

this is in fact what they are doing... I could maybe afford $50 for a poster... If i were to go up to them and say he's $50 1 poster please theyd say no sorry $400. In terms they are saying we don't want your cheap donation. In return perhaps their response would be... But you can give us the $50 and we'll keep it and you can go on your merry way.
And it doesn't matter that its just this shows policy.
Which by the way... the $100 poster was invented when Harry Connick JR was in Pajama game... and that was outragous then. It is the Bougeious Ideal. Sad

Updated On: 11/1/09 at 07:02 PM

I definitely feel for folks who may not have the money for costly charity premiums, but that is what these items are. I mean, I don't get upset when I watch PBS and they offer some amazing backstage meeting with Sarah Brightman or some signed memorabilia that is only offered to folks at a high donation level. It's just how charities work. It gets people to dig deep and its what a celebrity can do to help a cause.

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