Anthony Rapp NYC Signing Info- Page 4

[xM3L24x]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 11:13pm

There was a lot of people there. It went reallyy slow in the beginning. I don't know how it was after I left, I was fairly close. But I literally didn't move for 45 minutes after it started. Anthony was his sweet self. He read an excerpt (the chapter of him describing when he first met Adam). I stood on line for about 3 hours, but it was totally worth it in the end =).

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 2/21/06 at 11:22pm

WOW I could not believe the crowd!! Very poorly organized event, it was a free for all. I got to ask a question tho! lol I asked him wha twas the oddest gift hes receieved from a fan...

Anthony recognized me when I went up to the table! I don't know whether to be embaressed or pleased lol

[dreaminaret]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 12:43am

I got there at 3:30 and got seats for me and my buddies. I totally assumed that coming in at 3:30 would assure me a front row view but almost all of the seats were gone at that point. The die hards were ridiculous - there were 2 little girls up front with their dad making FINGER SANDWICHES. Oy. I also met 2 cool people sitting behind me from Western New York - I forgot your BWW names but I hope you enjoyed the city!

Then my friends came and it was okay... until the people ahead of us began belting THE ENTIRE Rent soundtrack. Now I know that it's cool and all that you like Rent but not everyone at B&N wanted to hear it. The guys working there told me that I should follow their advice and stuff wet papertowels in my ears. They also said that they hadn't expected it to be a big crowd (esp since every celebrity and their mother currently has a book in production) so they were unprepared - had they known it would be mass chaos they prob would have held it at the B&N on 17th street which handles the bigger author events.

At 3:45 or 4 all of the seats were gone and by 5 it was a madhouse. By 7 literally the entire floor of B&N was packed in. I saw a bunch of parents glancing through the glass windows which was funny b/c that's where Anthony was :)

So then Rodney comes and everyone's asking for his autograph (inside their copies of Without You, no less). Also Victoria Leacock (sp?) and some of Jonathan and Anthony's friends were there. They were passing out little postcards for the Albinokid concert which once I realized all this publicity I decided that I would definitely not go... I mean, I'm a fan but I had a major headache and it was just tooooo claustrophobically fangirly.

He read that portion which was good (though I think that Adam Pascal stole some of his limelight) and then took some questions which ranged from good to not-so-good. He sang portions of La Vie Boheme and Losing My Religion but not a substantial part of either song.

For those of us in seats the signing wasn't too bad and was better ordered than what I would have guessed. I left as soon as my book was signed so I don't know how long it took others to get out of there but it was crazy!

[dreaminaret]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 12:43am

Oops double post... um... woooo Anthony! Aaaaah! (fangirl scream.)

Updated On: 2/22/06 at 12:43 AM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 12:54am

Yeah, I've been getting updates from Emcee and it sounds scary. She said people started getting there at 11am. What the hell? Shouldn't these kids be in school?!

I can't believe people asked Rodney for his autograph. I mean, that's seriously weird.

Posted: 2/22/06 at 1:11am

I thought those girls had moved past the finger sandwiches and were now onto chocolate... ?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 1:11am

So that was a little more than insane.

But the concert later was very worth it!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 1:21am

Someone in SF made him PB & J sandwiches. Would YOU eat homemade food from a stranger?! I couldn't tell if he had...

[dreaminaret]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 1:25am

Yeah I had gotten there early to save Em a seat. Couldn't go to the concert because I had meetings from 9-11 and really had no motivation after seeing what the gates of hell look like when they're opened. They made almond butter and jelly sandwiches. I thought it was Victoria Leacock that started giving out Godiva chocolate which was sweet.

[dreaminaret]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 1:28am

Here are some pics to see the insanity!

Updated On: 2/22/06 at 01:28 AM

[dreaminaret]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 1:34am

The bottom one is the crowd at 3:30pm.

Updated On: 2/22/06 at 01:34 AM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 1:35am

hahaha

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 1:36am

Holy crap, them's a lotta people!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 1:41am

Now, imagine them all SINGING for hours. Off-pitch. aaah.

[dreaminaret]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 1:46am

i think that's why he promptly ended "la vie boheme"

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 2:42am

That was *definitely* why. I wasn't even there that early (5:45) and they were already pissing me off. So did the "false alarms"-some girls cheering loudly and making everyone else think Anthony was coming.

Of course, I was standing in the "press box" (which they didn't tell us was reserved for press until right beforehand), so I wasn't in the best of moods.

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 2:51am

There were these girls who were on the other side of the isle from me who decided that they were going to come up with a quiz and if you didn't get 100%, then you got kicked out of line. Of course, then they decided to start to sing. The girls infront of me were nice though.

[opiv]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 9:34am

Wow, thats a ton of people.

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 9:43am

I was i nthe press box, too!
Em, did you end up getting a seat?? soo lucky! my feet were killing me!

[caitiesus1522]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 10:16am

ok so one the Rodney thing *headesk*

[alli2]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 10:29am

anthony did eat some of the finger sandwiches, towards the end of the night. i didn't wait on the line, i was taking pictures from the press box and then i sat down in the little area of seats infront of him and took pictures. A girl had Anthony sign her Angel tights and she was wearing a skirt and lifted her leg onto the table. ::sigh:: Another had him sign her jeans, there were random rent tank tops being signed, Rent programs, Rent bibles, the movie cover, posters, etc signed.

His concert WAS the best part though. The setlist (which he so kindly recreated for me afterwards) was as follows:

Living Alive
Then Again
Goodbye
Creep
Human Tornado
Perfect (the stalker song)
Visits to You
New _____ (something, I can't read his handwriting, it was the breakup song)
Out Out Damn Spot
Seasons of Love

If anyone has pictures that they'd donate to my site, please let me know, I'd very much appreciate it! Thanks!

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 10:39am

Anthony’s Book Signing and Gig - 2/21 NYC

I went to the signing with some BWWers, one of which, (bless her soul), got there at 3:30 and saved us seats. When we got there, I was shocked at the size of the space. It was a teeny area right in front of the window of the music section of Barnes and Noble. All the seats were already filled when we got there, and it took a lot of effort to not step on anyone. We got there at around 4:45 and waited around until 7. There were some CRAZY people there. People were singing in practically eight different pitches – they had to be told by security to shut up. They actually had to call the police. Not Barnes and Noble security, but the NYPD. Someone made finger sandwiches with popsicle sticks coming out that had pictures of Anthony’s head. They were….creepy, to say the least.

It started filling up closer to 6. They had to have people constantly moving because I’m sure it was very close to being a fire hazard. All the seats were filled, the aisles were filled, the area behind the seats was filled, and the line continued to sneak around many corners. Lots of people. The main area was right in front of a big window, and at around 6:45, you could see Anthony standing outside peeking in. It was cute.

So, he came in, and my ears were in a lot of pain. He seemed a little shocked that so many people were there. It was a pretty rowdy crowd – there was a lot of random, unnecessary applauding and more or less shrieking. He began by saying something about the reason he wrote the book; while he sat with writer’s block, banging his head against the wall, staring at a blank computer screen, what he envisioned as the light at the end of the tunnel was something like tonight. Being able to share his story and being able to meet and communicate with his fans. He read the chapter “We Begin” – which was great, and especially emotional, at least I found it to be, because Jonathan’s good friend Victoria Leacock was there (who was kind enough to pass around Godiva chocolate).

Anthony then opened it up for questions. I suppose it could have been a lot worse based on the crowd – but it wasn’t that bad. I don’t really remember much from this part of the evening. Someone asked about any bloopers from the show or the movie and Anthony told the story that once during ICY Jesse’s microphone got tangled with Wilson’s wig and his wig got pulled off. There were a lot of questions about the book – what his family’s reaction was, if there was any jealousy between him and his brother, if his feelings had changed about the concept of truth after the James Frey debacle, what members of the OBC who are mentioned in the book thought. Someone asked why Fredi and Daphne weren’t in the movie and he answered that Daphne was pregnant and Fredi and Chris agreed she was too old for the part. He then went on to say that Fredi has publicly supported the movie and that she had even planned a trip to go see it with members of BWW. Boo for that never actually happening. There was a question about what Anthony remembered most about Jonathan – to which he answered something along the lines of his energy and passion. Someone asked if he thought he would be looked down on because of how truthful he was in terms of his past relationships – Anthony responded by saying that he was just being truthful and hopefully people wouldn’t see it like that. Someone asked if Anthony was unhappy about anything that had been removed from the book during the editing process. He said that there was more detail about his friend whose memorial service he attended the day of his first Rent audition – but that it had been a mutual decision that it wasn’t really necessary. He then said that he was very adamant about the Spin the Bottle stuff – and that he would have beat someone if they tried to remove it. I think most of the other questions we’ve heard before – what was your favorite scene to shoot, do you like film or stage better, what are you doing next, do you plan to continue writing, etc. Somewhere in there people started requesting things for him to sing and he ended up singing a short snippet of La Vie Boheme in his “jazzy” voice and a bigger snippet of Losing My Religion. Ok, so I apparently remember a lot more than I thought I would.

So, the signing was slightly more organized than I thought. There was enough time to have a DVD, book, and one other thing signed. Those awkward bending in pictures were allowed – but it was really fast paced. They put our names on a post-it, and you basically had as much time in front of him as it took for him to sign whatever you had. So, then it was my turn. I got up there and told him I was Fantabulous from BWW – he was very nice about it. He seemed glad that people were “declaring” themselves to him. I got one of those awkward pictures and was on my way.

We got to the outside of the Cutting Room at around 9:45 – doors were supposed to open at 10:30. We assumed after such a large crowd at the signing to expect a big group at the gig. When we got there we went in and were told that the first show was running late and the show would start at 11:30, not 11. We returned outside for another 25 minutes until some guy who had been handing out Albinokid flyers at the signing came out and told us if we were here for Albinokid we could go inside. We were right towards the front of the line, and at around 10:40 Anthony showed up looking very confused – I think he might not have known that he was starting a half hour later and he still needed to do some form of a sound check. No one except for the people in the front even knew he was there. He kind of just appeared out of nowhere and continued to walk back and forth between sides of the Cutting Room for about 20 minutes.

It was a really nice, intimate space. There were mostly round tables lit by candles – I would say there were around 45 people there. Anthony’s set list was:

Living Alive
Then Again
Goodbye
A Radiohead cover called "Creep"
The Stalker Song
Human Tornado
Visits to You
The Breakup Song
Out Out Damn Spot
Seasons of Love

When he first came out, we were all so dead that no one even applauded or anything. It was the complete opposite from the signing. Anthony said something like, “Well, everyone sounds real excited tonight.” He kept using these funny voices, what he called his “radio” voice. When he introduced his band he would say this is David on the gee-tar. Heh. He’s got a real quirky sense of humor. I also have to say that his stuff from Look Around sounded great live and with a band behind him. Some nice backup vocals were added to most of the songs too. Anthony has also got some great dance moves. Lots of spinning around, jumping up and down, and just some samba-esque hip moves. And of course many, many spaz hands. He mentioned that hopefully Albinokid will be recording an album soon and that they're hoping to play some more gigs. After the show Anthony stayed up on stage and people didn’t really know what to do. Someone ran over and attacked him and he ended up being in this really dark corner. So we headed over there and they eventually brought over a tiny desk lamp. We sat down and chatted for a few minutes, thanked Anthony, and we were on our way. It was a great night with surprisingly a lot of emotional ups and downs. But in the end, if this was the night that wrapped up this chapter, I suppose it was a good night with many fun, interesting, and creepy memories. Thanks Anthony!


Ok, so I didn’t even know it was possible for me to type that much, but apparently it was. Hope anyone who actually got through it enjoyed it.

Updated On: 2/22/06 at 10:39 AM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 10:47am

Yay, now I can just add to that and I don't have to type up a lot. :)

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 10:52am

I suppose it was a good night with many fun, interesting, and creepy memories.

lmao.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/22/06 at 10:56am

After a while, I just gave in and laughed. I was talking to Rodney when the girl was like "AHHH OMG CAN I TAKE A PICTURE WITH YOU!?!?! and she showed him the finger sandwhiches and a picture of her room and whatnot. Then she drew a ton of attention to him and he started signing books and whatnot. Then, I ran. Far, far away.