Any bad stage-door experiences?

It's really great sometimes to meet and interact with the cast after a show you love, and they are usually very nice. However, it's not always like that. Have you ever had s 'not so pleasant' stage door experience?

I flew to London to see Wicked with Idina Menzel. I was really excited about seeing her perform and meeting her.
I waited at the stage door after the show. It was freezing.
She finally came out. I told her I came a long way especially to see her. She responded : "ah, ok"
I asked her to have my photo taken with her. She responded : "No, I have to go, I have 2 shows tomorrow"
I handed her a CD booklet and the show's program to sign. She signed only the booklet and went away.

I was really disappointed and lost a lot of respect to this performer. I hope she's not always like that and just had a bad day.

Double Post.

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Updated On: 3/16/08 at 11:00 AM

The first time I met Idina was after Wicked in New York. It was freezing, she was sick, there was a huge crowd, and she stayed to sign for everyone before she left. No pictures, but she signed my RENT book, her CD (which was for a charity auction), and my Playbill (which I hadn't intended to get signed, she just grabbed it and signed it).

The second time I met her was outside the RENT movie premiere. Again, it was freezing and she was wearing a flimsy little dress, but she was really nice and signed a bunch of stuff before she was pulled into the theater.

The third time I met her was at the 92nd Street Y a few weeks ago. After the talk, she sat at a table and signed copies of her CD and took pictures with everyone. The line was ridiculously long. Again, she was friendly and smiling. I didn't stay to see if she signed for everyone, but I assume she did.

I think you probably caught her on a bad day.

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Charlotte d'Amboise didn't even look at me when signing my program at the Chorus Line stage door. Krysta Rodriguez grabbed my Spring Awakening program out of my hand and signed it. I didn't even want her autograph. Now, I have nothing nice to say about her.

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There was a rent ensemble member who had the diva attitude when they came out. No pictures or autographs. "I have places to be".

Chya right, they act as if they started in the show. I saw them on stage like a handful of times.

Luckily I haven't had any bad stage door experiences with the actors, except being disappointed when someone didn't come out at all, the things I've had problems with are the people there. Some that push you out of the way or interrupt you when you're talking with someone you've waited all that time to talk to and ask for pictures/autographs.

My friend stage doored Wicked once and a little girl was just wanting autographs and gets trampled by teens that have seen the show like 100 times. It's people like this that give stage dooring a bad rep.

So far everyone that I've met have been more than gracious. *knock on wood* Too bad the same can't be said for some of their fan bases.

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This ages me, but I saw Amy Irving in Amadeus in 1981 and I'd brought along a publicity still to have her sign. When she came out, with a man on each arm, I apporached her and she kept walking...and looked back...and kept walking...she eventually did sign, asking me rather curtly where I got the picture.

Mary Testa was pretty nice, I thought! Especially considering I freaked out when I realized it was her. She signed my program and took a picture with me. I have even more love for her now :).

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This happened in Las Vegas, technically not at a stage door, but in November I saw Patti Lupone in concert at the Suncoast. I waited for about twenty minutes to see if she would come out and as I was walking away from valet with my mom and two friends, she came walking past and was standing there talking to two guards. I went up to her and told her I have been a life long fan blah blah and asked her if she could sign my ticket or take a picture and she looked at the guard who took a step in front of me and she looked at me and says, "I prefer not." and rolled her eyes. I was completely shocked and stood there completely dumbfounded. I was the only one there and it wasn't like there were 100's of people begging for her autograph. She lost a fan in me!

After a show I met a Drowsy Chaperone cast member who was nice to me and signed my playbill, but afterwards I overheard him sort of having a laugh at my expense with his buddy. I would have thought I was imagining it if he hadn't said my name and "that person I just talked to" in the midst of it. I'm not sure what he said, but whatever it was made him and his friend have a chuckle. Oy, I felt about 2 inches tall.

The people who were "guarding" Miss Patti at the Gypsy stagedoor were awful. Miss Patti was SO nice but they were all grabbing her and forcing her into her car. They weren't even giving her enough space to breathe; it was horrible. I could understand them being protective if the crowd was big and rowdy, but it wasn't. It was calm and very quiet.

In 2005 after Spamalot in Chicago, I met Tim Curry in a freezing cold blizzard.I asked him to sign a Rocky Horror DVD booklet. He went to sign it and because of the snow he yelled "THE PEN WON'T SIGN" Then my mom quickly handled him a new marker and he signed it, then walked right away. He was a bitchy attitude. Maybe because of the snow.

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It sounds like your YF experience was the end result of the cast drawing straws, Broadwayj1. :)