Any bad stage-door experiences? — Page 7

Underground tunnels?

There's a door by the women's restrooms in the Cort theatre that has a sign on it that says, "This door leads to the tunnel." I kid you not.

My family has been going to Broadway since about 1955, and I don't remember anything like this until about 1990. Anyone a stage door historian?

Just because you personally didn't notice it until 1990 doesn't mean it didn't exist.

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Updated On: 5/7/09 at 07:06 PM

I've stage-doored almost every show I've seen and have never had a truly bad experience. I met Michael York after a performance of Camelot, and he was gracious and signed everything for everybody waiting, but he just had the whole "I would rather be anywhere but here" attitude.

My best stage door experience was The Lord of the Rings in Toronto. The trip was for my birthday, and I picked it exclusively to see LOTR. After the show, my mom and I were standing awkwardly at the stage door (I'm always afraid I'll ask for someone's autograph who wasn't in the show). All of a sudden, Peter Howe comes up and goes "Hey, are you here for autographs?" I said yes and he goes "Yeah, I understand *chuckle* It's hard to tell who's in the cast." I get starstruck very easily, so my mother told him it was my birthday. He proceeded to introduce me to every single member of the cast who came out the stage door after that, and they all signed my showbill and personalized their messages. They said they were very surprised to see someone from the States who actually knew about the production. It pretty much made my entire year.

Broadway's not a service industry. Are you required to be nice to everyone you meet and fulfill all their needs when you're not at work? A better analogy would be if you had finished your shift at Starbucks, were running down the street to catch your subway, and were accosted by a customer who wanted you to make another latte for them, then and there. Or if you'd finished up your workday at the office and someone ran after you asking you to type out another report. How would you feel about being made to do extra work off the clock, whether you wanted to or not?

I work in customer service, and just wanted to reply to this bit. While I may not be paid to be nice to customers when I'm in the shop on my own time, if I were recognised by a customer as an employee on my own time, I'd still be nice to them. If it's quick and easy (something like "on which floor of this shop might I find Biographies?"), I'd help even though I wasn't working. If it was more complicated ("could you please look this book up on the computer?"), I'd apologise, explain I wasn't working, but my co-worker would certainly be happy to help. I mean, it's just good manners, y'know? Even if it weren't, being rude could negatively affect my work at a later date; they might come into the shop when I am on duty and give me a hard time. They might not be able to understand that "not working" is a legitimate reason for not helping them and complain to my manager anyway. It's like they always told us when we went on schooltrips; you're an ambassador for your workplace (well, school). If you act like a dick, people won't always realise that it's just *you* being a dick, and it'll reflect negatively on you and your workplace anyway.

Never had any negative stagedoor experiences. Had some quick, impersonal, conversation-free affairs, but considering the actors in question were being confronted by a zillion people at the time, you can kinda forgive them for not wanting to chat to you for ages. Nicest performer was Forbes Masson at 'Henry V' in Stratford-upon-Avon. I can also highly recommend the children's author Anthony Horowitz; even after signing over a thousand books for three hours non-stop, he was still gorgeous and wonderful and chatty when I got to him. I love it when authors are so nice. Michelle Paver and Neil Gaiman are utterly gracious and charming too. (I read grown-up authors too. Honest. O_O)

Anyway! Back to Broadway! O_O

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I agree that the performers are not obligated to sign autographs, but they probably should expect it, depending on the show, who they are, the fanbase, etc. And if they do not wish to sign, why can’t they just politely decline and say they have to go instead of being rude. Luckily I’ve never had a bad experience. And I always respect some performers’ wishes – some do not do pictures, or the “take pictures while I’m signing,” or if they say they have a flight to catch and are in a rush, or something like that. I never take up too much of their time.

Some people sound like they were just having an off night (Stephanie J. Block especially – she’s always friendly and outgoing, so she must’ve been REALLY exhausted or something). And not being talkative doesn’t necessarily mean “rude.” But I am shocked at some other of these stories - :cough:MOLLYRINGWALD,CONSTANTINE:cough: – some sound just flat out mean, which is unnecessary.

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legally_popular
I agree with everything that you said. I'm so shy and hate getting my own picture taken so I never ask for a picture. Megan McGinnis would never talk at the stagedoor but she was ALWAYS a sweetheart. She was just really shy and not rude or anything. I'm just there to tell the performer how much I enjoyed them in the show. The autograph is just the icing on the cake.

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Updated On: 3/23/08 at 08:10 PM

I realize that a stage door experience is not my right and that I am not entitled to anything from the actor except a great performance. I would never think any less of a performer for not signing or exiting through another door (unless they pulled a Ringwald), but I do, however, gain a whole new level of respect for a performer, especially a big star, who goes above and beyond to give the fans a special experience.

Did big stars like Julianne Moore, Terrence Howard, Angela Lansbury, Molly Shannon (who wasn't even IN the show!), Megan Mulally, or Bernadette Peters have to sign autographs and take pictures with an entire crowd? Absolutely not, but the fact that they did and were as sweet and accomodating as can be just makes me appreciate them even more.

Terrence Howard was especially cool. He's a young, Academy Award-nominated movie star, and the Cat stage door is a rowdy mob scene, but he still took his time and signed autographs and took pictures with anyone that asked. Right as he finished signing, a teenage girl in the way back of the crowd held up her poster and called for him but couldn't reach him over the mob. Terrence said, "Hold on," and met the girl in the street on the other side of his car and signed her poster! Now THAT was just cool and classy! Even though I was already a fan of his work, the fact that he put forth extra effort for his fans made me respect him on an entirely different level.

For the record, Bebe Neuwirth was a doll when I met her at the Flea Market!

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I've been blessed by having met some extremely gracious people at the stage door. It's interesting to see big, internationally known film and television stars at the stage door and how they react to fans.

Hugh Jackman, at Boy from Oz, arrived for the matinee a little after 1pm. There was a decent sized crowd at the stage door, he had his body guard with him he comes out of his car and tells everyone to "hold on a second, I'm going to run in a get a pen". Then he proceeds to sign as many autographs as he can. He chatted with people and was just so nice. He was out there until 1:45 when he literally had to go inside to get ready for the show!

David Hyde Pierce, a wonderfully sweet guy who was really sweet when I met him. I met him during Spamalot when the original cast was there, so the stage door was absolutely packed. He came out and went around the barricades signing and taking pictures. When I was attempting to get a picture with him this guy on the other side of my mom (who was taking the pic) was trying to push his way through to get David to sign something. David holds out his hand and told the guy to "please, wait a minute" so that my picture wouldn't be messed up.

Kevin Spacey, Moon for the Misbegotten was a real mob scene as well. Many of the leads were a little weary of signing but did so anyway. Eve Best was really shocked that anyone even wanted her autograph and was really sweet and chatty. When Kevin came out he loudly announced that he would get to everybody and that he was going to work his way from one end of the barricade to the other. Which given the amount of people there would have taken well over 30 minutes. He got to us first so we didn't stay long, and moved so people behind us could get something signed, but I can't imagine how long he hung out there.

It really shocks me when big names really show their appreciation for their fans and it does make me respect them more. However if they don't want to sign, then that's cool. I just don't like when they're so rude to fans. I've never experienced it myself but the stories in this thread...yikes!

This thread comes up every few months on all Broadway message boards. It is understandable that one would see the situation from their own perspective and that it may be easy to misinterpret an actor's actions or words on any given day.

While I do not judge people for being single-minded I would ask that the average fan try not to get too excited or expect too much so that if an actor cannot stay to sign there is less disappointment. Actors are people and doing eight shows a week leaves them with little time for friends, family and other appointments. They get sick, they get tired and they sometimes have a bad day.

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I have had a few people who were disrespectful. Joanna Gleason walked right out after DRS on christmas eve. She covered her face and went straight to her car, if she didnt have time all she had to say was sorry have to get home for christmas, merry christmas everyone. thats it. John Lithgow was also a bit of a diva.

At the Xanadu door everyone was so sweet, except for kerry butler, she really didnt want to be out there, but at least she tried to hide it.

Laura Bell Bundy was extremely disrespectful both times i went. She sneered when people asked for pictures the first time, then the second time she made everyone wait an hour, then silently signed things while the guards said no pictures allowed.

my rule is that if your name is on the poster or your face/character you should really come out to the fans who fund your paycheck.

I believe there are some cases where it's in the player's contract to sign autographs.

first off, everybody I've ever met and signed with have been very nice and happy to meet us, Tamyra Gray was by far the most excited to see me since I know her from her fansite, she took about 20 pics with me, hugged me 10 times and talked to me about 10 mins, she signed for everybody there and took pics with them, and all the time her whole family was standing to the side waiting for her, but she didn't rush away and leave them. Other extra nice good people were LaChanze, Bruce Vilanche, Julia Murney, and Lou Myers.


Secondly, the only time I was bummed was when Carol Kane and Ben Vereen did not even come outside at all after Wicked.

My third point is that if you are a performer and somebody pays you $100 or more to see you then you do in fact owe them an autograph at least, you should also take pics with your fans. They only work 3 or 4 hours a day staying an extra hour for fans is not gonna kill you.

The only time I've ever heard of a performer having a contracted requirement to sign autographs is at the Disney theme parks and cruises. And AFAIK that applies only to the costumed characters, not the performers in the shows. They are signing in costume, as the character, while they are on the clock during regularly scheduled working hours. It's spelled out in their job description that interaction with the public is part of their assigned duties and they're trained to do so.

On Broadway, any official offstage appearances and performances, including autograph sessions, that are required by the production (for instance an in-store appearance for a CD release of a cast recording), are negotiated, covered under AEA and paid. Unless the performer is volunteering to donate her/his time to a cause, such as the BC/EFA autograph booth.

And again, the $100 ticket entitles you to a performance, not a meet and greet. Anyone who would think that a performer should stay after work, unpaid, getting perhaps hassled, for as long as necessary, should try it for a few months and see how they feel about it.