Are we (fans) talked about by Broadway performers? — Page 8

The thread keeps turning so I'm going to try and touch on everything that's been running through my head while reading this.

We've established that actors talk about audience members/fans, who hasn't seen an old guy sleeping in the front row or the hot guy a few rows back and then talked about it with your castmates at a diner after a performance?

In regards to myspace/the internet in general drastically changing the fan-actor relationship; I think it has to do with our entire culture in general. Every week magazines are published full of who's sleeping with whom and what shampoo Angelina's using. We want information about other people and we want lots of it, fast. All of that is only elevated on Broadway because if someone wants to meet their favorite actor all they have to do is wait outside the theater at 10:30. And for a Broadway actor, who mostly lives a life of anonymity, I can only imagine how exhilarating it must be to have people who seem to be truly devoted to your work meet you and fawn over you for a few minutes every night. An actor really doesn't have to leave via the stage door, but through message boards and such they must feel compelled too, if they don't their reputation can easily be ruined through a few threads.

Now to distinguish between friends and acquaintances. I’ve been going to the same drugstore for almost three years. I say hi to the employees and will occasionally comment on their new haircut or the weather and such. They recognize me, I recognize them. Does this make us friends? Not by a long shot. In my opinion, it’s the same with Broadway actors and fans, you say Hi, they say Hi, they sign your playbill, and you’re done. Personally, I’ve always felt that stage-dooring was an invasion of privacy but that’s another story.

As a drama geek going into her senior year of high school, I can say that it’s easy to get caught up in the “that’s going to be me one day!” feeling you get when you see a show and when you really connect with a character it inspires you and gives you something to aspire to. And since, for many of us, the theater is sometimes the one place where we feel totally at home kids can easily become borderline insane about a show or a performer. I’m making a huge generalization here, but since most “beastly fan girls” are still teenagers, they haven’t really reached a level of maturity where they can separate themselves from a situation and realize that Idina isn’t their new best friend and that while her role in whatever show has drastically affected your life, you really haven’t affected hers. For the most part, like others have said earlier in the thread, these kids are harmless and in a few years will grow out of it and grow into snarky bww posters who will vehemently deny having any sort of obsession with a show or person in their youth.

**steps off soapbox**

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I can take em!!

Thanks, SweetQ. I usually prefer to stand back and lurk but I wanted to put my .02 in today.

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Wow, I go to work and this thread grows by 3 pages!

I'd like to address the discussion about actors reading BWW. Now, I'm narcissistic - if I were a theater actor, I'd be on this site every chance I had. However, I do know actors who wouldn't click on this site if a gun was being held to their heads. That's the right thing for them and they know it.

I find myself the opposite of those fans of whom we speak here, and it's sad - I have a friend whose partner is a well-known performer, and when they say things to me like, I hope to see you at my such and such performance, instead of taking it as, "you're my partner's good friend and we've hung out, you're cool and I think you'll enjoy this performance," I read it as nothing more than an attempted ticket sale. That's wrong too, but I believe it's from being on this board that I've become that jaded.

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Updated On: 8/29/06 at 07:24 PM

It's not the supposed friendships that bother me. It's when posters speak about these people like they know them or act like some sort of authority on their careers and personality.

This I definitely agree with. I think, in the excitement about being reasonably acquainted with an actor or actress, people vastly lose sight of the fact that in the vast majority of cases, they're only getting that actor's stage door persona. It seems that people (probably incorrectly) draw further inferences about the actor's personality, private life, etc. based on this. The most important thing to remember is that what they say at the stage door or to fans in general isn't a reflection of who they are as people, since as a fan you're getting such a small part of the picture.

It's that same kind of skewed vision that makes something an actor says at a stage door 100x funnier than if your friend said the same thing.


I believe it's the same skiewed vision that encourages the purchase of over-priced merchandise, too.

"Now, I'm narcissistic - if I were a theater actor, I'd be on this site every chance I had."

Yet you're not a theater actor and both of those things are still true.

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Im sure some actors check out this site. That is after they have re-organized their coupons, washed the ceiling, scrubbed the cat, converted their beta tapes to VHS, and translated Angela's Ashes into Gaelic. Carry on..

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How many times do I have to tell you...the boobie thing is a MAJOR turnoff!

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You bound yourself?? Does that mean you just ate alot of cheese and rice???

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Adding my .02 today.

Some people (I'll admit that I feel this way sometimes as well), feel a sort of validation if this actor remembers their face, or responds to their e-mail. It's made my day when a favorite actor of mine gives me a hug and asks me how I am, especially if I haven't seen them in a while. It's similar to the people you'd love to be friends with in school - if they are nice to you, you're cool - if you get an e-mail from Tony Winner X, you are awesome. It's a self-esteem issue.

For the fact of calling an actor a friend or acquaintance, I would never call an actor a friend unless we'd actually spent time with each other outside of the theatre (dinner, etc). Even if they were to introduce you as a friend - it wouldn't be like they're going to say, "Hey, So and So, this is my fan Bob!" They're going to introduce you as a friend because that's how you'd introduce someone.

There's no reason that a fan shouldn't be able to go to the stage door when they'd like to and see the star, as long as they're not trying to forge some sort of friendship with them. It's really all in the actor's hands - if they give you their phone number, that's great. Some friends of mine have became friends and had dinner with actors and seen shows with them - it's never happened to me, and I'm not quite sure if I'd want it to. If you love the show, and you have a fight with your actor friend who's in that show and you decide not to talk anymore, that show and the stage door is going to be tainted until that actor leaves.

Basically reiterating what everyone said, but yes. Feels good to let it out.

Okay, the stage door thing....


Does anyone ever wonder how actors really feel about fans who stage door frequently even on nights when they don't see the shows?

Updated On: 8/29/06 at 11:00 PM

So I have sat here and read all 8 pages of the thread, so I have had much to chew on. First, I must say that, as a teen, I recognize what many of you are saying. I am very proud to say that I am not one of these teenyboppers. Sure, I have my crushes, I mean, who hasn't had a crush? However, I don't "stalk" them, heck, I don't even pester them even if they do have myspace, or whatever other internet site. I honestly don't expect to become friends, or even acquaintances with them. Especially with a 2,000 mile gap between us. As an aspiring actress I admire an actor/ actress for their performance, their craft, their talent.

As someone before me said, I think the term "friend" is used very loosely these days. I mean, I have heard of people talking for 10 minutes for the first time and one person in the party later on calls them a 'friend'. If this is what the teenybopper believes, of course if they spend 10 minutes gushing to Idina, they will believe they are 'friends'. Then they get angry when a month later, she doesn't remember them.

I stage door, mainly for the experience. I like to think when I see an actors signiture on my playbills, "Wow! That was a great performance!" Sure, I can do that without the signitures, but I don't know, it's just nice.

Finally, to answer the main question: Yes, I don't have a doubt in my mind that actors talk about fan with one another. The good, the bad, and the ugly.