Are we (fans) talked about by Broadway performers? — Page 9

I have read all 8 pages of this thread and can honestly say it is one of the most interesting threads I have ever read on this board.

The thing about Broadway is that it is so accessable. If someone is a crazy fan of Brad Pitt, it is nearly impossible for them to stalk him because... you just can't. But a Broadway performer is in the same place every night. This gives fans the ability to be a "stalker" or whatever. They know that every night at 11:00, person x is going to walk out of that door and they can talk to them. I really think it's a shame that Broadway fosters such crazy fans sometimes. It is such an art and takes such talented people in all kinds of fields to put on a show, and I feel that it is ruined sometimes by the stories you can hear of fans.

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Don't worry, Moxie, I got that too. I'm sorry if I wasn't more clear in my post, there were so many things I wanted to hit upon, I guess I didn't elaborate as much as I would have liked to.

I understand completely what you are have been saying and I agree completely. There are people who take fandom to an extreme level, and I am sure that more than once everybody of here has seen someone like that. I personally have to laugh because, the way they react basically gives away that they really don't know them. However, after a while they just get annoying. I am not fighting with you, actually I am agreeing.

Now, I just want to clarify that I am actually agreeing with what most people have said on here. And in no way am I trying to clear the fanatic teenyboppers, because they all annoy me very much.

"sweeney todd"

I don't understand.

I think that of late there has been a lot of drama around people defending performers as friends, but then expecting people to objectively respect their opinion on that performer. I agree that it is extremely annoying when people jump to a performer's defence over and over again. One of the things that comes with ACTUALLY having a relationship with any person, or even perhaps a famous one, is that they will be scrutinized. We all are. a lot. Is it hard to deal with sometimes? Yes. For all involved parties. In addition to negative truths, all kinds of false information is circulated just because SOMEONE will cling to it. These are all things that most people know of ahead of time when they enter a career in acting, but it happens to smoe extent in every career. It has to be accepted if anyone ever hopes to have an actual relationship with anyone in the public eye (or even on a smaller scale, within a town, or school).

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Updated On: 8/30/06 at 12:44 AM

I think Oscar Wilde put it best when he said, " It is a shame that youth is wasted on the young." Or even better, "The young think that they know everything, while the old know that they don't." Thanks for your compliment, and I agree with what you said as well :)

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Certainly. I think it also has a lot to do with expectations going into any form of personal interaction, as well as your ability to distance yourself from personal flaws and the like. If there's distance between you and the actor's personal life, then there's less room for you to be directly impacted by some personal thing. For instance, if there's an actor whose work I really love, who I might find to be incredibly attractive, who I've met a couple of times but certainly have nothing of a relationship with, and I know some kind of deep, dark, dirty secret about his personal life, I'm certainly not hurt or offended by it, because I'm distanced from it. It's something I know, but it doesn't effect me in the least, other than that I know it. If you start to get too close, things can happen that may impact you directly. If you don't allow yourself that distance, or the actor doesn't force you to allow it, then you can set yourself up for being hurt by things that have nothing to do with the actor's work, which I think is dangerous territory. I think it's sad that there are people who take so personally interactions with these actors they admire that it has a negative impact on how they feel about them professionally. You have to be able to separate them, if you're going to get into it at all.

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Updated On: 8/30/06 at 10:55 PM

If you don't allow yourself that distance, or the actor doesn't force you to allow it, then you can set yourself up for being hurt by things that have nothing to do with the actor's work, which I think is dangerous territory. I think it's sad that there are people who take so personally interactions with these actors they admire that it has a negative impact on how they feel about them professionally.

Completely agree. It should be said, though, that personal interactions with actors, or things about their personal lives, can, and often do, affect the way they're viewed professionally. As a random, non Broadway related example, it's completely understandable that many people are now turned off to Mel Gibson based on his recent anti semitic statements. Ideally, one should be able to separate the PERSON from the artist, but because we're human, it's not always possible to do so.

If you see them as actual, real, breathing people, and you have a real relationship with them, then yes, a negative experience will affect how you see them professionally. Because it affects how you see them as a person.

If you were dating, say, Brad Pitt, and he dumped you for say, Angelina Jolie, would you be running to his movies? Even if he had been your favorite actor before you dated him? The personal feelings will always override the professional - positive or negative - if the interactions were significant on both sides.

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Well, not always. But thank you!

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"If you were dating, say, Brad Pitt, and he dumped you for say, Angelina Jolie, would you be running to his movies?"


This is funny, because at a recent event I was in the bathroom and there were two women there. I guess one of the women had had some sort of "thing" with one of the guys performing and I didn't get the impression it ended well. Yet, she still went to the event.

My point? I don't really have one, other than to say that if you smoke or you use the bathroom you'd be amazed at what sort of behind the scenes "reality" you become privvy to.

ON MY WAY....I am touched that you would ask that, you made my night. It took me years to come to that conclusion, but as Elaine Stritch said, " I'm mad as hell, I had to go through what I went through to get where I've got." I'm not that mad really, as I understand the lows to be a part of the aforementioned journey.

MOXIE:.....I think the word privvy is not used near enough in todays vernacular...but use "loo" darling, its so much more smug.

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"but that if an actor is super nice, people might think he's better than his work really is. I'm alluding to one scenario in particular, but I don't want hate PMs from the fanclub, so I'll keep mum. But honestly, he was great in the show that made him popular, don't get me wrong. But as good as the fans who have gotten to know him personally make him out to be? Hell no. They make it sound like he'll win ten Tonys before his career is over just because he's personable; the personal interaction totally gets in the way of the discerning eye."

I think we're all a victim to this in some aspect. It's human nature, just like the Tom Cruise/Mel Gibson incidents.

However...there are exceptions, but I don't think on average someone's opinion on a performance is going to change immensely b/c of personal interaction. There are small, valid ways though. If you meet an actor and have a wonderful stage door experience with him, next time you see the show, it's likely that you're gonna pay very close attention to his performance in ways you might not have otherwise. So you notice more nuances that does perhaps make you think more highly of the actor's performance than you once did.

Along the same lines, if you come back to BWW to review the show...you might have just said everyone was great but b/c of the great experience you just had, you may give special notice to this actor--who you thought was great in the first place, but now you really want to mention him specifically.

I...know some brief instances you're referring to specifically Em, but also...I think a lot of times with performers who have reputations for being so personable, there's...an understanding by his fans when you're gonna talk about how great he is, you're talking about both the performance and how he is as a person. Like if I'm posting so and so is great, I'm not really separating performer from person. I think in the specific case you're referring to, that happens a lot. Sure, we start to love him as a performer, but like with shows, that comes down to favorites vs. quality. You may like the performance better a whole lot more than you once did, but again I don't think you're gonna think the quality changed immensely.

I mean...we all have a bias when it comes to these things. Sometimes you do the same thing when you think an actor is cute--pay more attention to his performance and appreciate it more, etc. Then take like, sports fans. Pretty coincedental that most Yankee fans think Jeter deserves MVP, while most Red sox fans think Ortiz deserves MVP. Of course the bias affects your opinion, and fans know that. Still, it affects it to an extent. A Yankee fan isn't going to say like...Bernie Williams deserves MVP over David Ortiz. That's just silly. Biases certainly affect opinions of quality, but I don't think they do to some huge, huge extent.

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What if it was something you only had one of? Yet you offered it to two people?

Oh, scandal!

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