Best/worst stage door experience? — Page 3

TheKingsAndI said: "I was at a show once with a terrible usher who was really rude and mean inside the theatre, and then who followed everyone outside and was yelling at everyone. It ruined the experience for me and we just decided to leave after that"

You decided to leave after the show had ended? How horrible that must have been for you!

Worst experience for me was Waitress with Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel. Despite being in the front of the house, my friend and I got a surprisingly good spot (second row of people from the barricades), but by the end of it, there were probably 4 rows of people, 5 on the ends. A lot of pushing and shoving and screaming in my ear when Sara and Gavin came out. This continued even when they were just walking around, signing things.

I haven't stage doored a lot, but my best experience has to be Alex Brightman in Beetlejuice, hands down. Alex was very attentive to everyone that was there and started conversations from nothing; I usually just thank an actor in fear of taking of their time, but he made an effort to converse with me for a minute or two, which I thought was really great of him.

I agree with the person who mentioned Mulaney and Kroll in Oh, Hello! I'd been a huge fan of Mulaney's for a couple years so seeing him live was amazing. There were only about 10-15 people waiting at the stagedoor and we all gushed about how funny the show was, you could tell everyone was a geniune fan. The security guard told us fun facts about the theater and told stories about Mulaney and Kroll, it was so much fun. When they came out they spend a minute or two having a conversation to everyone, the girl next to me talked about how she performed Mulaney's stand-up for a talent show. This also happened to be the day that Norman Lear was the guest, and he came out and everyone went wild! He, Kroll, Mulaney, Mulaney's wife, and a couple of fans had a great conversation at the end of the night. It was so amazing!

Best: Frozen in previews. Patti Murin is such a sweetheart she was literally glowing with energy. Plus they roped from behind us so there was only 2 rows to prevent the crazy. Also Come From Away because Jenn Colella left with Chilina Kennedy (power couple) and complimented my outfit and was so kind to everyone.

Worst: Hadestown only because of the mob that formed. The cast was super sweet but the guy who was handing out the flowers looked like he hated his life (and with the mob crowd I don’t blame him).

"I do not blame her for the weather, or how long we waited. I know stage dooring is optional and she could have had guests inside. I do blame her for not trying to create a better interaction with the 5 people who waited an hour and a half in freezing weather. Wasn't like there was 100 of us and she had a lot of people to get through, there was 5 of us. "

You are very nice sibling !! I would not have waited that long in the bitter cold and I would have told him to meet me at Juniors or someplace else where it is warm. I totally agree with you. If you have people waiting that long in the cold you can be a little bit more personable. Especially since there were only 5 people.

I stagedoored Beetlejuice last month after the last matinee of previews. The crowd was insane but everyone was very courteous and made space for people who asked for photos and autographs. The entire principal cast came out and almost all of them took their time with everyone and were so, so kind. Sophia Anne Caruso seemed to be in a big rush so she signed every few Playbills and booked it (She still was very kind).

Our seats were front of the house, so by the time we got out, we didn’t have a good spot for the stagedoor. I didn’t want to be aggressive and expected to not get every autograph, but Leslie Kritzer saw me behind someone (I’m tall. Lol) and told me to not be shy and that they will sign any Playbill that’s shoved in their faces. She was hilarious and so sweet. The highlight of the whole thing was getting to meet Kerry Butler, as I’m a huge fan and never got the chance in person (she’s very interactive on Twitter though). She was so extremely kind and I got to take a picture with her. Same with Alex Brightman. They just all seemed genuinely grateful for their fans.

Updated On: 5/8/19 at 12:29 AM

My best is definitely meeting Alice Ripley. It wasn’t in NYC, but Carmel, IN of all places. She was doing this strange Christmas symphony concert for four nights and my friend and I decided to make the almost three hour drive to see her perform 4 songs total. It was essentially the middle of nowhere, but I had stage doored there before (I met Patti LuPone there, of all places), so we decided to wait in the 17 degree weather (it was a Christmas concert after all). We were the only two people waiting at all and we asked the security guy if she had left yet and he was little to no help, he didn’t even know who she was, and was fairly rude saying we weren’t to come inside again under any circumstances. So we continued to wait and after about an hour Alice emerges and was gobsmacked that we had waited so long and had no clue anyone cared to meet her. She quickly invited us inside out of the cold (take that mean stage door man), and proceeded to talk to us for about 20 minutes about who we were, why we were there, where we were from, what were we studying, etc. She signed all of our stuff (I had a Side Show poster and a couple Next to Normal playbills), and took a few great pictures with us, still bundled up after waiting so long in the cold. She told us to message her on Instagram if we were ever waiting for her again and she would come get us. To this day we are friends on Facebook and she will occasionally like or comment on my posts. I know this is a big exception and it doesn’t always work that way, but sometimes when meeting your heros, it turns out way better than you ever would’ve expected.

JSquared, if the usher is rude to people *inside* the theater where the show is actually being performed, and this patron wasn’t being disruptive, they have a right to feel the experience was lacking.

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"Surprised to hear the negative about Alice Ripley. I have only met her once and she could not have been nicer. I got front row rush to Next to Normal and the show had a huge effect on me and was one of the rare times I showed emotion during a show. Alice remembered me and we got into a very thoughtful discussion on her part about my mother's Alzheimers."

I was surprised also and I responded in earlier post how nice she was to my daughter and I after seeing "Next To Normal".

LuPita2 said: "Completely your choice to do so, and you have no idea about her life, what was going on with her, if she was not feeling well,the fact that she talked all the time during that show about rushing home typically every night to be with her child, etc. She gave you a great performance, that was her "interaction" with you, and she owes you absolutely nothing else in the world. Stop with the entitlement. "

yankeefan7: "If she was not feeling well or wants to be home with her child, then don't do the stage door thing and exit through another door.If you are going to do it (her choice), you can at least try to be personable especially in situation where there wereonly 5 people IMO."



I never said I was entitled to meet her. We were assured by the security guard who went inside and checked after a while that she was indeed planning on stage dooring. After over an hour of waiting in NYC winter weather (again which we did choose to do willingly and do not blame her for) the line went from dozens and dozens of people to 5 of us. If she didn't want to stage door, she did not have to, but we got confirmation that she planned to. Of course she is tired after performing and of course, she wants to go home. But, there was 5 of us. If there was 50 of us I'd expect the interaction to be 2 seconds and a quick sign, with 5 of us it was rude she barely glanced up at us. Honestly, it was so awkward.

I understand it could have been a bad night for her, or something else was going on, but I obviously don't get to see that part of her life so it came off as rude and left a bad taste in my mouth.

I guarantee someone else probably had the best interaction with her. That was not the case for me. But the forum is about your best/worst experience so I shared it and shouldn't be told to "Stop with the entitlement." That is the entire point of this forum, no one here was forced to meet a Broadway actor nor was the Broadway actor forced to meet them.



And thanks Yankeefan7 for agreeing lol, obviously LuPita2 is entitled to her own opinion on the matter.

Updated On: 5/14/19 at 10:37 AM

If she was not feeling well or wants to be home with her child, then don't do the stage door thing and exit through another door. If you are going to do it (her choice), you can at least try to be personable especially in situation where there were only 5 people IMO.

No one has to be personable to anyone. Why does she care about people after a show? She doesn't. She's had to deal with this for 20 years now? And when I saw that show, she had to exit through the stage door and immediately got into her car. Not all theaters have more than one door. She owes you nothing. Not a smile, not a hello, not an autograph. Nothing.

It truly is disgusting. Last summer, I took my time getting out The Boys in the Band as I always do as theaters. I exited the theater really happy and on a high. I never stage door because of how ridiculous it has become, so I was passing the huge crowd outside the theater, and Jim Parsons rushed past me into a black SUV. Two horrible women saw him, went right over to his car, and screamed "You cant SIGN an autograph? RUDE JERK!". The SUV quickly left and I was just dumbfounded. They went back to the stage door swearing.

Un.Real.