Best/worst stage door experience?- Page 4

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 4:24pm

"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. "

Once again, nobody said she owed anybody anything. All I said was that if you are going out to sign for people (once again, her choice) you can at least try to be personable IMO, it is called being a nice human being. If there is only one way out then don't have the stage door guy tell fans you will come out to sign if you have things to do or you are not in the mood. The five people would not have been there if they were told she was not coming out to sign programs etc. Is it going to really kill anybody to say "thanks for coming to the show" and sign your name 5 times. (there were 5 people waiting). I bet doing that would take about 5 minutes at most and you don't come off being rude. I guess we will agree to disagree.

[pollster2]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 4:59pm

I'm really dumbfounded by the number of people on this board who think that an actor owes them anything other than a great performance. They don't have to stage door. They don't have to take selfies. They don't have to make you feel like you're their new best friend. Their job is to perform. I'm truly dismayed by the audacity of some folks who genuinely believe that they're owed something from an actor.

[LuPita2]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 5:12pm

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 6:00pm

"I'm really dumbfounded by the number of people on this board who think that an actor owes them anything other than a great performance. They don't have to stage door. They don't have to take selfies. They don't have to make you feel like you're their new best friend. Their job is to perform. I'm truly dismayed by the audacity of some folks who genuinely believe that they're owed something from an actor."

Actually, I really don't recall anybody on this board saying that an actor owes them something besides their performance and has to do the stage door. I have not seen posts where people are demanding selfies either. Nobody has said they have to make you feel like they are your BFF. That being said, IMO if an actor is going to do the stage door they should try to be cordial/personable to the fans on line. If they don't think they can do that than please just go about your business and let others do the stage door thing. 

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 6:15pm

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

No problem. Let me relate a story to you that happened a bunch of years ago. My family went to see "Spring Awakening" and my daughters wanted to get their Playbills signed by the cast. It was a very cold night like the one you mentioned and I think the entire cast came out. The cast was very outgoing (especially Jonathan Groff) with the exception of Lea Michele. She did not engage people in conversation or take pictures but she was polite and replied to compliments given to her and the show. I think this is example of the point you and I were trying to make in earlier posts. She was polite and did not come off as being rude. BTW - there were more than 5 people on the line - lol.
 

[samtaro111]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 8:26pm

yankeefan7 said: No problem. Let me relate a story to you that happened a bunch of years ago. My family went to see "Spring Awakening" and my daughters wanted to get their Playbills signed by the cast. It was a very cold night like the one you mentioned and I think the entire cast came out. The cast was very outgoing (especially Jonathan Groff) with the exception of Lea Michele. She did not engage people in conversation or take pictures but she was polite and replied to compliments given to her and the show. I think this is example of the point you and I were trying to make in earlier posts. She was polite and did not come off as being rude. BTW - there were more than 5 people on the line - lol."

That is exactly my sentiment. I never said Idina had to stage door. No one forced her to come out and sign/take pictures. It was her choice. She could have easily stayed inside for the hour that she did, told the stage door guy she was not coming out, and leave when she felt like it and hop right in her car. Instead, she agreed to stage door and came off as rude. Thus, she became 

She didn't owe me anything aside for what I paid for, to see her perform. And she was great.

But, doesn't negate how she came off later. 

While no one forces someone to stage door or to be nice, being nice is simply nice.

 

 

I am happy you had a nice interaction with the SA cast, I love the Lea didn't feel obligated to sign or take photos, actors don't have to do that, but she was present in what was going on and came off personable.

Updated On: 5/14/19 at 08:26 PM

[sppunk]

Posted: 5/14/19 at 8:56pm

We don’t stage door often,  it a few stand out.

Best was Sweat. Allison Wright came out and chatted for about 15 minutes - The Americans had just ended and she was talking about her role. There were maybe 10 people out there. 

Worst was this past weekend with Burn This. Driver fans were just rude. 

 

[SweetLips22]

Posted: 5/15/19 at 1:13am

Who would I want to go and stare at after watching them on stage?

No one.

[broadwayindie]

Posted: 5/15/19 at 4:12pm

I've stopped stage dooring because children get super crazy.

That being said had an incredible experience at Spring Awakening years ago with most of the OBC. Everyone was so gracious.

I also more recently had a really solid stage door experience with The Great Comet. It was the first performance without Groban so no one was there. There was literally 3 of us and it was cool just chatting with the cast.

[amandap213]

Posted: 5/16/19 at 12:00pm

surprised by all the mean girls comments. i've seen the show about six times and i've never had a problem, sure the crowd can get a little pushy, but nothing i haven't seen before. and every single actor i've met at the august wilson has been nothing but kind! 

i think we can all agree that christy altomare is the queen of stagedooring. i saw the show three days before closing and the crowd was INSANE. she literally talked to every single person and cried with every single person. however, once c*dy simpson came in, the crowds consisted of selfie obsessed fans. i was talking to max von essen and one girl (who didn't even know who he was) kept interrupting our conversation to get a picture lmao. he had to tell her several times that he was in the middle of a conversation. and the same girl when lyrica woodruff came out, said "who's that?" but proceeded to demand a selfie.

seems like stunt casting is a big reason for crazy crowds and rude fans.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/16/19 at 3:19pm

"I am happy you had a nice interaction with the SA cast, I love the Lea didn't feel obligated to sign or take photos, actors don't have to do that, but she was present in what was going on and came off personable."

Very nice and short story about Jonathan Grof that night. He told one of my daughters he liked their bag (forget what type it was) and my daughter said it was a gift from her Mom. He replied she was a "cool" Mom for getting that bag and than told her to come over and join them for a picture. My wife handed me the camera and I got nice picture of all of them. It was a moment they will all never forget.

Updated On: 5/16/19 at 03:19 PM

[MattieIce2018]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 12:25am

Best: Something Rotten on tour. Saw it the night before it closed to go non-equity and all the principals came out and could not have been kinder. Adam Pascal was mobbed with people but he took his time and made sure everything was signed and he took pictures with everyone. Likewise, Rob McClure is one of the nicest actors I’ve met after a show.

Worst: Dear Evan Hansen today. Saw the matinee in Boston and after the show, only two of the actors (Alana and Larry) came out to sign. When the door guard announced that was it, people started to question HIM and get mad. A few seconds later, another actor who had not come out to sign came out and immediately headed in the opposite direction with multiple others, probably trying to avoid the crowds and get some rest between shows. A few people noticed this and then tried to follow the actor down the alley. I’m not sure exactly what happened after since I was leaving to go to dinner, but the actress who played Alana (Pheobe Koyabe, who was outside singing when it happened) made a comment about it on her instagram story

[BroadwayNoob]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 12:45am

Best stage door experiences have been with shows that are either for shows that are meant for smaller kids or shows that are not as family-friendly (BoM, Aladdin, Groundhog Day, Tootsie, Spongebob,TPTGW). People can control themselves and more actors seem to come out because the whole experience is a lot less overwhelming. 

 

Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, and Be More Chill were absolute disasters. Pushing, shoving, complaining when people weren't coming out, following people after the barrier to try to talk to them. It's very disrespectful and uncomfortable for everyone

[Kruth1]

Posted: 8/6/19 at 1:10am

I’ve had a lot of great stage door experiences but I want to give two actors that went above and beyond when they really didn’t need to. Both times with not great weather.

Daniel Radcliffe in Lifespan of a Fact. Took his time chatting with everyone even though it was raining. Very gracious even with people that only wanted to talk about Harry Potter. Took people’s cameras and took the selfies for them to make sure they turned out well.

Also Lea Salonga in Allegiance. I saw the show the night before the big winter storm Jonas in 2016. She still came out and stagedoored even though it had started snowing and everyone knew it was the beginning of a massive storm. She was incredibly kind and seemed to be having a lovely time in the snow with all of us

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 8/6/19 at 1:21am

Best: Three Tall Women. I'm a student at ISU, from which Laurie Metcalf graduated, and she came out and took a picture with all of us and talked for a few minutes about school and stuff.

Worst: Not for a show I saw, but I was in the opera Cosi fan tutte, and the student body hated it (a fact I've learned to live with - the show has some really problematic depictions of women), but I would literally see dozens of classmates in the audience every night, and rush to get out of my makeup and costume, and run out of the theatre to see an empty lobby, which kind of sucked.

[MollyJeanneMusic]

Posted: 8/6/19 at 11:24am

I actually had a pretty good experience at the DEH stage door on Sunday, August 4 (Michael Park and Jennifer Laura Thompson's last show).  Everyone other than Lisa Brescia came out, and everyone was super nice and personable.

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 8/7/19 at 10:53am

I’ve never stage doored. Not necessarily because I don’t have the desire, but maybe I feel that people observing an adult standing at the door for a half hour so he can exchange greetings with and get an autograph from an actress he might then have a “crush” on would wonder what kind of life the adult must have.

The fact that so many of the sophisticated theater goers here stage door I guess proves that it’s a natural desire to want to have an actor be aware of your existence for 15 seconds anyway.

My thoughts about stage footing from the actors point of view are general agreement that it isn’t an obligation of the actors but that it may be in their interest to do it to help advance their careers. Fans who pay to see them perform are more likely to pay if they have a real affection for the actor. I’ve read a couple of times that the number of followers that one has on Twitter and Instagram is a consideration in casting at times. One of the times was during an interview with Kelli O’Hara (yes, I do bring her up a lot) who had learned about this casting consideration and was very put out about it. She’s not an especially big fan of the social media and didn’t believe that this “followed by” number should have a role in casting decisions. The best actor should get the role. True, but box office counts, especially if you’re like Roundabout: always borderline about affording the big splashy musicals that they are remembered for.

To touch on the concert or cabaret scene, Linda Eder sold out 54 Below nine times last year at or near top ticket price. Linda Eder after her performance sits in a chair next to the bar and takes on all comers. I think that this helps her to sell all those expensive seats.