Craziest stage door memories

[Mike Barrett]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 9:10pm

Thought this would be a fun thread. Mine was at Godspell. It was Corbin Bleu's second show I believe and there was a group of teenage girls who could just not handle that he was right there. And they were screaming, crying, and eventually got a little inappropriate and one of the girls threw her bra at him. It was very disturbing. Everyone including Corbin was very disturbed.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 9:15pm

The exact same thing happened at the DEUCE stage door.

[Jon]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 9:38pm

Going back to 1996:

The generally bratty and hyperkinetic behavior of all the kids in the cast of "big - the musical" as they greeted their families, friends and schoolmates in Shubert Alley was much more entertaining than anything they were doing onstage at the Shubert.

Also, the crowds after "Bring in Da Noise/Bring in Da Funk" greeting not only Savion Glover, but all his fellow dancers, as if they were rock stars.

We won't even talk about the crazy fans at RENT...

Updated On: 7/19/13 at 09:38 PM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 9:38pm

On another Jesus note, meeting Ted Neeley after any performance of JCS, especially later in his career as I did, was not unlike a religious experience. He has a lot of middle-aged female fans (during the Nineties reunion tour, they were dubbed "Tedheads") who will follow the tour from stop to stop, who wound up being on first name basis with/buying gifts for his fellow cast members, etc. You know, people who confuse him with the Second Coming.

I saw "followers caught up in the Spirit" fainting in his presence. I saw him being asked to lay hands on pregnant bellies and bless unborn babies. People who talked on and on about how he changed their lives. People asking his opinion on topics from the Holocaust to gay marriage. I'm like, "Guys... he's just a drummer from Texas, who never ceases to remind you of that fact (and now I see why). Jeff Fenholt actually thinks he's Jesus, go bother him."

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 10:15pm

I was literally crushed between screaming brazillians at the stage door for Pacino's Glengarry. How do I know they were from Brazil you ask? The group kept screaming for Mr. Pacino to "Say hello to Brazil" into their camcorder.

[quizking101]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 11:07pm

Picture it. EVITA. April 9, 2012
I was at the front of the barricade at the stage door.
Behind me, about 100-200 screaming Argentine women/Sofia Vergars sound-alikes shouting "RRRRRRICCCKYYYY. RRRRRICCCCKKKYY."

Many "R"'s were rolled that night...

Fin

[loliveve]

Posted: 7/19/13 at 11:29pm

^ as soon as I read "picture it," it was like I could hear the voice of Sophia Petrillo Thanks for a laugh!

[ABitOnTheSide]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 1:22am

One of the Ozalots spread her mother's ashes outside the Imperial stage door the 2nd to last night of The Boy From Oz. Just so Hugh Jackman would walk through them.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 1:36am

Next to Normal. I actually left when some girls were creeping me out by talking about Jenn Damiano like they were friends with her. But, I figured they weren't because they were looking at a facebook account that was supposedly hers and they were going to ask or tell her if it was fake or not. At least I hope most people's friends would not do that to them in public.

[phantomcrazy14]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 12:05pm

Haha oh gosh I hated the Evita stage door with Ricky. It ruined it. I'm so glad most left after he did.

My favorite memory is when I took my ex to the city for the first time and his first show, Nice Work If You Can Get It. When we left it was one of the worst thunderstorms I've ever seen and we were standing under the marquee looking at the stage door cuz he was dead set on meeting Matthew Broderick. The stage door man stuck his head out the door, saw us and asked if we were waiting. Then he opened an umbrella, came over and took us back to the door and took us right inside the stage door where cast members, including Matthew, were waiting and they signed our Playbills. A very happy memory!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 12:16pm

"I was literally crushed between screaming brazillians at the stage door for Pacino's Glengarry."

How many are there in a Brazilian?

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 12:20pm

A similar thing happened to me at Gray Gardens. It was a very very cold December night and only 3 people were waiting at the stage door. The stage door guy asked if we were waiting for Christine, we said yes as well as the other actors. He said it's stupid to wait outside and brought us inside to wait. All the actors were extremely nice and were flattered when the stage door man said we were outside waiting. Christine was...interesting. She didn't seem to actually be there, if you know what I mean. Still nice though.

[rorschach37]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 12:49pm

The Annie stage door last Saturday after both shows was ridiculous. I've seen worse, mind you, but there were rows of people screaming and pulling out their phones to snap pictures of each and every actor that came out whom were all children. Kind of creeped me out.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 1:22pm

My story is related to this post but not quite at the same time ...

I met Danielle Hope, original Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Wizard of Oz, outside the Savoy Theatre where Legally Blonde was playing. She'd been watching the show on a Sunday matinee and NO ONE seemed to notice her except me and my two friends so we said hello, she was literally the nicest person we've ever met - she stood chatting to us for AGES like near on an hour. And it wasn't us being crazy fan people by asking her loads of questions, she took the time to get to know us and asking us questions about ourselves and we apologized for keeping her so long and her reply was, I quote, "Don't worry, even before I was famous I'd sit in Starbucks and chat to random people all the time"
BEST REPLY EVER.

It made the trip to London just terrific.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 1:30pm

Jersey Boys in London -- a lady in a football jersey (who hadn't been to the show but just showed up) kept rambling on to Glenn Carter about her incarcerated cousin. I had no idea who this woman was, but he definitely recognized her and ignored her while signing other people's stuff. His face was priceless, though.

[brldisteach2]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 3:19pm

A friend of mine and I happened to be in NYC when the Cabaret revival reopened. This was in the late '90s before it moved to Studio 54-it had been at another building, and there had been a construction accident next door, so they had to temporarily shut down the show for a few weeks. We were there for the reopening night. It also happened to be Jennifer Jason Leigh and Blair Brown's first night in the show. At the stage door, we were told the cast was having a party backstage in honor of reopening, so it would be a while before anyone came out. The crowd slowly dwindled down to about 10-15 of us. We all started chatting with each other, and suddenly one of the women asked me if I had gone to a certain college-which I had--it turned out she was a couple years behind me at school and remembered me. One of those really small world moments.
After about an hour and a half, the cast started coming out. I happened to be lucky enough to be in a spot to get Alan Cumming's autograph quickly, and then I moved out of the way for other people. As I stepped away Jennifer Jason Leigh came out of the next door over. (this became my first experience with Paparazzi) As I walked up to her to get her autograph, this reporter/photographer jumped out of a car and pushed right in front of me to snap her picture, ask her some questions. After they left, she kindly signed an autograph for me, and then made her way to her waiting car.

[sparepart973]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 3:29pm

London circa 1999? Waiting at the stage door for a very long time, me and two German fans of the show and of Anna Montanaro (Velma) at the time. No one else was there and we were waiting for a good 40 minutes. Eventually we started talking to the security guard who lets people in and out of the theatre and who watches over the theatre when it goes dark. Eventually Anna came out, signed our stuff, and left. The gent offered to take us in (which he did), took us to the dressing rooms, wig rooms, the stage. I stood on Velma's courtroom chair and tried to carry it (it's HEAVY!), climbed the ladder..Took us to the stage basement and showed us the All that Jazz elevator. It was really awesome and completely random and unexpected.

[Overkill]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 3:52pm

Day before Thanksgiving day 2005, there was a HUGE crowd at the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels stagedoor. My mom, brother, two friends, and I were all visiting from Mississippi. We chatted with the man at the stage door, and he kept making fun of my family's accents, and asking if we rode "4 wheelers" and ate crawfish... After standing there for a minute he said, "Okay, just you 5, come on..." And he took us on the stage of the Imperial, and let us take pictures on the set. Wonderful memory.

Also, same trip, I was standing outside the St. James, taking pictures, after having missed The Producers matinee that day, and a man with a guitar on his back was going into the stage door - for whatever reason, I asked him if he knew Gary Beach, and he said "Yeah! You wanna meet him?".. I wasn't expecting this, so I was like "Um... Yes?".. And he took me backstage, to the dressing rooms, and told me to wait at the stairs. Gary came down with his partner about 15 minutes later. He had a bandage wrapped around his finger and said "I'm sorry I took so long! My finger got slammed in a door this last show, and he was playing doctor!", we then chatted for about 30-45 minutes or so, and then he had to get ready for the show. Gary is the nicest man EVER, and so gracious to his fans. Wonderful human. Also, while chatting with him, I remember being starstruck when Hunter Foster walked by and said hello. lol

Successful first trip to NYC. :3

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 5:57pm

Going back many years and the original production of SEASCAPE, Barry Nelson invited me to join him for "a drink". It turned out to be several drinks and I can tell you that Mr. Nelson could really slug them down!

[showchoirguy]

Posted: 7/20/13 at 8:34pm

All the "R's" were rolled at the Evita stage door. Along with the one big southern woman who said "HEY Y'ALL I WANNA MEET RICKY MARTIN!" and the security guard yelling to the women trying to move the barricade "STAY BEHIND THE CONES" (x50).

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 12:40am

My craziest stage door memory will always be waiting at the How to Succeed stage door. Too many crazy Harry Potter fans...

[darreyl102]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 12:52am

I have been blessed to have SOO many incredible experiances at the stage door. but I would have to say my favorite was when I Met Linda Hart after seeing her in Catch Me If You Can. She is an idol of mine, having originated the role of Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray. I had seen her TONS of times in the show, but had only had brief encounters with her at the stage door. I was REALLY heavy and incredibly shy at the time so I really didn't talk to her or anybody I else much at the stage door. Anyway, when the new me met her, I had first written to her and sent some Bootlegs of Hairspray and The Great American Trailer Park Musical. after that, we started writing each other back and forth and when I met her after seeing her in Catch Me, She was SOO incredibly nice. in fact, she gave me this big hug and we ended up talking outside the stage door for over an hour about EVERYTHING. She gave me the most incredible acting advice, we talked about the weather in the Midwest and just general chit chat. It was insane to me that I was having such a down to earth conversation with my idol. I will never forget it!! We still write back and forth all the time.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 1:45am

Looking back on it I feel kind of bad for the rest of the people down the line because they never got to met her.

[Leadingplayer]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 1:49am

When I was a teen I remember waiting for Kathleen Turner outside Cat on A Hot Tin Roof. Polly Holliday came out and avoided everyone. Some guy ran after her and asked her to sign a poster and she just freaked out. She just kept yelling "no! no! I'm not signing that. No!" The oddest part was she didn't walk away. She just kept standing there yelling at the guy.

[phantomcrazy14]

Posted: 7/21/13 at 11:33am

Oh, and this isn't crazy, it was just really nice. When I saw Ghost during previews my parents had dropped me off and gone off shopping and had told me to wait until they came back. Everyone had left and Richard Fleeshman was walking back inside and asked me if I was alright and I told him I was waiting for my parents. He waited with me and talked with me :) He was so nice