Crazy stage door time

I’m curious who were some actors that caused major stage door crowds, traffic issues. Were there any times when it was almost guaranteed a congested hassle at around 10:30 when someone was leaving the theatre?



I think back to Ricky Martin in Evita or Idina Menzel after If/Then. Have there been other shows that bad?

The craziest stage door experience I ever had was in July 2007/2008 (I forget which year) - Laura Bell Bundy’s last show in Legally Blonde. The crowds were insane, probably 4-5 rows deep. People were shoving others against the barricades. Everyone sweating. Actors having to reach over everyone to sign autographs or take pictures. It was a nightmare.

Julia Roberts. The police closed the entire block of 45th St after every show, because the crowds were so insane.

I remember when there were no barricades at the stage door, and only a handful of people would stick around to get an autograph. The first barricade I remember was for the revival of “Grease” in 1994, and it was because Rosie O’Donnell was rapidly rising to fame at that point. I remember thinking how wild it was that there were so many people and how it was necessary for those barricades to be there. Even for the following couple years there were shows with big stars that didn’t use barricades, but then it quickly became the norm. I remember Nicole Kidman did The Blue Room and seeing giant crowds while walking by and Hugh Jackman in The Boy from Oz was a mob, too.

Beetlejuice was awful. Not sure if it was just because it was Rob McClure's last weekend when I went but there were probably 5-6 rows of people pushing against the barricades. The people in the front were passing playbills back and forth from those behind them to the actors because there would've been no way to reach otherwise.

Updated On: 1/17/22 at 02:46 PM

Lunalaaaaaaaa said: "

Ben Platt during Dear Evan Hansen


"

DEH is crazy with or without Ben. Saw DEH twice - once with and once without and both times there was a crowd 3 rows deep before the show even let out.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Sea Wall/A life was madness. Rows of people pushing, and this was right after his spider-man role so a ton of marvel fans trying to get things signed. Jake told a guy next to me to leave after he signed like 5 of his things LMAO.

Daniel Radcliffe was the biggest crowd I ever saw personally.

Another vote for Daniel Radcliffe… after How To Succeed in my case. SCARY crowd; yelling and pushing. Couldn’t get away fast enough after the show, which wasn’t easy to do. It was a total mob.

Nolan LuPone said: "Didn't police have to be brought in frequently when the OBC of Hamilton was in the show? I remember having a hell of a time trying to walk past the Rodgers Theatre in 2016 and seeing a lot of news articles about it."

I worked for awhile at Hamilton. Started when it was the tail end of the original cast’s time in the show. I could be wrong, but I don’t remember them closing off the street for that stage door. However, the real mess as it relates to Hamilton was that, every time the in person lotto was going on, cops had to block off the street since the crowds were that big. That was one of the many many good reasons as to why the in person lotto stopped.

I remember Billy Joe Armstrong in American Idiot was quite crazy.

Jordan Catalano said: "Julia Roberts. The police closed the entire block of 45th St after every show, because the crowds were so insane."

Same when Daniel Radcliffe was in How to Succeed.

sbflyfan said: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pne76g_WP8

Looks like Bernadette and Mandy were pretty much mobbed after every performance back in '84."

THAT is NOT a mob. It’s probably 10 people you can’t even see applauding and cheering. Hahaha.

THIS is a mob scene: