Ever go see a show, open the playbill...then 'woah' somone famous!

Have you ever gone to see a show not knowing who will be in it?

Not living in New York I only get to see the shows that are on tour so I may never know who I'm gonna get.

I remember when I went to see Rent in La Jolla. I sat down, opened the program and I was like, "Ohmygosh! It's Doogie Howswer MD!" Neil Patrick Harris was playing Mark.

Another time I went to see Rent at the Shuebert Theater in LA and lo-n-behold....Daphne Rubin Vega as Mimi! I couldn't believe it.

One other surprise...when the Joseph/Dreamcoat tour came around to San Diego my brother said to me "Debbie Gibson is the narrator." I was like, "Whatever, Debbie Gibson doesn't do theater. She's a has-been." And then what do you know...she now goes by DEBORAH GIBSON and plays parts here and there. There are a couple of other stories...but these are the ones that stand to me.

Updated On: 4/22/05 at 06:07 PM

My first show ever was the tour of Chicago back in 1997. Jasmine Guy was Velma and I was such a huge fan of Different World and especially her character.

---

Nope - I always know who's in the show ahead of time.

---

Nah...if you read the Broadway websites, its virtually impossible to be surprised by anything.

Paige O'Hara (voice of Belle in B&tB, the original animated film) as the Narrator in Joseph
Richard Dempsey (Peter in BBC Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe) in Just So (England)
Coleen Sexton in Chicago

Frankie Avalon in the Grease tour. That was awesome, because I used to watch Frankie and Annette movies when I was little, and loved Grease the movie since I was 10.

---

the only time I didn't know ahead of time is when I saw Chicago in London; Ruthie Henshall, Frances Ruffele, Marti Pellow. We didn't even know we were going, so I didn't have time to look it up. I nearly fainted.

---

Lol. I'm sure I saw this tour of JCS, too, and didn't recall DeYoung in it...guess I didn't pay much attention, even though I'm a Gen Xer and loved STYX. Wasn't this the production where they used hand-held mikes and Herod appeared in leather chaps, revealing a bare bum? As I remember, Ted Neeley seemed a bit past his prime but Carl Anderson was still belting with panache...amazing.

Updated On: 4/22/05 at 08:07 PM

Yeah! Dennis was great. The show was fantastic! I would love to get my hands on this video....if it's even floating around. :)

I think Carl passed away several years ago? So I'm glad I got to see him.

Most of the time I know who's in a show before I see it, but I didn't realize until after the show that the Noah Curry I had just seen in Pasadena Playhouse's "110 in the Shade" was none other than Tom Wilson, Biff from the Back to the Future series. :)

---

last thursday i bought tickets to ALL SHOOK UP, not really knowing anything about it or who was in it. i was pleasantly surprised to find that Leah Hocking and Mark Price both had leads in the show. they aren't huge stars, but they were both in Dance of the Vampires, and i absolutely adore that show. so i was really excited to see it. i also noticed that two other ensemble memebers were also in DOTV. i loved the show, and i'm so glad that the actors are getting work again...after all, DOTV was a flop

15 years ago, when I was living in Bucharest Romania, a British theatre group brought Richard III to the city. I didn't look at the program until intermission, and was shocked to find that playing Richard III was none other than Ian McKellen!

well...i went to On the Record, and found out that Emily Skinner was Diane...then two seconds later that her understudy would be going on..I was pissed..

I was like YAY EMILY SKINNER--oh...ARRHHGG

---