Ever have someone be rude at a stage door? — Page 4

Wayman_Wong said: "I have a Diana Rigg story from 1994 when she was doing ''Medea,'' for which she won a Tony. I had read an interview with her in which she said she was crazy about fly fishing. The year before, the movie of ''A River Runs Through It,'' which is about two brothers who fly-fish in Montana, had come out. I wondered if Ms. Rigg had seen it, so I just left a videotape of it for her at the stage door. She sent me a handwritten thank-you note, saying I couldn't have given her ''a nicer gift,'' and looked forward to seeing the film. Classy!"

That is amazing! Thank you for sharing this, it’s great to see a nice story in the middle of all this negativity...

haterobics said: "LxGstv said: "That is amazing! Thank you for sharing this, it’s great to see a nice story in the middle of all this negativity..."

The thread is specifically soliciting supposedly rude stage door stories... so the negativity was baked in from the start."

Fair point! But I was referring to a recent post that condemns stage door like it’s this horrible thing... which wasn’t the purpose of the thread...

Updated On: 4/19/18 at 06:40 PM

No drama at the stage door for 1984's Sunday in the Park with George.

newintown said: "Dollypop said: "Eartha Kitt gave me "the stare" until I reminded her that without fans like me, she wouldn't have achieved her level of success. She ultimately signed my Playbill but never broke her stare or said a word."

That's a truly grotesque story, and Ms. Kitt is not the one who looks bad.

I've heard many performers talk about their loathing and trepidation of the stage door; as has been addressed here, far too many lunatics and insane celebrity worshippers have turned it into a Fellini-esque nightmare."

I hope she signed his Playbill with "FU"

I understand why JBradshaw (and many others) would hate doing the stage door and enduring its attendant hysteria. A performer doesn't owe the audience anything other than their best performance onstage. So doing the meet-and-greet is a bonus. No one should disparage any actor for choosing not to do it.

That said, I give credit to the ones who enjoy it, and nobody has this down to a science more than Zachary Levi. He brings out the boom box and creates a party atmosphere. He then makes small talk with each person and signs everyone's Playbill, and he'll go down the line a second time in case anyone wants to take a photo. In an interview for Playbill.com, I once asked Levi why he goes the extra mile. He says it's something he learned to do in community theater, and he simply likes saying thank you to his fans.

Updated On: 4/20/18 at 12:28 PM

I have only ever had amazing experiences at the stage doors with both NYC and touring casts.

Only bad experiences I have had are from other stage doorers who felt like they were entitled to everything.

Some of my highlights:

Cabaret:

---Emma Stone didn't pose for pictures, but she was incredibly kind, gracious, and talked to fans and signed their playbills.

--- Alan Cumming visited with fans and signed playbills. Very kind and handled a heckler incredibly well.

Wicked:

Have had nothing but incredible experiences with the casts of multiple companies across the country. One experience with a cast member at the SD in NYC has turned into a friendship!

Legally Blonde:

Favorite experience was after Kathleen Monteleone went on for Elle in OKC--ended up chatting with her for about 15 minutes after the show and she sang some of Oh My God in german.

Next to Normal:

Had great experiences with the cast, but Ben Stiller was in the audience and stage doored with the rest of us non-famous people...really cool guy!

I've seen a few people posting positive experiences to combat the negativity, and while I know that wasn't the initial point of the post, I'm going to throw one out there too.

Andy Karl has always been nothing but kind, gracious, and humble at stage door, especially after Groundhog Day when he was still recovering from his injury. He'd sign after every single performance, which until then I had rarely seen any lead do, especially one recovering from an injury AND doing such a physically and emotionally demanding show. And he was always personable, having unique conversations with everyone, cracking jokes and being his goofy self, and truly listening to what each person had to say. I've seen him in Pretty Woman a few times now as well and it's nothing but the same. He's a class act.

When I saw the Wicked tour last year,there was a guy in the ensemble who seemed to have a following . After he accepted a little boy's gift(which was really adorable ) , he stood at the side while smoking a cigarette while other elementary school aged kids were screaming his name and he ignored them.Think he did go over to one woman and talked to her for a few minutes then just left.I know that other people have met this guy before and have said the total opposite from what I saw so I guess he was having a bad day. I just thought it was horrible that he ignored the little kids.

Other than that, most of my time at stage doors been good except for a few with large crowds that were rows deep (i.e Matilda on Broadway and Something Rotten on tour) When I saw Kinky Boots a few weeks ago , they had the second line go beyond the barricade to make one single line which I thought was pretty cool,espically since it started to downpour right after that.David Cook and J.Harrison Ghee spent a long time out there in the pouring rain meeting everybody .

Updated On: 8/8/18 at 10:03 AM

Not rude, but....

Celeste Holm would only give an autograph if the signee gave money to her for Unicef.



Wonder if Unicef ever saw the moolah?

Updated On: 8/8/18 at 04:06 PM

And the whole "you wouldn't be where you are without us fans!" completely devalues their work into nothing more than simply existing as trophies for strangers to collect. For reality or social media "stars" like Paris Hilton or the Kardashians, it may be somewhat true (though they owe their careers more to family money than anything else), but for actors and performers, they have to work to get fans. Any fan who feels entitled to gratitude by performers in the way of special attention, photos or autographs care less about the performer than they do about themselves. It's all about the fear of not bagging another trophy they can show off, brag about or sell. Otherwise, why bother getting an autograph of someone you respected who then disappointed you to the point you lecture them like a child to get what you want? Doesn't sound like an article one would cherish. Quite the opposite, in fact. Lecturing Eartha Kitt that she owes her career to you is...not fine at all. It's petty, shallow and disgusting.

I remember stage dooring The Last Night of Ballyhoo and when Celia Weston came out, she flew past the fans saying, "I can't...I have to get to the airport!" Whether it's true or not is totally irrelevant. She could have just been in a bad mood, hates signing, fears fans, had explosive diarrhea or genuinely needed to catch a flight. She didn't owe anyone an explanation at all. Meanwhile, I got some lovely photos with Jessica Hecht, Dana Ivey and Paul Rudd. And I hope Celia caught her flight or whatever. It was fine and I had no ill will towards her at all.

I've had a couple of performers behave rudely to me, purely ego-based, but I realized that it is just who they are. It may have tarnished how I feel about them on a personal level, but in one case, I still respect them as a performer. I just don't want to run into them at a party or anything. And I won't bother wasting time trying to get an autograph from them again.

I can guarantee that there are more than a few actors who will not do Broadway because they don't care to run the gauntlet night after night.