So we were at the Saturday, May 30 evening performance of An American in Paris when in walked Bill and Hillary Clinton. This caused quite a stir to say the least.
At other shows I have seen in the audience: Whoopi Goldberg at Waiting for Godot (sat right behind her), Nicole Kidman at Jerusalem, director Steven Soderbergh at The Play What I Wrote, David Schwimmer at (oops, can't remember which show), and others.
Who are some famous people you have seen in the audience for Broadway shows?
I see Sondheim frequently at the theater and more often than not, I end up sitting right in front of him which always makes me nervous and I can't concentrate on whatever I'm watching since all I can think about is how The Lord is 2 feet away from me.
I saw Reba McEntire at Mormon during its first year. And I saw Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio at Jersey Boys in Las Vegas (it was their second anniversary).
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
Rita Moreno (looking terrific) sat two rows in front of me at a performance of THE BEST MAN, and last September, just a few months before he died, Mike Nichols and Diane Sawyer were sitting with Tom Stoppard at a performance of his play INDIAN INK. Lots of others through the years ......
2016 These Paper Bullets (1/02) Our Mother's Brief Affair (1/06), Dragon Boat Racing (1/08), Howard - reading (1/28), Shear Madness (2/10), Fun Home (2/17), Women Without Men (2/18), Trip Of Love (2/21), The First Gentleman -reading (2/22), Southern Comfort (2/23), The Robber Bridegroom (2/24), She Loves Me (3/11), Shuffle Along (4/12), Shear Madness (4/14), Dear Evan Hansen (4/16), American Psycho (4/23), Tuck Everlasting (5/10), Indian Summer (5/15), Peer Gynt (5/18), Broadway's Rising Stars (7/11), Trip of Love (7/27), CATS (7/31), The Layover (8/17), An Act Of God (8/31), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (8/24), Heisenberg (10/12), Fiddler On The Roof (11/02), Othello (11/23), Dear Evan Hansen (11/26), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (12/21) 2017 In Transit (2/01), Groundhog Day (4/04), Ring Twice For Miranda (4/07), Church And State (4/10), The Lucky One (4/19), Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (5/16), Building The Wall (5/19), Indecent (6/01), Six Degrees of Separation (6/09), Marvin's Room (6/28), A Doll's House Pt 2 (7/25) Curvy Widow (8/01)
It seems that I've been to a few shows that other BWW posters attended. I saw Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban at JERUSALEM and Sondheim at CLINTON (also INTO THE WOODS but the one at the Roundabout).
The number of celebs I've seen at the theatre is countless but recently Michelle Pfeiffer (who is STUNNING in person), Jimmy Fallon and Andrea Burns at HAMILTON and America Ferrera at PERMISSION.
The biggest sighting for me was seeing Dolly Parton at one of the last performances of BONNIE & CLYDE. She was the only person I've really been awestruck by seeing and I almost wanted to talk to her.
"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah
I've seen many famous people at shows over the years. One of my favorite moments (and sightings) was waiting at the doors to enter the theatre for "Drowsy Chaperone," turning my head to tell something to my friend and seeing Tyne Daly directly behind him. Wow! We both tried to act cool but I'm sure we failed.
However, the most famous people I've seen at a show at one time was when I went to see BOM during previews. At the show were Kate Hudson, Michelle Williams, Gerald Butler, Toby Maguire and Leonardo Dicaprio.
This is not Broadway, but Audra McDonald was in the audience for the opening night (or I guess first preview) of Bull Durham in Atlanta to support her husband in the show. That was cool!
Most recently, at Hand to God, I saw Sutton Foster. At The Elephant Man, Steven Spielberg was sitting two rows ahead of me and I saw Katie Holmes in the lobby during intermission. In January at On The Town, I was sitting across the aisle from Jerry Stiller (they also called him out for the start of act 2).
A few years ago I was standing behind Didi Conn in the bathroom line at the Al Hirschfeld (I forget which show, though). I also Lance Bass at Priscilla.
Gladys Knight* - Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk Dina Merrill - Chicago revival Richard Dreyfuss* - Titanic Barbara Barrie - Amadeus revival George & Barbara Bush - A Little Night Music (Houston Grand Opera) Hank Azaria* - The Full Monty Steve Balsamo - Peggy Sue Got Married (London)
Sandra Bernhard* - Closer to Heaven (London) Andrew Lloyd Webber - The Beautiful Game (London) Marvin Zindler - The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (tour) Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman - The Pillowman Alex Kapp Horner - Mary Poppins (tour) Neil LaBute - In a Forest Dark and Deep (London) Jerry Mitchell - Kinky Boots (tryout)
*chatted with them
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
I, too, have seen many famous people at shows but my favorite interaction was with Penn Jillette at REASONS TO BE PRETTY.
I walked up to him (it's hard not to notice him, especially since he was on an aisle seat in front of me) at intermission and told him I had been a big fan of his work and he'd been an inspiration to me. He thanked me and immediately offered me one of his Milk Duds. I do enjoy celebrities with their heads on straight.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
She may not be "famous" to some but I totally geeked out when I sat right behind Ute Lemper and got to talk to her during intermission during Chicago. And then I was stretching and this older gentleman was standing next to me and was asking me what i thought about Chicago and seeing as i have now seen this production (on Broadway) 8 times, I spoke of my love for it etc etc... Then as i started to walk away, someone informed me it was Barry Weissler.
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
The Clintons (Bill, Hillary and Chelsea) at "All The Way" last year. Having the secret service presence caused an extra stir compared to most celebrities, and them being at a presidential themed play felt like a special moment.