In May when I saw Piazza, we sat in the same row as Mandy Patinkin. He seemed kind of snooty while he was watching it, but he jumped to his feet for Matt Morrison at the curtain call. Also at the same show, two rows down from me, Chris Parnell from SNL really enjoyed the show. I have a huge crush on him, so I was stoked. He looks chubby on the show, but he isn't at all.
Years and years ago I saw A Month in the Country with Tammy Grimes and Amanda Plummer at The Roundabout and Shelley Winters (in a red wig) was there with Susan Strasberg.
That same week Neil Siman and Marsha Mason were at Bent.
At Steppenwolf's Death and the Maiden, I shared the audience with Robert Wagner, Jill St. John and Stefanie Powers.
Remains Theatre did a promenade production at the old Organic space in Chicago of Road and Roger Ebert was in the seated section.
My very first National Tour, The Wiz - I bumped right into Geoffrey Holder in the lobby. I didn't yet know lobby etiquette. God that man can smile!
I was directly behind Warren Beatty at The Goodman in the line for the water fountain for Elaine May's Hot Line.
Sunset Boulevard preview in London - Princess Di, Sir Andrew, David Bowie and Iman were just a few of the folks taking in the evening's entertainment.
The Last Fall (or something like that) - Alec Baldwin Sweet Charity - Richard Kind The Rivals - Kate Burton The Light In The Piazza - Victor Garber (sp?) there are way more but my memory is failing me right now.
During intermission at DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, early on in days for HAIRSPRAY, my daughter and I ran into Matt Morrison and Marissa Jaret Winokur in the lobby of the Minskoff. I later noticed they were sitting about a row in front of us during the performance.
Unless we know someone very well, we wouldn't dare impose on their time. It turned out to be a mutual greeting though, since Matt remembered my daughter and me from when he was in ROCKY HORROR and gave us a big hello, said a few words about "things," and MJW just glared. She wasn't friendly at all and seemed to not like that he was speaking with us. Matt, however, was a doll!
"I'm gonna jump straight up, kick a hole in the moon. Don't know exactly where I'm going, but I'm know I'm gonna get there soon." - Jerry Lukowski (Patrick Wilson) in "The Full Monty"
When I saw Whoopi's 25th anniverary show back in November, I sat by fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. Very goodlooking and very kind: he apologized about me having to get up to let him and his friend in the aisle. After sitting down, he made light conversation until the show started... in which I did ask if he WAS who I thought he was. He was... and he was just downright charming. :)
I've come this far with the truth of the heart. Deep down inside I think we're all the same. Try not to judge and never shame... I do believe people are good... they just want hope and respect... to be understood ~Melissa Etheridge
At a preview performance of the recent off broadway production of Hurlyburly we saw Sam Waterson, Joe Mantello and Kristen Johnston, and Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson... as well as Parker Posey, Bobby Carnavale, Ethan Hawke, and Wallace Shawn on stage... we were in celebrity heaven!
Reguardless of what the self appointed grand damme of "Broadway World.Com" might have to say, I think it's quite fun spotting celebrities when in New York. Then again I'm from Chicago, and one can only get so excited about seeing John Mahoney and Oprah over and over and over again.
p.s.- wasn't that "tipsy" snipe at Elaine Stritch a little low?
When i went to see rent this past week i could have sworn that i saw one of the olson twins. Being a closet olson fan i'm pretty sure it was one of them!
MJW dose not have that much to be snippy about. God only knows how she won a Tony that year, She is probbably snippy because she realizes she will only every perform in "Hairspray" becuase of her voice. Not a voice that fits in most shows. Not to bring her down but she is not the most versitle of actresses. If that was her character voice it would be another story. Plus I am a bit bitter about Bernadette losing that year. :) Bet you couldn't guess, huh?
"You look like a Christmas tree with a drinking problem!" - MEMPHIS
I saw The Light in the Piazza on June 17, and Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs were in the audience. They came out the stage door afterwards and talked a while with the actors then left.
Marissa, when I talked to her, was extremely nice and supportive and caring and very warm. She was a great girl and would love to get to talk with her again.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
To Kill A Mockingbird
About 10 years ago, there was a one-night only concert version of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. The stars were Patti LuPone, Peter Gallagher and Eli Wallach.
I was seated in the theater and reading the skimpy PLAYBILL when I heard the distictive voice of Carol Channing asking me if the seats next to mine was 107 and 109. They was, and she and her son sat beside me during the whole performance.
Yes, Miss Channing enjoyed every minute of the show and was wiping tears from her eyes when LuPone sang the reprise of "No Business Like Show Business".
During our intermission conversation, I told Miss Channing that I'd seen HELLO DOLLY! a total of 74 times (Broadway and tours) and she responded, "Oh, my word! Was I in it each time?"
I went to go see the Actor's Fund Perfomance of Spamalot, and after me and my sister were waiting for autographs. My mom and dad were waiting behind the crowd and all the sudden Delta Burke passes them, my mom didn't recognize her so she turns the person next to her and asks who it is. The person gave her the answer and left, after that, my dad tells my mom that the person she was talking to was Frances Sternhagen. We also saw Charlotte Rae there But I've never actually seen a famous person during the show. If you don't know who Frances Sternhagen is...
Me and wickedgeek saw caroline rhea at chitty and i sat in the same row as john hickock at little women. lol i know a lot of you are probably wondering why he wasnt onstage and to be frank, I dont either! He was the only one out that day and sat in my row and he was tall!
I saw a community production of Funny Girl, and Al Anoto (the hair and wig designer of many shows including WICKED) was there. I was like... WTF!? Upstate New York Comuinity production? Why would you come here? But he knew the director who's also one of my very good friends.
I sat near Michael Chiklis and his family at Sweet Charity a few months ago...he was very nice, and visited with Christina after the show. He even signed a few autographs at the stage door before getting into his ginormous SUV.
The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows another... and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.
~Leonard Bernstein~
- I went to a performance of WICKED (year and a half ago? something like that), and Mandy Moore and her friend Adam Duritz (lead singer of one of my favorite bands, The Counting Crows) was sitting two rows behind me. I kept staring at Duritz, but Moore was the one who got mobbed going into the theater and at intermission. She was very nice about it, from what I could see, but I think the flashbulbs started to hurt her eyes. Poor Adam Duritz was like "that guy" who people think is famous, but they just have no idea where they've seen him. Afterwards, Mandy Moore came out the stage door a little bit before me, and she was chased down the street by several scary 15 year olds that may have had fangs. Someone backstage said she had been at the show a few times before.
- There's of course the Chenoweth concert with Rosie, et al. in the audience (I was surprised at how "down" Rosie was dressed, given the fact that she's such a huge theater fan. Actually, I don't know what I was expecting, but she was dressed down.) But like someone already said, she seemed uber nice. Very accomodating when she got accosted at intermission by fans. She seemed to want to talk to everyone who came up to her, and everyone who went up to her seemed very calm and friendly.
- I've worked at several shows, or been backstage at a few, where there were celebs, but I don't think I've been in the audience with anyone else famous (that I can remember seeing during the show,) so I don't think any of those stories are relevant. However... my favorite memory from Roundabout was at the opening night party for AFTER THE FALL. Tony Danza was there, and we (my friends and I, after quite a few martinis) dared another of our friends to go up to Tony Danza and say something stupid. Well, turns out some other drunk person beat my friend to it. Random Drunk Man staggered up to Tony and said, "Hey, Tony Danza, who's the boss, man?" And Tony Danza said, "f*** you," and walked away. We laughed so hard we almost fell out of the booth.
i think i saw Rachel McAdams at Piazza. but i'm not entirely sure it was her, she had her head down. i saw her in line for the bathroom at intermission.
