Final If/Then Show — Page 5

^And well-meaning fans like yourself are shoved out of the way, or all the times you patiently went with no expectations and she didn't come out, but she came out when that one exceptionally rude fan happened to be there. That's always nice, right?

"But they also had to deal with signing for throngs of people if they wanted to participate."

Good point. The whole "who are you?" thing must be irritating on top of that.

I would love to hear interviews with Broadway performers giving their honest feelings about stage dooring. (Anyone know of any?)

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"A middle aged man shoved his way towards the front of the pack like he was going for a touchdown. "

These are autograph hunters. On Saturday night, I was against the barricade (I'd arrived early, knowing I would not/could not stage door Sunday) and was surrounded by autograph hunters with cheap Frozen artwork from Kmart, etc. One of the men was asking an unsuspecting fan some questions about Idina's habits and I finally interrupted and said, "Good thing you're asking how this works so you can get a good profit on eBay," and he said, "Not with the chicken scratch she gives us." I was so over his bullsh*t; the cops even sent his crew away when they were waiting there too early. He came with at least 2 other people - one being a young woman whom he gave a playbill to out of a clipboard to masquerade as a fan. And yes, after her frenzied signing, he complained that the results were worthless. These hounds are also to blame for a lot of the yelling and posters in faces. The women behind me - who kept screaming for INDINA - kept shoving their Frozen posters in my face and Joby saw what was going on and did her best to tell them to knock it off because Idina will sign everything but not if they act that way.

/rant

The stage door experience is fun and thrilling, and it's fun to make friends with those around you who are sharing int he experience.

But sometimes you get that girl who loudly proclaims "I'm only an Idina fan when it's convenient," yet boasts that she's seen the show some 30+ times and essentially stalks the theater. Those are the times I wish for people to spontaneously burst into flame.

This boy definitely needs professional help and fast.

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"Oh, that's very satisfying. Good for her. I suppose it would've been easier if she refused to sign anything from Frozen at all, but there are always exceptions like the occasional younger child hoping to get an autograph and Menzel seems happy to oblige with kids (though I honestly think that's the idea of the parent)."

I wish there was a way to do the stage door thing and have only people who actually saw that performance. It just seems too crazy when a big star (Idina, Daniel Radcliffe, Sting etc) do a show and the mob scene it creates. I give these people all the credit in the world, don't think i would want to do it when it is bedlam every night.

^That's most reasonable. I read about that in the Constellations thread too. I understand when stars would like to engage all their fanbases or whatever, but it's better to just make some hard and fast rules to filter the experience to something manageable for everyone involved (except autograph hounds) for situations like this.

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^Well, the fact that Menzel emblazoned a permanent mention to the IF/THEN cast in her holiday album liner notes certainly speaks volumes. I'll be curious how the tour cast compares.

And thanks NJ_BroadwayGirl for the link. I think it's notable that the interviewed performers aren't of the celebrity strata that Menzel now inhabits, which isn't quite the level of Hugh Jackman or NPH but definitely goes beyond Broadway. The story about John Stamos isn't surprising. (Though the comment that apparently some stars do have stage dooring written into their contracts is rather interesting. Wonder how common that is.)

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Pootie2- Just to throw in there that I second your thought about having a ticket to be at the stage door. I think it would make it so much less chaotic. I think the most organized stage door that I've ever seen was for "First Date" where they announced that you could ONLY have Playbills signed by Zachary Levi, and checked for tickets the night I was there. After he signed everything, if you wanted a photo, they just asked that you form a line while he stayed in one spot to make the process go quickly.

This could all be remedied if they allowed the signing to happen in the theater lobby. They might sell more drinks and merchandise too.
Monitor the door and let nobody from outside in. Yes, I know this can't happen because of the need to close the theater, etc....just thinking.....

That does sound so much better than the usual free-for-all stage door experience. Overall, it's got to be more win-win too. At least for the big names, and Cranston is certainly bigger than Menzel, so if that system works there, scaling is probably easy. They should standardize it! :)

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Are you referring to the choice to nail that note and hold it 20 seconds?

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Damn right it was a choice. An f'ing amazing one! Between that note and the audience's response, the theatre shook with such force, I saw dust falling from the ceiling as I was sitting back down in my seat.

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That song in that performance was one of the most bone chilling experiences of my entire life and I will surely remember it always. What a moment for everyone inside that theater, experiencing it together.

"and Cranston is certainly bigger than Menzel..."

Well, by Hollywood standards, sure. But by stage door standards, I really don't think that is true. No one has a more veracious stage door audience than Idina. Maybe NPH and Hugh Jackman were on par, but even those two, I don't believe, had to endure the kind of raucous that that woman put up with. Totally don't blame her from cutting (way) down on the SD as the run went on. Could not have been enjoyable.