Guy arrested at Xanadu stage door today!! — Page 5

This would be a fantastic poll, or even just a standard interview question for every actor(Corine, are you listening?) I would bet if the actors were honest 99.9% of them would say the stage door is NOT an enjoyable experience, but part of the job and would avoid it at all costs if people wouldn't write horrid things about them on the Internet.

"Miss Patti, How do you feel about the crowds awaiting you after a performance who expect an autograph or 5, a photo or 5, or just want to hug you? Is that something you enjoy and look forward to, do you feel a special connection to those who show up 4 or more times a week, or would you be ecstatic if it were never allowed again?"

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I can understand signing something that isn't show related. I know of a couple of people who have autograph books that they like to use instead of a playbill or something related to the show that they just saw.

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This whole stage door thing fascinates me - it's really a product of this current generation, I think, at least in its present form, where teens adopt shows and performers in ways that are really unprecedented. It's not that people didn't wait at the stage door before, but it's never been anything like the last ten years or so. When I was a teen, it would have been almost unheard of to wait at the stage door - if one even knew what a stage door WAS.

Of course, that was a long time ago, a different world, really. I never waited at a stage door in my life. What I did do was go to the stage door and ask if I could meet whoever it was I was interested to meet. And in those days there were no stalkers or crazy people, and the performers I met all invited me to their dressing rooms and were very sweet and warm. The list includes Tammy Grimes, Jason Robards, Jr., Joel Grey (then on tour with Stop the World), Robert Weede (possibly the kindest, sweetest performer I've ever met, and that includes all the people I've subsequently worked with), Oscar Brown, Jr., and a few others.

But today is something wholly other - I'm not really sure it's healthy for anyone. I try to understand it, but it doesn't really compute for me. It's fine once, I suppose, but the going back multiple times is quite odd.

I'm not making generalizations, I'm afraid. One need only peruse this thread (if not others) to know that I am not making generalizations. One need only walk by almost any stage door these days to know that I am not making generalizations.