LENNON (8/14 - 9/24) LOVE- Page 15

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/24/05 at 11:26pm

awwww, Julia!!!

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 9/24/05 at 11:34pm

i love your avatar emcee.

i'm wearing the same shirt right now. in honor of the lennon.

it's beautiful like julia.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/24/05 at 11:38pm

Juliaaaaaaaa. hee. I see her tomorrow -- wheee!

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 9/24/05 at 11:44pm

broadway flea market?

i wonder if they'll have anything from lennon.

i'm thinking it's too soon.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/24/05 at 11:47pm

At the Katrina benefit -- maybe at the Flea Market if Lennon has a table? I don't know. It might be too soon for them to have much, but posters and things?

[kooky]

Posted: 9/24/05 at 11:50pm

I was there - - - the show will live on forever, WATCHING THE WHEELS
was by far a show stopping moment in time. I wish it could have lived
among us on broadway for more than this short time. With my glass of
wine I salute you Lennon, and EVERYONE involved in it - - in all
the different capacities. FAREWELL! I will remember this night for
a very long time indeed.

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 9/24/05 at 11:50pm

oh the benefit!!

that's awesome that you're going to that.

you must review! which i'm sure you will!

[softershade]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 12:31am

i just got a call from my friend who was at the after party, apparently terrance was incredibly wasted. and also right after the part where terrance plays the king/queen he grabbed will and kissed him hard on the lips.
oh and during the senator thurman when chad is just like "of the beatles!" he like did this little dance and chuck was like "what is wrong with you boy!"

[TBone]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 12:32am

I was also at the performance tonight - it was incredible. I can't even begin to express how much I am going to miss the show.

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 12:34am

awwww.

i miss it too.

anything exciting particularily stick out for you in the performance?

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 12:43am

i was there as well. Excellent performance tonight. TONS of energy from the cast and from the audience. The theater was completely sold out! I am *so glad* I got to be there. Yoko and Don were on stage with the cast during the exit music. Yes, watching the wheels got *tons* of applause. It was truly a magical evening. Sorry to see that the talented cast members are all out of jobs now, but hopefully they will all move on to something better. I told Julia that she should do a revival of The Wild Party! Wouldn't that be fun? LOL. Sorry you couldn't be there Cathy...you definitely deserved to be there!

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 12:48am

thanks.

lennon was such a great experience and part of my life! i'll never forget how much it has taught me about so many different things.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 12:50am

oh and i also saw ilovetheatertrash and phantom487 at the stage door!

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 10:53am

talk about your lennon experiences here!

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 1:32pm

Lennon's closing is supposedly the #1 thing people in Entertainment are talking about this week. According to EW. On EW's Hot List (I think thats what its called), Lennon's closing was #1.


Im still sad I never got to see this show. Had to choose between ASU and this. Updated On: 9/25/05 at 01:32 PM

[danaonotlater]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 2:15pm

Cathy asked for Lennon experiences, so I come with mine. I have been reading this for awhile. But now, finally with a bww board account, I can actually post!

But last night while I was sadly not at Lennon seeing the final show because I am in London studying abroad for the semester, I took the time to reflect on my Lennon experience and why I love it so much! This is what resulted...I know it is incredibly long, but I don't know, I felt like sharing because some of you seem to be as touched as I have been. Feel free to skip it...I know it is long!

..............
My Lennon celebration

The time has finally come. It’s 8:22 in the United States. The cast of Lennon has sung “New York City,” “Mother” and “Look at Me” for the last time. Writing that brings tears to my eyes, but this is meant to be a celebration...a remembrance. I can’t be there tonight, which tears me up inside. But I am there, too, with all my heart and my soul. The people that need to know it the most know that I would be there if there was any possible way...me, Amanda, Julie.

I wore my Lennon shirt today in honor of all the people that put their hard work into the show that has touched me so deeply. I don’t know why it happened or how it happened but Lennon has become such a part of me.

It was there when I needed something to inspire me. It was everything I was looking for. It was partly the show itself. It was partly the cast. It was partly me when I was there.

At some point this summer, I came to the realization that it is when I am in a theatre and right after when I am stage dooring that I am the person that I want to be all the time. I am happy, enthusiastic, positive, confident. I am on the top of the world and Lennon only brought this out more.

The show has a message, a meaning. I walked out of that theatre with a lot of life lessons...John’s life lessons. His message, the meaning that came from his life. But it applies to me too. It applies to all of us. That’s powerful!

The show made me want to see better, to do better, in the world and in myself. It gave me a greater perspective on myself...made me realize what I can be, what I can do.

I said it was the show and me, but also the cast. The cast is amazing. Yes, they can sing and act and put on some pretty damn good accents, but they are amazing people too. In my limited Broadway life, I have to admit that I have not really met any actor who isn’t appreciative or friendly, at least at some point, but this entire cast blew me away. Since I was in the first row, they noticed me. They saw my excitement...my curiosity, my enthusiasm. They seemed to relish in it and that is all I was trying to do. I wanted them to see. They were having fun up on that stage. They were putting all of themselves into it and I wanted to give it right back to them. And I am pretty positive they saw because they embraced me afterwards at the stage door. The first night it was mostly just Julie, but everyone was so kind.

I had so much fun with Julie that night. It was the first night they put “New York City” as the opener, which I didn’t know at the time, and after Will’s solo, they came pouring out. And there she was right in front of me, looking right at me, smiling and dancing. I couldn’t help but smile right back. I didn’t know who she was or who she played, but she was there and she engaged me. I was pulled suddenly into the show. This continued through the whole performance. I ate it up. But I was also following the show, as best I could for not knowing much about John Lennon’s life at all, and seeing it for everything that it was. It was an emotional roller coaster. It was, well, it was a life. The songs fit so well, which I would come to appreciate more later, but it was just someone’s life. Someone who happened to be famous...someone with a lot to say. By the end, I felt clued in. I felt connections to him and his life. That’s why Julie’s “Grow Old With Me” gave me chills and touched me so much. I remembered that moment walking out of the theatre that night. She was so in the moment, so emotionally involved. So was I. That was the moment where I knew she was something really special. The show ended and they were in their bows. I was dancing and singing and clapping. It was amazing. Julie was right there in front of me...I reached up for her hand. I had to know that she was real and that the show was real and to show her that I appreciated what she did up there, in the show and for me. At the stage door, she came down the line and when she reached me, she praised me just about as much as I was praising her. I couldn’t believe it! I asked for a hug and I distinctly remember her saying “you deserve more than a hug!” The feeling was one I can now place as ‘I did it...I was able to convey my love, my appreciation, my excitement. It was all me–all me engaged with the show.’

I don’t know why I was so interested in Lennon. Sure I liked the Beatles...I listened to “Breakfast with the Beatles” on the way to school almost everyday of my senior year of high school. That was my exposure to the Beatles. I guess I could have picked John Lennon out of a picture because, well, he’s John Lennon. Everyone knows who John Lennon is. The only solo work I had heard had been what they played on “Breakfast with the Beatles,” which was pretty much just “Imagine” every couple of weeks. I didn’t know much about his life, but from the minute I heard about the show, I wanted to see it. Somehow, I learned about the Today Show performance and after that, I knew I had to see it! I just needed to know if there were student rush tickets. I joined the lennonmusical community on livejournal and posted about loving the performance and wondering about tickets. Someone responded (very quickly in fact) saying that they did sell student rush tickets for $26.25. I completely changed my plans at that minute. I was going up to NYC that week to see Wicked perform at Bryant Park and had planned on entering some type of lottery. But I decided to see Lennon instead! I was so incredibly excited. No one else I knew was excited about it. Everyone seemed to think my excitement was pretty strange (including me!). It was random, but I had a feeling I was going to love it.

Going for the first time, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was expecting some audience/cast interaction...which definitely did not disappoint! But I loved it. I was confused by a few things, but the message came across and that was more powerful than the little things. I left feeling like my better self and it made me want to be better than even that!

My friend, Amanda, and I decided to swap shows a few weeks later...I saw All Shook Up; she saw Lennon. She went in with the critics’ awful reviews in her head. She went in skeptic and there wasn’t even an energetic audience to make her feel the excitement. I had to push myself further, cheer harder, because the audience was so dead that night. Everyone was once again, so sweet. Julie had once again made the connection. I was in a different seat, more centrally located and I was not really sure if I would get to smile and dance in my seat with her. But the girls lined up to do backup for Chuck in “Instant Karma” and there she was right in front of me! She smiled and I knew that she recognized me. I was so excited. So at the stage door, I was freaking out because she was one of the last people to come out and she was the one that I wanted to see the most. It was well worth the wait because she came out, went to start signing, looked around first, saw me and yelled out “my Sabrina!” I was in complete shock! I had written her a letter telling her how much I adored the show and her performance and thanking her for being so awesome to me during the show and after at the stage door. But I never in a million years expected her to remember my name. It was perfect beyond belief! I knew I really could do it then! And it only seemed to grow from there.

Leaving that night, I was seriously giddy as all get out. So as I lay in bed the next morning, I came up with a plan to see it again. I was already expecting to go in two weeks time, but I knew I had to see it again before that...as many times as possible before I left. Saturday was the only day that worked, so I went up. I saw the show twice that day! I chatted with people around me in the theatre, something that I don’t normally do. That was a change. I made friends with the percussionist because he noticed I had been there twice that day. I stage doored before and after both shows. When I was there three days previously, I had told the cast I would be back in two weeks with my mom...Mandy remembered! I told her I made a surprise visit! Chuck couldn’t believe that I was seeing the show twice that day... “I guess that’s good for us” was his response in the end. Everyone seemed to be recognizing me, which was absolutely thrilling. The show was amazing. The audience was good.

I started noticing the little things. The cast really played things up to me...so cool! Julia, as Aunt Mimi, showed me John’s sketches. Chuck looked at me during “Instant Karma.” Marcy slid further towards stage right during “Woman is the n* of the World” and sang part of that directly to me. Afterward that part, I looked over at the girls and Julie gave me a huge smile because she knew it had been right to me! Everything was just so much fun. During the encore of “Give Peace a Chance,” I had a peace sign up in the air and I waved it to them all when they walked by (another reason why I love seat AA101...they all walk past!) and as Michael went by he put one up too and we did a little ET finger touch thing. It was so cute and exciting!

By now, I knew that this was different. This was “my show,” by which I mean the one that means the most to me, my favorite, the one I love beyond words and would do anything to see. It had made me see myself as a better, stronger, more confident person. It made me want to do everything like that. It made me want to do good in the world with those qualities. With that fresh in my mind from the first performance, I was emotionally charged in the second. And the cast seemed to be just the same...The cast was “on” that night! Everyone gave stellar performances. The audience was incredible. By the end, I had really connected with everything...I had a serious cry that night. It was Julie that got me... “Grow Old With Me”...wow. This was only a preview of what was to come. The stage door experience rocked. I told Julia about going to London and she seriously stopped dead in her tracks and started telling me about how great of a time I was going to have. And Julie didn’t come out again for awhile, but I had seen her husband go in with a lot of people, so I figured...tour! She stopped to talk with me for quite awhile even though she had people waiting for her. Offering me the most awesome “send off to London,” she had me reeling. That night was perfect. I was touched in the theatre and outside of it. It was expanding from Julie...everyone was getting major love from me that night and I seemed to be getting back what I gave!

I was back again in a week’s time. This time with my mom in tote, for real, and bringing along presents! Julie was unfortunately out sick, but I got to see Rona, which was a treat. It was a quirky show, which made it that much more special for me. I knew it was quirky! Others seeing it for the first time would probably not even have noticed. Chuck missed an entrance, Rona somehow ended up without her drumsticks...Will ran them back to her, almost bumping into Julia on the way back, the “Hard Day’s Night” chord was not right and the conductor looked around at the band like ‘what the hell just happened’ (but in a funny way)...and so much more! Marcy went all out in “Woman is the n* of the World”...I mean huge, huge breath before going into the last note. It was amazing! Chuck sang part of “Instant Karma” directly to my mom...she loves him now!

This time, I didn’t even wait for “Grow Old With Me” to cry...it started up as soon as Chuck started his speech. It calmed a bit during “Grow Old With Me.” I liked Rona a lot, but she was no Julie in this song! The message had me sobbing and that continued through all of “Imagine!” Julia looked over at me though with a concerned sort of look on her face and gave me a sweet smile. It made me smile too. I was shaking by the end...it would be my last time seeing the show. I knew it. I hoped it wouldn’t, but it did end up being my last.

That last night meant the world to me. It was the culmination of my direct Lennon experience. It was my “graduation” from learning how I want to be. My reward: a chance to go onstage with Mandy, Julia and Michael...then Marcy! It was surreal and perfect and more things than I can ever describe. I got to stand where they told that story every night. I got to look out at the seats that are filled with people every night. They are people with different lives and different stories and different outlooks. People that may like the show or may not, but people that get to experience it. Hopefully they were all touched by something as I was, but if not, then I am glad they saw it and I hope, and am sure, that there is something else out there that moves and inspires them as I have been by Lennon. But to see that sight was so meaningful to me. It was truly perfect.

And that ends my Lennon story. I sit here now in a different country, thousands of miles away from New York City and the Broadhurst. The show ended not too long ago. They might still be at the stage door. It is probably pretty crazy. I wish I could be there right now. But I am here and there is nothing I can do about it. I am really doing it on my own now. It is a test to see if I can be my Lennon-self when I am away from Lennon. I am still trying to figure out how to do that, but it is getting easier.

So it is hard to be here when I wanted to be there so badly! It’s over now. There will be something else that strikes my fancy and something else that I can love like none other, but this show will always hold a special place in my heart. It will be loved in a way no other show can be...it is the show that had a major impact in who I am becoming. It made me realize that I can really love a show and express that love and do it as me. It showed me that I can be the confident person that I want to be. And I know I can do it away from there too! I just needed that little boost to tell me that I can do it on my own...it might be hard, but it pays off.

I hope I have given them half of what they have given me. This show has so much to offer and I love it for all that it is and all that it isn’t. I love it for everything it could have been. The fact that they tried and tried again to get it to become something better, which I know now that they seriously did, makes me love it even more. Everything always could have been...it could have been anything. But it turned into this and I am happy with it. It is still beautiful and moving. It may not have had the intended result, a long run on Broadway, but it never stopped trying. Hours and hours of work went into this...sweat and tears, hard work and heart. I have tried to tell all those involved that I appreciate this. It wasn’t lost. It touched me. I know it touched other people too! We got it...we got something amazing from it. That can not be wrong!

I love Lennon and always will!

Just some of the things I would have loved to seen/heard tonight...
Act I
1. New York City energy!
2. Julie’s “Blue Suede Shoes”!
3. The power of “Mother”
4. Head shaking in “Money” and “Twist and Shout” - oh and fake drumming!
5. “Where we goin fellas?” “To the top, Johnny!” “And where’s that fellas?” “To the topper most of the popper most, Johnny!” “Right!”
6. Michael’s big goofy Ku Klux Klan smile
7. Chuck’s faces and the ‘join the human race’ wave in “Instant Karma”
8. SIGN LANGUAGE!!!
9. “Hammer a nail in” and “they locked eyes”
10. Julia’s “ay-ay”s and “hup”
11. “The Ballad of John and Yoko” - ‘think’ do, do, do and Mandy’s dance for it!
12. Mandy’s “How Do You Sleep?” - just wow...that voice!
13. “God” - ‘but now’ ::hands up:: ‘I’m John’ ::hands down:: - I love that!, totally one of my favorite songs!
14. Julia’s hippie voice!
15. Daisies!!!

Act II
1. Watching them put the piano on stage! I always enjoyed that...
2. “Power to the People” - ‘War is Over’ cards...Marcy, Julia and Mandy solos, though Marcy wasn’t there.
3. Nicole’s “Woman is the n* of the World” - backup singers!
4. Julie’s “Attica State” outfit...I love that hat!
5. Being shushed by Chad when clapping for Jerry Rubin!
6. “I’m Losing You/I’m Moving On” - one of my favorite songs...I love how the two are put together.
7. Julie’s hairdo in “I’m Stepping Out” and how she would always smile at me because I was totally laughing at her! So silly.
8. “Dicky Smothers...you’re an asshole!” and “you’re the asshole with the kotex on his head”
9. The west coast people...
10. “Whatever Gets You Through the Night” - Nicole’s version, remembering Marcy’s...watching Julia dance and grab the kick backed chair!
11. The ‘ah, ah’s and ‘sha, sha’s in “Beautiful Boy” not to mention Julia’s coo-y embellishments and the “Daddy were you a Beatle” story
12. Michael looking at me during “Watching the Wheels”... ‘designed to enlighten me’ - watching the girls beam over the guys.
13. The pairings in “(Just Like) Starting Over” and the dancing!
14. Chuck’s speech... “yeah”
15. Julie’s emotion in “Grow Old With Me” - ‘now daddy is a part of god..’
16. The message... “you can cure you.”
17. John coming down one last time to finish off “Imagine”
18. Bows - “all we are saying is give peace a chance!”

19. STAGE DOOR!

I am fortunate to have seen the show 5 times. This show was a total blessing for me. So tonight is very bittersweet.

[Harpo]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 5:17pm

Add me to the list. I was there and can't believe what a quivering mass of emotion I was toward the end. Can't add too much more to the great posts of those who were there last night. Seeing Yoko and seeing the show with her there made it especially poignant for me. She got sustained applause when she entered the theater- very nice. The guy next to me gave his daisy to Yoko during intermission;I thought that was sweet.

Withoutatrace, I was hoping I would see you/recognize you from your photo, but I didn't. I did see iluvtheatertrash and talked to him for a moment-thanked him for his great post about the show a week ago, which convinced me to make another trip this weekend.


Cathy-I WISH you could have been there, but it sounds like your show went very well so that's great. Thought of you a couple of times when I looked at Mandy.

Okay, off to listen to some Lennon music.


Updated On: 10/21/05 at 05:17 PM

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 7:27pm

wow danaonotlater.

that was an amazing post!!

thank you so much for posting your experience. it sounds like a part of your life you will never forget. i too feel so lucky that i got to see it 4 times.

even though i couldn't be at the last show, you were all thinking of me!! thank you so much! (thanks harpo for thinking of me and mandy!!)

any more experiences?

this show was filled with so much love. i feel like a part of me is missing now that it's gone for good....and there's no cd.

i feel like they should do something again as a cast. i don't know what. maybe a tv concert or something? i know the producers probably don't have any money. but something?!

that would be my one wish. to somehow see lennon the musical again. in any form.



love is a flower
you gotta let it grow

[Marguerite Chauvelin]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 7:45pm

I miss this show already. I don't live to close to New York so I saw it twice when I visited in August. I don't know if they could've gotten a better cast. I wish great careers ahead for all of them (even though Chuck and Terry are already close to theater legends).

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 7:47pm

saw the show twice, but stage doored many, many times. the cast was quite good, and did the best they could with the shabby material. and theyre all so damn friendly!

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 7:48pm

they are! chuck is a tony award winner, and terrence has originated great roles and gotten nods for it.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 8:06pm

Danaonotlater - that post and your username are both awesome.

[showbiz]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 9:13pm

So hard to believe Lennon is really gone. I can still hear the cast singing in my head. Wish I could hear them on a cast cd now. Somehow that would soften the disappointment of the show closing.

[Harpo]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 9:52pm

Amen to that! I would love the recording.

I can't get "Grow Old With Me" out of my head. I would love to have Julie's version along with, well, everything. *huge, oh woe is me sigh*

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 9/25/05 at 9:58pm

I've decided to post my Lennon story:

The first time I saw the show, I was actually really hesitant, just because of what I'd read in the papers and on the web. I had lost lotto for Spelling Bee that day, and I was debating what show I wanted to try and get tickets for next. I decided that I would just be brave and go buy a student rush ticket for Lennon. I got a seat in one of the boxes, and from the moment I took my ticket I wondered if I was wasting my money. Boy, was I WRONG. I didn't like the seat I was in at all, but I loved the show. I stage doored afterwards and was pitifully quiet and shy. When Julia Murney came out, I just really didn't say anything and then she was laving, and I was just going "Oh, um, uh..." and I think somebody stopped her. I thought she would be really annoyed, but she was very nice about it and just told me I had to speak up next time. Then we were laughing about how I dropped my camera and all was good.
SAw the cast perform at Bryant Park the next day.
Fast forward two weeks. I'm back at the Broadhurst, buying another student rush ticket. MAJOR change in the seating arrangement. I managed to get front row this time. Sitting in the front row was like seeing a totally different show. As amazed and inspired as I was by the show the first time, I was twice as happy with the show the second time. The show was just so energetic, and the cast was amazingly talented. I just enjoyed myself so much. Stagedoored again that day, and was slightly less pitiful. I was somewhat amused that Mandy had remembered me from the previous time I saw the show.

Third and final time I saw the show, which was last Saturday- WOW. Ended up front row again, this time with my grandmother. I had thought the show couldn't be any better, and again I was wrong. I knew they were heading into the final week, and I think that might have been part of the extra goodness, but still. WOW. The cast just seemed to be putting all of their energy into it and having a blast doing it. (Which was always the case). I stage doored again, and this time tried to tell the cast what I thought of the show, somewhat successfully. I was told by several of the cast members (Mandy (who still rememebered me), Julie, Michael) that I looked very happy during the show. Which was basically how I felt.

To sum up my loooong post (I didn't think I could type that much), the show was just amazing and inspiring, with and incredibly talented and kind cast. I'll miss this show a lot.