Leave Celebrities Alone at Shows — Page 3

It seems like some people in this thread have a loose definition of celebrity. Theatre "celebs" are famous in about 20 blocks of Manhattan and nowhere else and bothering them when you see them outside a show (or outside the theatre district) is rude, for sure, as they're people and they're not at work so they have no obligation to be "on" because you want them to be. However, if you stop Sutton Foster at the Time Warner Center, it's unlikely to cause a massive disturbance.

However, if you stop someone like Julia Roberts or Morgan Freeman and other people begin to notice them, it can escalate and create and unsafe situation very quickly. I think it's in incredibly poor taste to do that. Celebrities who are comfortable with interaction with fans often do things like book signings, come out after shows and sign, etc. and celebrities who are not generally prefer to be left alone. No matter how they make their money, they are still people and it's pretty lame and gauche to demand an autograph when someone's trying to do their laundry.

Oh, and if you stop every celeb you see on the street, you are DEFINITELY from out of town.

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me neither

Even better!

Barbra Streisand should say the following to Lea Michele, "Excuse me? Who are you?"

THEN what would happen?

Faye likes when people quote MOMMIE DEAREST to her. Trust me.

I might have to seek her out and tell her, "Don't fvck with me fellas! This ain't my first time at the rodeo!" if you say so Jordan.

I was at the Book of Mormon the same night Sandra Bullock was, last spring. I felt bad for the woman- not because of fans, but because of a crowd of paparazzi that had learned of her presence and were waiting for her outside.

A lot of people don't realize that tweeting about a celebrity's presence at a location could tip off the paparazzi. Thanks to the Internet, they don't need inside sources- just social networks.

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"Poor stars bothered by the fans who keep them working. BAH! If they wanted obscurity then should have been accountants."

So they've now forfeited their right to be human beings and to want to be safe? New York is a dense city that is constantly full of people, creating a disturbance is not always the best idea depending on the location and situation. Also, seriously, your selfish desire to improve your autograph collection is not the chief concern of everyone's life, nor should it be.

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We bumped into Sutton Foster and Joel Grey at one of the final performances of Follies. We were walking to them and I said to Sutton, "I'm sorry to bother you, but wondered whether you really did keep the boots from "Trust" like you said you were going to". She laughed (Grey looked confused) and said she had, and we continued our separate ways.

Although if my wife hadn't been there with me I may have continued to follow her until this very day and then some.

ChiChi - His wife's name is Rita Wilson

One horrible incident I recall was closing night of Spamalot where poor David Hyde Pierce had a LINE of people going up the aisle to see him as he sat in his seat during intermission patiently signing autographs for people.

One night, Richard Gere attended a play, and was conversing with the playwright and lead actor in the lobby after the play. Some rabid fan ran over to Gere, ignoring the fact that he was in conversation, and started gushing over him. Well, kudos to Gere for saying to the woman "Excuse me, this is the playwright and actor, it's their night, why not praise them?"

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Makes sense to me, Dude. And I've already said it comes with the territory to some extent and I don't care to hear celebrities tell Jay Leno how difficult their lives are.

But as others have pointed out above, celebrities almost have to develop some set of defense mechanisms.

Many years ago when he was a big TV star, I got the "death stare" from Jack Klugman. This surprised me because while we weren't close friends, we were working at the same theater at the time. And while Klugman wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy, I had gone out of my way to help the man and his relatives who needed tickets.

Then I realized there was a crowd of patrons nearby and my saying "Good afternoon, Mr. Klugman" might well have meant that he would have to stop and chat with the paying customers. So I assumed he was in a hurry and had no other way of warning me not to say his name out loud. I mean, he couldn't exactly wave his arms or shout, "Don't talk to me!" without attracting the same attention he was trying to avoid.

As I said, he wasn't the nicest celebrity I ever worked with, but I decided he deserved a pass on the "death stare". (I will say it was one of the scariest faces I have ever seen. The man could act.)

I recently saw Michael McGrath outside the Imperial while waiting for my friends who were walking to the box office. Once I recognized it was him, I got up and congratulated him on his recent Tony Award win and I mentioned that I played the role of Chicago of "is He Dead? which he originated on Broadway'. He was so kind! After the show, he personalized my Playbill and wished me luck in the future. Undoubtedly one of the most nicest men I have ever met.