Raul Esparza at Seth's Broadway Chatterbox!!- Page 3

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:05pm

I love his acting, but I hate mean people.

Updated On: 9/25/04 at 09:05 PM

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:21pm

Emcee-The song is called "I Don't Believe in Heroes Any More" and it is from a show called Three Guys Naked From the Waist Down. I ordered mine yesterday!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:22pm

Thank youuuuu!

[MyNameInLights]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:23pm

I wish I could hear him singing Defying Gravity! I told my friend about it yesterday and she almost died laughing. She couldn't believe it!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:28pm

It was unreal. Seriously - he was having a blast, but he sounded perfect, as always.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:32pm

It was really funny. I'm a tough critic, so I don't know if I would say it was perfect, but it was definately something I will NEVER forget. What a drama queen! Now that I think about it, it did seem like he wanted to sing it. He was like, "Oh look- 'Defying Gravity' in my key!" It was then the audience went nuts! There was no way in hell we were going to let him get away without singing it. And then he said something like "You know it better than I do." Ahh, good times!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:34pm

Yes, but he was definitely livin' it up when he did "the hands" and jumped up on that chair.

*looks at Chrysanthemum's icon*

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 9:36pm

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED it! Yes, it was the best flying act around!

[TGIF]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 10:00pm

yes it was. And may I add his fly effect was just as good as the one at the gerswhin!

Sorry, i had to say it. just a joke though!

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 10:02pm

Ahh-it's all just too good to be true!

[insomniak]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 10:11pm

So was Defying Gravity planned? Did he have instruments and all?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 10:18pm

Seth played piano for him - Raul had the sheet music. I don't know if he planned to sing a specific song, but it was planned that he was going to sing; the man showed up with a whole binder of songs!

[insomniak]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 10:35pm

Well, Raul could sing anything! He's just wonderful like that.

[TGIF]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 10:36pm

This is true. I am sure going in he knew that if he mentioned Defying Gravity we would make him do it.

[ponine24601]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 10:40pm

i would kill to hear raul's rendition of 'defying gravity'. i can't wait until bwwradio plays it!

[TGIF]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 11:01pm

I hope they play that. It was definately a highlight of the night!

[insomniak]

Posted: 9/25/04 at 11:09pm

How long does bww radio usually take to get these things?

[CherylA928]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 1:33am

Here’s the address where (in a few weeks) you can order a video copy of the show and the profits all go to BC/EFA!



Seth's Broadway Chatterbox

[feinstein9]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 6:32am

it's so bizaar he has this huge fan base now- those of us who have been following him since the tick tick/rocky horror days are quite surprised. what brought him to everyone's attention? it's my understanding he's surprised as well- he was upset when they anounced his involvement in hair seperatly, like he was a star or something. he misses his anonymity... but yeah it sounds like the stuff he talked about at this chatterbox is the same stuff he says all the time- about audiences, ect. i highly reccomend getting his other chatterbox's on video as well as the broadway beat stuff about taboo. he's very intense! i'm glad you guys enjoyed the interview... defying gravity? lol maybe he sang that because he knew broadwayworld folks would be there.

[amasis]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 7:19am

Well, in terms of audience recognition, it was pretty much TTB that shot him out of the canon. I remember hearing him in Rocky Horror, although I only first got to see him live when TTB opened -- and, like everyone else, I thought he gave an incredible performance. But yes, immediately after TTB opened he received very positive reviews, and LOTS of them. I remember I was able to convince many people who aren't heavily into musicals to see TTB just based on what the New Yorker wrote about him. Raul really got a lot of attention from that.

To tell the truth, based on what was written then, and on the fact that he's received *consistently* good reviews about anything he does (press reviews, not just message board stuff), I'm not very surprised he's become as huge as he is now... Updated On: 9/26/04 at 07:19 AM

[feinstein9]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 7:34am

well i mean he didn't have this... rather intense... following until very recently. even after ttb. it happened somewhere between taboo and normal heart, not in terms of critical acclaim but in terms of, for lack of a better word, teeny-bopper following. i was just wondering why now and not two or three years ago.

[KarenNYC]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 12:32pm

You don't know about the "teenybopper" description? Do you mean you don't know why anyone would use that word? Because in the last week alone he's had a cell phone thrust in his face and had to talk to someone he doesn't know, and then not seconds after the call was over there was a hysterical post on this board. People have talked about sending him to each other in a box wearing - and I can't even finish that sentence. And before anyone jumps down my throat, I know no one really intends to do that, but the fact that it's being discussed in such a blase fashion is unsettling. (And he's not the only one, I know, but he's the subject in this thread so I'm going to stick to that.) It's like he's not even a person.

Teenybopper or not - I agree, feinstein9. If you check the archives of the yahoo mailing list that someone started a few years ago, most of the posts were about seeing performances of his shows or discussions of what was coming up. I know people were probably just as intense about their feelings back then as they are now, but I don't recall anyone objectifying him like people are doing now, talking about him like he's a deity one minute and then like a piece of meat the next.

I'm wondering, too, why now and not a few years ago. Sure, ttb was a small off Broadway show, so I'll allow that maybe that's why this didn't happen back then. But Cabaret was a very popular long-running Broadway show, and he had two runs in that. And the Sondheim Celebration was a very high-profile project, and he got a bit of attention for being the only actor who had a lead role in two out of the six productions. It seems so random that this started happening during The Normal Heart, of all shows. And I don't mean people liking him; I mean the hysteria, the nicknames, and the innuendo.

P.S. You don't have to be a young girl to act like a teenybopper.

Updated On: 9/26/04 at 12:32 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 12:33pm

*sigh*
Thank you, Undiscovered.
<--- doesn't like be classified as a "hysterical teenager." I'm not just in it for the looks, thank you. I've said it a hundred times, and I'll say it again - Raul is the most talented actor I've ever seen. I'm young, but I've seen a lot. He deserves every ounce of support that he gets, and he deserves it more than some people who get even more recognition than he does.

Oh, and he didn't just sing "Defying Gravity" for kicks - he did it before, at the "Miscast" concert.

Edit: She's my best friend. It was her birthday. She wanted to be there, but couldn't, and I wanted to make that up to her. All I asked for was a birthday "hello." Hardly "thrusting a cell phone in his face." Is that such a crime?

Updated On: 9/26/04 at 12:33 PM

[KarenNYC]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 12:52pm

No, of course it's no crime. There are worse things people can do. But call a spade a spade, that's all I'm saying.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 9/26/04 at 12:56pm

I suppose. I think we posted at the same time, so I didn't see yours before I posted mine. From that post, though, it seemed like that was such a godawful thing to do. For the record, I'm terribly shy. I'd never do anything but ask for something like that, terrified that I'd be stepping on some toes. And I hope that you (in an editorial sense; this isn't aimed at anyone in particular) understand that in all honesty, all joking aside, I have nothing but respect for this man. I mean that 150%.