Seeing Actors Before You Know Who They Are

[TheaterAddict7652]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 5:02pm

I don't know if this has been brought up before. If it has, please forgive me, this is my first post!

Anyway, I was just wondering if any of you have seen a play or a musical and then found out later that a very well known actor was in it? For example, two years ago I saw a play called Shakespeare in Hollywood at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC. Very funny show with a very talented cast. I wasn't a huge theater freak back then, so I didn't keep my program. However, someone in my family did, because I just found a program from that show two days ago.

I looked throught the names of the actors in the show, and it turns out Alice Ripley was in it! I didn't know who Alice Ripley was two years ago, but I think its funny that I found out about her after I saw the show. Has that ever happened to you?

[ElphabaRose]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 5:16pm

I saw Donna Murphy in the King and I when I was 7, I only found out eariler this year when I was moving my playbill collection to a new spot.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 5:18pm

I saw Andy Serkis in a production of HurlyBurly ages ago.

[TheaterAddict7652]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 5:22pm

I also saw Barrett Foa in Much Ado About Nothing at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, DC back in 2002.

Then there's the whole list of actors that I could have seen in regional productions, but I never saw the show.

[BroadwayChica]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 5:25pm

I saw Michael Hall in Cabaret. Later I became a HUGE SFU fan, and during one of the musical sequences on that show, I suddenly went: SH*T! That's the Emcee I saw!!!!

[LilDiva05]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 5:46pm

Sutton Foster in "Annie" when I was 10, back in 1997.

[life_so_far]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 5:47pm

The closest thing that I have to offer is when I went to go get tickets for Rent. My friend and I wer sitting outside the theater when one of the stars came out. I didn't know much about Rent at the time, so I didn't really care about him... but he kept looking at us because we were the only girls NOT mobbing him and asking him for an autograph.

It turned out to be Joshua Kobak, and I kinda regret not getting his autograph.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:02pm

I walked next to Frenchie Davis for a while until C told me it was her.

[Jud Faginsky]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:05pm

Back in 1992 my wife and I were having dinner at a restaurant near the theater in Sacramento where we were about to see The Secret Garden. As we were waiting in a huge line for the salad bar, the head waiter came over and asked if we would mind letting an actor from the show cut in front of us in line. We said, "Sure, no problem." It turned out to be Roger Bart. He was playing Dickon in the show. We had never heard of him before, but we talked to him for about ten minutes waiting in line. He was very personable. So we've followed his career over the years, later seeing him in Sacramento as Cousin Kevin in Tommy and Bud Frump in H2$ in the later 90's. Now, of course, he's really famous.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:05pm

Chita Rivera in Nine (shocking I know!). I knew a little about her, but I didn't know her legendary status and what monumental shows she was in.

I saw Adam Fleming in Mamma Mia! and Hairspray before I really knew him.

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:06pm

I met Daphne Rubin-Vega about 3 times when I saw Rocky Horror Show, talked with her for a while..never realized how amazing she was until I began listening to RENT a few years later. Now looking back I just think, "Holy crap I met Daphne Rubin-Vega!!" lol.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:08pm

Kerry Butler in Beauty and the Beast
Anthony Rapp, Kristin Chenoweth, B.D. Wong, and Roger Bart in Charlie Brown
Doug Sills and Rachel York in Pimpernel

[actormcfamous]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:08pm

Back when Light in the Piazza was doing its pre-Broadway run in Seattle, I saw Celia Keenan-Bolger in a community theater production of "The Importance of Being Earnest." She was amazing!

[Luckydave14]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:08pm

Sutton Foster in Annie as Star to Be
Jennifer Cody in either West Side Story or Jekyll and Hyde
Sarah Uriarte Berry in Sound of Music

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:10pm

I saw Cheyenne Jackson at Broadway in Bryan tPark, the summer AIDA clsoed, and only recently learned that it was him.

[timote316]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:19pm

When I was in line to see Sweeney, I was standing next to a tall man who looked familiar to me, but I couldnt figure out who. He asked if I had seen the show yet, and we chatted a little bit. Just then, the stage door opened, and someone came out saying "Brad! Come on in!" It then occured to me that it was Brad Oscar.

Also, the next day, I was walking down Broadway, and passed a strikingly beautiful woman who again looked very familiar. I went into my hotel to drop something off, and when I came back out, I noticed she was walking down the street towards me again (she had a very distinctive pattern on her coat). I then realized that it was Jane Krakowski, or someone who looked exactly like her.

[TLKfan]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:43pm

When I saw Rent in NYC a few years ago...I wasn't a huge fan and didn't like it much (now I do, though) but the only character that I really liked was Angel. A year or so later I look at my playbill and find that it was Jai Rodriguez. Very cool.

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:47pm

Jennifer Cody and Marissa Jaret Winokur in Grease.

[IWannaDance!]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:55pm

I saw Joseph Feinnes in a play called Son of Man in London in 1995.

That same year I also saw Judi Dench in A Little Night Music, also in London. I had no idea who she was back then, mostly because she hadn't really hit big over here yet.

[lamentingenvelope]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 6:56pm

Victoria Clark in Hello, Dolly

[fishergirl819]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 7:00pm

I've had this happen a bunch of times (Megan Mulally in Grease, Heather Headley and Fredi Walker in The Lion King), but the most recent one I discovered is that I saw Jesse Tyler Fergeson in "The Complete Abridged Works of William Shakespeare" about four years ago. Very small csat, only three people, and I remember him being FANTASTIC. Definitely the standout.

[IloveNorbert]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 7:29pm

I saw both Patrick Wilson and Jennifer Laura Thompson in a tour of Carousel before i knew who they were and I saw Sutton Foster in a tour of Grease before she was HUGE!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 7:33pm

A whole bunch of people in Grease: Marissa, Hunter, Jenn Cody
Mike Cerveris in Assassins

[FeelingElectric]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 7:45pm

Actually, I am glad somebody brought this up. I went to see Feeling Electric in September at the NYMF. I realized I had seen one of the actors in a movie I grew up watching. After the show, I got a chance to tell him how much I loved his performance in Feeling Electric, and how I grew up watching him in Adventures in Babysitting. I could kick myself when I finally realized he was the original Mark in Rent (I had not seen Rent up to that point, but am a huge fan now).It was of course Anthony Rapp.I guess I will have a chance to make up for that when I meet him again in 3 weeks.

Updated On: 2/7/06 at 07:45 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/7/06 at 7:57pm

I always get a kick out of going through my old playbills and seeing who I saw in stuff before they were -- in the theatre community, at least -- household names.

I saw MJW and Hunter Foster in Grease (I think), Jeremy Kushnier and JLT in Footloose, Donna Murphy in The King and I, Kerry Butler as Belle, etc.

My favorite is so heavy on the irony, though. The first time I saw Adam Pascal was in AIDA, and I had no clue who he was, or what Rent was, aside from some very vague description.

... now look at me.