Seeing Actors Before You Know Who They Are- Page 3

[mrsparker]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 4:26pm

When I was 14, I saw Glenn Close on Broadway in "Barnum" with Jim Dale. Long before Garp or Fatal Attraction.

[Mark2]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 5:20pm

Back in the "80's I saw a tennage Ben Stiller in House of the Blue Leaves.

Back in the "70's" I saw Sarah Jessica Parker as an orphan in Annie.

[modeldiva]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 5:55pm

The first Broadway show I ever saw was Aida. This was right after it opened so of course Adam PAscal was in it. It was only after that that my friend introduced me to Rent and I learned who he was. For the life of me I couldn't remember anything about his performance so I talked my parents into taking me to see Aida again the summer before it closed.

[Kevinoes]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 6:02pm

I saw Paul Stanley as Phantom when I was 10. I feel guilty saying I didn't know who he was at the time. Imagine how confused I was when the man next to me was wearing full KISS make up and costume. Scary sh*t.

[BwayBallerina2]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 6:07pm

Bernadette Peters in Gypsy- it was before my theatre-fanaticness started, so I knew she was big, but i had no idea HOW big.

Michael Cerveris in Asassins

[LostLeander]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 6:22pm

I worked with Megan Hilty in a production of Two Gentlemen of Verona!
She played Julia, and was absolutely spellbounding to watch.
Plus she was SO sweet to us.

And you, of course, know the rest of the story.

[MissElphie]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 9:28pm

I saw Norbert Leo Butz as the Emcee in Cabaret on tour. No idea who he was at the time, but I remember liking his performance.

[allyk]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 9:54pm

Before I liked Rent (That obsession came in like 8th grade LOL) I saw Adam and Idina in Aida (I think I was 12 or so). I saw Donna Murphy in The King and I (My first Broadway show - almost 10 years ago, I was 7), Eden Espinosa as the standby for Elphie back in July 2004 (then I saw her in Brooklyn :)), Jai Rodriguez as Angel, Marc Kudisch as Gaston, Jenn Gambatese and Gavin Creel on the national tour of Fame. And then I think I may have seen Sutton on the national tour of Grease, but I'm not sure since I don't have the playbill and there was no cast list in the souvineir program.

[VanHassle]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 10:06pm

Lea Salonga as Eponine in London. We got the tickets last minute and didn't have time to look at the playbill before the show. It wasn't until the end of the show, when I said that Eponine was excellent, and looked at her bio, did I realize it was her.

I saw Norbert Leo Butz as Roger in Rent when he was Adam Pascal's understudy. I was pissed at the time, now I appreciate it.

I also saw Michael Cerveris as Tommy.

[Link Larkin Wanabe]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 10:35pm

I saw Constantine Maroulis as Roger in the RENT tour, a month or two before he was on Idol.

Akiva
Updated On: 2/9/06 at 10:35 PM

[thespian geek]

Posted: 2/8/06 at 10:57pm

Maroulis*

This was back when I was still in my incredibly theatre naive days, and even though I knew her name, I didn't know her legendary status (the same with the person who saw Chita) .... but I saw Eartha Kitt in the touring production of Cinderalla.

And even though I'm not 100% positive this happened, because it was so long ago, I'm pretty sure I saw Norbert Leo Butz in a production he did with the Nebraska Theatre Caravan when I was like.. 8. My elementary school would take field trips to see most of their shows around here, so it's quite likely I did see Norbert then. Weird, eh? LOL

[BroadwayDoc]

Posted: 2/10/06 at 11:02pm

My late father was a investor in Theater, so I got to see and meet a lot of people before they hit it big. But, my favorite was meeting Jodi Marzorati, who played the hot dog girl in the musical MARILYN (starring Alyson Reed, Scott Bakula and a very young Mary Testa). I was about 10 or 11 at the time and was totally in love with this older woman (she was in her early 20's at the time). A couple of years later she had married and was in a new musical called SMILE my dad had invested in, but her new name was Jodi Benson.

[professor]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 12:00am

One of the first shows I ever saw was "Godspell" at the Lamb's Theatre off broadway around 1988-89. Only later did I realize that Harold Perrinau, Trini Alvarado, and Eddie Korbich were all in it.

[ThE nEw KiD]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 12:11am

Miz Heatha Headley as Sarah in Ragtime!

[Tirso de Molina]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 3:04am

Cynthia Nixon and Christine Baranski in THE REAL THING, back in the late 80s.

Also, I'm infamous among my friends for NOT recognizing actors offstage/offscreen! During the original production of INTO THE WOODS, I sat next to Alexis Smith for the entire first act and only realized she was "somebody" when someone asked her for her autograph during intermission -- and even then I only worked it out because I suddenly recognized her husband Craig Stevens! Of course, then the knowledge that I was seeing a new Sondheim show sitting beside the original Phyllis from FOLLIES intimidated me too much to speak to her! I also had a great discussion about theater on the Metro North one night with a very pleasant woman also holding a playbill; only when it was her stop did we exchange names, and only after she said, "It was lovely talking with you, I'm Glenn" that my brain made the connection ...

(and this is a completely DIFFERENT kind of performer and fame, but then there was the time a friend of mine met me standing on line in Macy's, waiting to return something, and he found me chattering away with a guy whom he immediately recognized -- and he blurted out in too-loud a voice, "You're Joey Stefano!" Boy, did THAT make certain heads turn!)

[neocomposer]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 4:23am

Idina sang at my dad's cousin's wedding on Long Island. I was pretty young. I found this out like...a week ago.

[neelyohara]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 11:24am

Jane Krakowski in Once Upon a Mattress in '97...Constantine Maroulis in the Rent tour in '04

Posted: 2/11/06 at 7:30pm

I had the pleasure of working with Kelli O'hara at OCU. I was in Sweet Charity, How to Succeed..., and The Magic Flute with her. It's so much fun to watch your friends succeed like she has.

[Mythus]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 8:36pm

Back in 2001 (I think), I saw Christian Borle and Barret Foa in "Just So" at NSMT. I almost died when I realized it was them in it - more than four years later. I'm slow. But I get a huge kick out of thinking back and realizing that I remember Christian the best.

[darkmist115]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 9:13pm

This is kind of corny, but I saw Eden Espinosa when she was working at Disneyland in 2002, in this show where she had a CRAZY wig and sung Disney duets with a 12 year old boy. Haha. It was really cute, though; I was also 11 or 12 at the time.

I remember thinking that she was good; Lo and behold, she's in the biggest show on Broadway two years later!

[Musical_nerd]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 9:15pm

I saw The Music of Andrew Llyod Webber with Alice Ripley last night...

[KevinK2]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 9:16pm

In Washinton D.C. at Ford's Theatre I saw Samuel L. Jackson in "A Soldier's Play".

Who knew?

[forget regret <3]

Posted: 2/11/06 at 9:32pm

I saw Erin Dilly as Belle in The Beauty and the Beast when I was about 7. I realized this last year when I finally found my playbill. Also, in Tim Rice's bio it says "In the works: Elaborate Lives, The Legend of Aida". That amused me a bit.

[broadwaygal3]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 2:12am

Scott Bakula in the off-Bway musical Three Men Naked From
The Waist Down long before Quantum Leap

[FosseBoi]

Posted: 2/12/06 at 2:52am

Constantine Maroulis as Roger in the RENT tour
Chyanne Jackson when he was in the chorus in MILLIE
Shoshanna Bean as Tracy in HAIRSPRAY
Bernedette Peters in GYPSY(like someone else said, I didnt know that she was as big as she is)

My grandmother saw Kerry Butler as Belle in B&B and doesnt even know who she is. I envy her SOOOO MUCH for getting to see her!