"Stalking" actors

I think it depends on the performer.

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I don't think seeing some one perform could ever be stalkerish. It's meeting them everywhere they go...going to the alternate exits of the theatre to make sure they don't get out...THAT'S when you're a stalker.

Seeing an actor perform in shows multiple times is no different than going to an actor's movies multiple times. That's not an act of stalkerism. In fact, the actor would probably find it very flattering. Even waiting for them at the stagedoor isn't really an act of stalkerism either because, in a way, it's an extention of their performance to treat fans with courtesy. (Although, as I've said before, meeting stars after shows is a priveldge, not a right).
Like NYCBabe said: "It's meeting them everywhere they go...going to the alternate exits of the theatre to make sure they don't get out...THAT'S when you're a stalker."
In other words, you've got nothing to worry about Playbill. Go see your favorite actor in his shows. You're helping the theatre econemy too

"Seeing an actor perform in shows multiple times is no different than going to an actor's movies multiple times. "

Sure it is. In live theatre, the actors can see the audience and sometimes have several of them waiting at the stage door. In the movie theatre, the actors don't know who's seeing the show and they don't come out when the film reel is played through.

"I have to admit, though, that I don't "get" the whole idea of seeing the same show repeatedly, for whatever reason."

If you really love a show (i.e. The Phantom of the Opera) you go back sometimes to get your fix. They can be like a drug...sometimes, though, it's the actor who's a drug. It's the same thing as having a favorite TV show where you'll even watch the repeats even though channels like TBS show the same repeats all the time.

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I think your a FREAK :)

I was a big fan of the opera tenor Jerry Hadley and used to travel all over the country to hear him sing. Eventually we got to know each other and he helped me plan a trip to Vienna when he was singing in DON GIOVANNI there. After the performance he took me out for a late dinner and the next day he and his wife invited me to dinner at their apartment.

A wonderful friendship developed and I was invited to the Hadleys' home for dinner on several occasions. I even helped his wife plan his 40th birthday party.

Sadly the friendship fell apart just about the time when his career began to fade a few years ago.

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The only time I wrote to an actor to tell him I was coming to see him perform was Tate Donovan about five years ago. I told him where I was sitting and at curtain call, he glanced around the audience (it was a tiny theater) and made eye contact with me and squinted and smiled. (There weren't many young girls in the audience for that play...) He was so excited to meet me after the show...he was more excited than I was. Kinda weird.

I can't imagine many stage actors getting freaked out by having devoted fans. I think they probably just feel surprised that people actually know and care who they are. Every time I've approached a Broadway performer when I've seen them in the street, they always have that confused, "Wait, you know who I am????????" look before they smile. (I'm talking ensemble members and understudies, not Bernadette or Chita...)

There's an interesting chapter in the Making it on Broadway book about this topic...Idina Menzel says how she gets a little taken aback when everyone wants her autograph at the stagedoor...but then when she's on the subway going home, people couldn't care less who she is.

after reading this thread, a really nice memory i almost forgot about made me smile...

when i was about 7 my grandparents bought me tickets to the tour of phantom of the opera for my birthday. i liked it so much, it became a tradition for 3 years in a row, and the same actor was playing the phantom each of those three years on the tour. i had found out he was going to be leaving the show and we weren't going to get to see him the following year, so i wrote a letter telling him i was 10 and how much i liked the show and was disappointed he was no longer going to be in the tour. in return, he sent me one of those overpriced souvenier programs signed by the entire cast, with a note written to me on the front. throughout the inside of the program on several different pages was signed "OG" over different pictures of him which i really got a kick out of. i'll always remember it!

generally i'm really against stage-dooring unless i have something specific to tell the actor that i feel they would benefit from ('oh i go to your old voice teacher and she just had a baby' or something like that). i just feel like i'm not going to stand there and say "you were great" and they say "thanks" and then leave ... so usually i stand back and leave that to the teenyboppers or whoever. but i was at a concert last week and ran into an ensemble member of a broadway show in the bathroom, who i have seen in several other things recently. my instinct was to leave her alone and let her enjoy her day off, but after reading this post i realize maybe she would have enjoyed it to be recognized outside of a theater setting... hmm...

l.

"generally i'm really against stage-dooring unless i have something specific to tell the actor that i feel they would benefit from ('oh i go to your old voice teacher and she just had a baby' or something like that). i just feel like i'm not going to stand there and say "you were great" and they say "thanks" and then leave ... so usually i stand back and leave that to the teenyboppers or whoever. but i was at a concert last week and ran into an ensemble member of a broadway show in the bathroom, who i have seen in several other things recently. my instinct was to leave her alone and let her enjoy her day off, but after reading this post i realize maybe she would have enjoyed it to be recognized outside of a theater setting... hmm..."

I saw Barrett Foa leaving Heather Headley's show two weeks ago and just tapped him on the arm and went, "You're great, so funny, I'm a big fan." He looked at me SO confused that I thought, "Shoot...that's not Barrett Foa, is it?" I went, "You're...Barrett Foa, right?" He gave me this enthusiastic double handshake and went, "Yes! Yes! I am Barrett! I told him my name and he said once again, "I'm Barrett!" It was cute...he was excited to be recognized.

Like everyone has said, it's all about knowing where the line is. Reading the person's cues. I have a friend that often follows her favorite Broadway actor, and she was given his e-mail and cell number by him. She also knows other actors/actresses the same way. She met them from going to the stage door, and she's always telling me and obsessing about whether or not she should call them. I always tell her that if they gave her their phone number, they expect her to use it. She shouldn't call them daily, but when she wants...However, if you're following them and knowing what they do privately (and they don't know you are), that's stalking. Who cares if they can see you in the audience? You returning tells them that you like their performance. I've actually thought about going to the stage door (something I rarely do) to meet Idina and tell her as a voice teacher how much growth I've heard in her voice. Somehow, I doubt she'd mind. I've even thought of asking her to teach a master class, but I would never talk to her about something non-professional, I don't know her. Keep going to that actor's show. I've seen AVENUE Q four times...

speaking of actors at the gym..im not a stalker, just a little pissed that Neil Patrick Harris got on the treadmill behind me last week and turned on "starting over" when i was watching "the view"...some people...

If you have an entire itinerary of their daily schedule and are everywhere they are from day to day... that is stalking.

If you follow them home and sit outside their window each night, waiting for them to leave... that's stalking.

If you wait outside a stage door every night, that is obsessive. Nothing more. It's not dangerous. The actor would just think it weird AT MOST. Unless you give an actor a reason to be scared, they won't be. So many people see shows obsessively that performers are used to it.


A cast member told me that there was this one guy that was always at The Full Monty in the front row eating cookies... did the actors always see him? Obviously. Did they think it was strange? Well... clearly. She said he wasn't dangerous or scary... he was just the cookie man.


And, yeah... if an actor gives you their contact info, they expect you to use it. I can understand her hesitance to use it though... I found myself in a similiar situation and you feel like you don't know where the boundaries lie... or worse, you don't want to mistakingly cross them. It's understandable. It's like, 'Well, are we friends now or am I still just a fan to you?... or...? What?' It can get confusing... because, YES, they are just people, but a lot of these people have many fans and in no plausible way could they befriend them all... so you have to question what distance they want to keep you at and understandably so.

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