Worst stagedoor- Page 3

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 8:45pm

Dancingthrulife- Isn't Kelly an absolute sweetheart? She is quite honestly one of the nicest people I've ever met.

Indeed, she is. The first time I met her,I had never stagedoored before (obviously, since I'd never been to a show), and she was just genuinely happy for me being at my first Bway show. and then when I went back, and brought that picture, I definitely didn't think she was going to take it, but she did and she was so nice.

[Horton]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 8:50pm

Regarding Frechie:
Not me but a few people I know went to see rent, and Frenchie snuck out, and so they left her a note and asked the security man to give it to her, and it was kind of short, and they drew a picture, anyway, they left one person left there cell number as a joke, WELL LATER THAT NITE FRECHIE CALLED HIM, AND BECAUSE IT WAS HIS B-DAY SHE SANG HAPPY BIRTHDAY OVER THE PHONE, now tell me that isnt nice.

[VivaBohemia]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 8:53pm

Whatever weekend Jeremy and Krystal had their last shows, that was the Sunday I was there lol. The specific date is escaping me.


And you know, Kelly caught so much crap from Rent fans, for whatever the reason, but I adored her, one of the few people who did, and she was ALWAYS the nicest person at that stage door.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 8:53pm

I never denied her being nice. When I met her at Bryant Park, she was absolutely lovely. When I went to see RENT, she snuck out as quick as possible. The first time I went, she actually snuck out so fast that she walked home, in the freezing dead of January, leaving her very confused driver to show up 10 minutes later, not knowing where she was and, when we told him, getting very confused.

Updated On: 12/12/05 at 08:53 PM

[VivaBohemia]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 9:00pm

I never said she wasn't nice. I'm just saying what I saw happen. I don't think shes a vicious beast, but the way she reacted the young kid was awfully rude, I don't care who you are.

[mijofly19]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 9:06pm

I haven't had any really bad stagedoor experiences. The worst was Wicked in August, but that wasn't even that bad. When I saw Rent in October, we stayed outside for about an hour, and were about to leave because absolutely NOBODY had come out, but then everybody came out at the exact same time. I figured they had a party or something. The only person that did not come out was Frenchie. They were all great about signing and taking pictures and everything, but I was kind of bummed that Frenchie didnt come out.

[perfectlypink3]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 9:19pm

Ive had a LOT of stage door experiances... 99% of them being good... only two bad ones. First is Hairspray..and this isnt all that bad but It was with Harvey Fierstein and I got his auto and then politely asked him for a picture and he goes "I don't do pictures" and then walked off. Second was during Dirty Rotten Scoundrels... Norbert and Jon came out... but norber signed like ...3 autographs then left... and he just skipped tons of people. And jon was great... signed a lot but you coudlnt take pics with him.
I had good wicked stagedoors all three times, meeting almost all the cast, I usually stagedoor all the shows I see. My absolute BEST stage door story is one that involves Vanessa Williams....its rather long but in short I saw her in Into the woods and she is a SWEET HEART! and I wound up being lucky enough to keep in contact with her... I usually hear from her 3 or 4 times a year... all thanks to a couple of stagedoor meetings!(I acutally heard from her today! how cool!?) I find that the actors are usually really great about it but the security can be asses some times.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 9:27pm

Harvey's philosophy is "pictures are for buildings, not people." He doesn't mind having pictures taken while hes signing, though.

[Diva Doll]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 10:29pm

Hands-down worst stage-door: GOT to be last summer at Chitty when I met everyone EXCEPT Raul...Everyone had come out. Raul was on his way out, pen in hand, but obviously saying goodbye to some visitors. This terrible man opened the stage door and yelled at him to hurry up. He walked back the other direction.

Second worst: The Gershwin....Now, this was back when KC and Idina were both in it and RIGHT after Idina won the Tony. People were singing/butchering Defying Gravity, pushing others into the barricades, hanging off light posts...you name it.

[VivaBohemia]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 11:03pm

Good lord. I love Wicked, but thats just insane..Its like an Nsync concert...

[CJR]

Posted: 12/12/05 at 11:20pm

I hate the Ambassador stage door....the security people keep everyone in a pen on the side of the theater and most of the actors just walk away from it

The Ambassador is pretty bad..... but by the same token, the staff there isn't exactly the nicest (sans a few people who moved with Chicago from the Shubert days) even if they *do* know you.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 6:42am

That's what I've heard, CJR. A friend of mine-who is friendly with a member of the current cast-went to leave a note for said performer, and whomever was working said that they didn't even know who the person was. The performer is a principle, not an ensemble member/understudy, and pretty well-known. On top of that, my friend said they were quite rude.
Updated On: 12/13/05 at 06:42 AM

[SignoraDiva]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 7:27am

Well this story is part good part bad...and yes, it involves the Wicked stage door. It was August 2004 and me my sister and some of our friends went to see a Matinee of Wicked. Afterwards, having no more money and some time to kill we thought 'hey lets go stagedoor' Eben though we didnt expect anyone since it was a matinee and it was rainging. So we were waiting outside and of course all the carzy pre-teens were there. One girl had her mother with her and the mother kept talking ot the security guy asking when Idina and Jennifer were comming out, saying that he should tell them there are a lot of people waiting who paid a lot for tickets to their show and blah blah blah.

While she was b*tching at this poo security gaurd she totally missed seeing Taye Diggs walk right by everyone and into the door, I noticed him and didnt freak out or anything but jus waved and he smiled and did like a head nod back.

Anyway after about 45 minutes the Security gaurd said no one would be comming out that day so the woman and her group went off complaining. My sister wanted a picture near the Wicked Poster so while I was waiting for her all of the sudden Joey Mac came out. There were about 10 of us left there and he signed and took pics and was very nice. And said he wanted to come out since it was raining and that Idina and Jennifer were sorry they couldnt. We thanked him and just as he went back in that one mother came back and starting yelling at the security gaurd agian about "lying" to her. I was pretty shocked and very discusted. But, Joey was very nice and the show was great.

[AberJ01]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 9:15am

Mine by far was at the Gershwin January of this year. It was Idina's last week, so of course that was half the reason for the craziness right there. As everyone lined up at the stage door, it started to POUR. Not just rain, but COLD rain. So everyone opened their umbrellas, when there of course wasn't room for it in the first place. The majority of people waiting were high school girls who were loud and planning out how they were going to get their pictures taken with Idina, Jennifer, or Joey, and what pose they were going to go with. Add that with a bunch of mostly overweight mothers in the line, whose ONLY reason for standing in line was to snap the picture for their kids, or surprisingly to push other people which I guess was to make room for your child. I started out against the barcade, but I'm a very skinny guy and after this one mother started telling her daughter how she'd take the picture of her and Idina, she pretty much pushed me out of the way and I found myself behind them as they were against the barcade now. Of course after waiting outside for a half hour the main stars came out. JLT and Joey took the time to sign everyone they could and take a couple pictures if they could with th epeople in the very front. There were ALOT of people obviously, and of course all the people behind me were hitting me in the face with posters and programs because they were so far back, but most of them didn't get autographs as I can remember. Then, Idina finally came out, and of course the whole crowd moved forward which I'm surprised didn't break my ribs from how I was crushed. Idina did not take her time. Even though it was her last week, she was still having the problems with the threats against her, so I think her nerves were still shot at that point. She basically quickly walked thru the line signing quickly as she walked. Even though I was so close to the barcade I had to extend my arm to get my poster to where she could see it to sign quickly. As she came up to us the mother knocked my hand away to take a picture of Idina, which was pointless because she wasn't stopping. Luckily I think Idina noticed my arm being hit, because she took a step back and looked up above her where my poster was at that point and pulled it down and signed it. That was the positive that even with how fast she was walking thru the line, she took a second to walk back for a second to sign my poster after I was pushed around. What was horrible was that I had a tee shirt in my backpack that I quite using to wipe the poster every five seconds to pray that the rain didn't ruin it. Luckily it worked and the poster and autographs suffered no damage, however my best friends program which was in her bag was water ruined. After we left the stage door though we were soaked, sore, mad, but for the most part excited about seeing the show and getting autographs. I guess the funny part is the next day we flew home to Chicago, and a couple days later of course I got pretty sick, lol. Ah well.

[bschneid76]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 10:24am

I haven't had a bad experience yet, but the closest thing was when I went and saw Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. I had gotten permission from the Stage Door Man to wait close to the theatre back door for Whoopi to appear. I got to meet Charles S. Dutton, who told me Whoopi had left through the front of the theatre. I was upset that she didn't come back where the fans were. Ah well. I got Charle S. Dutton's autograph.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 10:57am

I'd say my worst stagedoor experience was when Nathan Lane made fun of me at the Producers. I should have stepped on him. I was talking to Roger Bart and holding my playbill casually in my left hand, and Nathan walked out, grabbed it, and started signing. I was surprised, but I'd seen him before so I wasn't excited about him (I know he can very rude), and because of how taken aback I was, I managed to stutter something like "Oh, you're so cool." He gave me the most condescending look, and with sarcasm dripping from his voice, said "Ohhh. 'So cool.' Well, that's interesting." Asssssss.

And when I was younger and a huge Bebe Neuwirth fan, I would often wait for hours in the cold outside the Shubert for her, only to be told she had left through the front. I did get to meet her a few times and she was very sweet, though I've had a couple of chilly encounters with her as well. I don't really stagedoor anymore, except for Patti, so I haven't had many bad ones lately.

Posted: 12/13/05 at 11:01am

When I saw "Wicked" I did not go to the stage door, but from what everyone says here it's really quite a scene. Annoying as it might be, I think it's refreshing that this musical draws such a very young audience. Their behavior is just typical of their age group and lack of sophistication. Don't forget these are the theatregoers of the future. Hopefully this will interest many of them in seeing other shows.

[CJR]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 1:00pm

MEF, the door guy at the Ambassador isnt the nicest at all.... at least that hasnt been my experience.

Nothing like the guy at the Shubert, that's for sure!

[SpellRENT777]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 4:12pm

I've only been to two stage doors (well, one OFFICIAL one) and both were great! The first was the All Shook Up stage door. It was their second to last show and I was amazed at the calmness of the fans! They respectfully lined up behind the barracides and waited for the stars! All came out except Jon Harady(or maybe I missed him..) and they were all nice! Signed the playbill, looked up, and thanked us! I struck up a conversation with Jenn G. and John Jellison joined in! (Saw him on the street later that night and met his family!) All great people!
The second was at RENT I saw the show early november and didnt really plan on meeting anyone there. But, I met Frenchie, Destan, D' Monroe, Ava, and Colin! First we went by Frenchie and stopped a conversation with someone and took a picture with us. The guy she was talking to seemed mad but she said, "The Children!(Like her line,"The hearings!") and was very nice. D'Monroe was nice and took a picture with us. As we took our picture with Destan, Frenchie yelled to him, "Cocktails, Hilton, Let's go!" He told her ok and stayed and signed her everyone there. Nice Guy! Colin was talking to someone and we walked over, he stopped mid-sentence and happily posed with us. Incredible man! Ava came out really late and we thought she ran the other way but she came out on her phone and everyone thought she had to leave. She got off her phone, said,"Thanks for waiting! I just had to text someone!" and signed and posed for everyone. We also saw Justin Johnston scurry out to Times Square and managed a "Hi" with our eyes and he responded!

Might only be two stagedoors, but no complaints!

[HBG]

Posted: 12/13/05 at 6:49pm

For the most part I've had great stage door experiences. In fact, all of my Wicked stage dooring has been positive except for the few times where the young teenaged girls were a little too giggly for my liking. But then again I don't get mad when the actors don't come out, because I can always go back. But I'm lucky. The only "bad" experiences I've had have been at Hairspray...almost everytime I'm there, there's a least one woman (and I mean woman, not girl) who is chanting "Penny! Penny!" before Tracy Miller comes out. It's bad enough that they are chanting, but even worse that they insist on calling the actors by their character's name. That really bugs me for some reason. The most obnoxious was when Michelle Kittrell was on as Amber, and she came out the stage door and no one recognized her and she was meeting someone for dinner (it was after the matinee) so she walked through the line without signing...that is until some obnoxious woman recognized her and started screaming at the top of her lungs "Amber! Amber! Come sign!" I wanted to kill this woman, and by the look on Michelle's face, so did she. All my experiences with actors, though, have been pretty positive, with the exception of actors being in a rush or not being very nice, but not really being rude either, just cordial. But everyone has bad days so I never hold it against them.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 3:29am

Had to bump this thread. I saw something that made me embarassed to be even in the vacinity of the stagedoor (I was nearby waiting for my ride) because it was just so awkward.

I was at the Kennedy Center today to buy tickets for Mame and happened to get there right as the Wicked matinee was ending. I was walking through the Great Hall to get to the box office and noticed this girl coming down the steps during the curtain call (I really hate when people leave early). After I got my tickets, I went back around to wait for the shuttle back to the Metro and the girl was standing with her poster right next to the stagedoor and was now joined by her parents and two friends.

While I'm waiting, I was just watching the stagedoor out of curiosity. Whenever anyone came out of the stagedoor, she would ask "Are you in the show?" (sometimes they were crew, friends and family, etc.). If they were, she would have them sign her poster and her parents would have them pose for a picture with her. She did that with EVERYONE that exited through the doors.

I just don't get it. She has the autographs and pictures of people she can't recognize outside of the show. What's she going to do with them? The actors were nice enough to her, but when someone has to have both Stephanie J. Block and Sebastian Arcelus pointed out to them, I just wonder why she even bothered in the first place. It's like a step above the little old ladies.

That and the fact that she was wearing white strappy heels with nylons. Ew.

Updated On: 1/15/06 at 03:29 AM

[SirLiir]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 3:59am

Yikes to say the least on that one, OS. At least she had them sign. I've seen people who brazenly take back their autograph books or whatever they bring when they hear the person wasn't a principle in the show. Rude as can be. I really haven't had a bad stage door because I am of the philosophy if the actors don't come out, they dont come out. They are human and tired. Its nothing personal to me or other fans. Though of course, some take it like its an insult to their very being....

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:14am

I was at one stage door where one girl was asking each cast member: "Has [favorite performer] come out yet?" or "Do you know if [favorite performer] is still back there?"

Not even, "Hey, you were great, and by the way..."

Amusing and telling was that after a while, a few started to actively avoid her. Methinks she'd done that before.

[little_fall_of_rain]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 4:16am

the cecurity guy at the Imerpial was really bitter, I went there last week and he was just rude but the actors were nice.

When I went to Lestat it was bad because it was raining and I had to leave because the train was going to shut down but I have never had problems with actors they have all been really nice.

[bwaylover86]

Posted: 1/15/06 at 11:20am

well I mean I have been seeing shows since it feels like forever and I almost always go to the stage door because its part of the experience and gives me sometimes more memorable moments then the actual show since they are more personal i guess... but the only bad time I had was when Joey Fatone was in RENT. He was awful and when we went outside there were like hundreds of teeny boppers screaming his name who hadnt even seen the show!

When I saw Aida everyone was really nice even though it was freezing cold and me and my friends were the only ones crazy enough to be out there, but Adam Pascal and Simone both signed my playbill and were very nice to us. And when I saw Wicked last week it was great, and the stage door wasn't that crazy at all... there were a lot of people but not a crazy amount, and all the stars came out to sign autographs and were very nice even though it was a matinee...
I hate when the actors come out and are rude, its like don't come out at all if you don't want to do it or wait a while since you must know people are going to be waiting there. Anyway, I love the whole stage door thing its fun! (Yes I am aware how dorky that sounds lol)