Next Day of Vacation and Brigadoon

Here's the day number two of my epic New York adventure:

Dad and I, in true tourist fashion, chilled on the risers in Time Square until I had to be at Shubert Alley [the alley next to the Shubert Theatre (Blithe Spirit) and the Booth theatre (Next to Normal)- also where Broadway Barks took place. It's also right next to the Marquis where 9 to 5 is, so I basically lived there.] I got there about 11:50 and was maybe the fifth person in line.

For $26, I had a second row seat to see Angela Lansbury and Christine Ebersole. The show was hilarious! Great acting for the most part and Angela and Christine were hysterical. I can’t believe they were 10 feet in front of me. Right there.

Of course, Blithe Spirit-y people couldn’t stage door because, hello Broadway Barks. Concept of Broadway Barks = We’re going to have this huge fundraiser (for local humane societies), invite every broadway star we can, advertise like crazy, and do it in Shubert Alley. What? Shubert Alley is maybe the size of my bedroom. Needless to say, it was a ZOO (literally- everyone was carrying around a dog or cat) and it was impossible to move. On a whim, I decided to move away from the stage [set up in the alley] to see if anyone was coming from 45th street. Hi, Sebastian Arcelus. The people I was with knew him, so we went over and chatted a bit. I complained about how he was going back to Jersey Boys the day I was leaving. “Eh, next time.” I got a picture with him (and Macaco!- his cute puppy) and then he decided to head around the block instead of fight the mob in Shubert Alley.

We also spotted Adam [Chanler-Berat], Louis [Hobson], and Bobby [J. Robert Spencer] from Next to Normal in the crowd. We got a really cute picture with Bobby (and we chatted about how I had just seen Blithe Spirit and how he wanted to but had never gotten the chance), and then they left to be huge Broadway stars presenting at Broadway Barks. The actors and actresses were exiting the stage to the left and heading back towards 45th street, so we decided to wait at the end of the barricade for them. The cast of 9 to 5 was represented by Marc, Andy, Stephanie, and Allison. Allison hadn't come out the stage door the night before, so I wanted a picture with her.

I asked her to sign my playbill (Broadway Barks playbill- $1. Hey, I contributed.) But I had a sucky sharpie so she grabbed someone else’s and signed it and then (after I handed my camera to a complete stanger) took a picture with me. Most people ducked out quickly, but the cast of 9 to 5 hung around and signed and took pictures. Stephanie walked by talking on her cell phone, and then Marc goes, “Wait, where did Steph go?” “That way.” *Smile* I felt special.

I got a picture with John Tartaglia [Pinnocio in Shrek] as well and Karen Olivo’s [In the Hieghts, now Anita in WSS] autograph “KO.” Sutton [Foster] ran off without signing or pics to get to her show… starting in two hours. Whatever. I saw her. Oh, and I saw Bernadette Peters. How cool is that? I didn’t feel like buying the book she wrote for Broadway Barks (which you had to to take a picture with her) so I settled for standing 5 feet away from her and taking a picture OF her. And that was that.

Walking back to our hotel, we saw Louis again and I wished him luck that night.

I almost don’t even wanna attempt explaining Next to Normal. Brilliant. Amazing. Made me cry… more like sob. Holy crap, Jenn and Bobby can sing. And Alice Ripley… she’s fierce. More like SHE’S FIERCE (I think that’s how Alice would like to have it put.) Her acting was incredible. Absolutely let go when Diana got upset (which was fortunately basically the entire show.) We were back of the mezz, but the theatre was so small it seemed like we had great seats.

When I see a show, I’m almost always equally or more excited about the stage door than the show (we’re talking nat. tours here, not even Broadway.) After 9 to 5- ok, the show was fun, but I wanna meet Stephanie J. Block. After Next to Normal, even with all the amazing people to meet, the show was so full and powerful and satisfying, it didn’t even matter.

But then we got to the stage door (after hitting the bathroom and cleaning my make-up up) and it mattered again. Kyle [Dean Massey- Gabe] was the first out, then Adam [Chanler-Berat- Henry] and Louis [Hobson- Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine.] Autograph, picture, the show was amazing. Pretty standard. Next was Bobby [J. Robert Spencer- Dan] who was a TOTAL sweetheart. Apparently the woman next to me had some special connection to the show, because she said something low to Bobby and he hugged and kissed her. She was crying. Then they took the picture. Then he got to me. I told him how beautiful the show was and probably something about his voice (dude, seriously) and he put his hand on my neck and dad took the picture. All the guys, sweethearts. Right? Of course right. But then there’s Alice Ripley.

It was raining by then. Woo. Wait. Waitwaitwait. Is that Alice Ripley? Did the sun just start shining again? Is Jessica over doing the hyperboles? (Maybe, but dude- it was Alice Ripley!) Dad and I placed ourselves next in line (ya, ya, look, it’s not like she’s not gonna stay and talk to everyone there as long as they want.) When we got there, she was asking the person before us if they were her friends on facebook. “Facebook is such an entertaining place!” She gushed. They apparently weren’t her friends, however.

“I’m your friend on facebook,” I laughed when she got to us. “What’s your name?” “Jessica.” “Last name?” “Well, Jessica Marie on facebook.” “Oh.” We’d never talked on facebook. She began to sign my poster in big bubble letters. “I LOVE the bubble letters!” I told her. “They keep me entertained,” she answered. Then I told her about how beautiful the show was (good thing I was there, or she might not have known) and how I was still trying to hold back tears. I asked her if Jenn [Jennifer Damiano- Natalie] was coming out and she said, “Eh, she’s 18. She’s got stuff to do. I have nothing better to do than hang out at the stage door all night.” Dad took a picture of us, and then she moved on to the next person in line. <3

We decided to go over and try our luck with the Blithe Spirit stage door (since Broadway barks had dashed my dreams of meeting Christine and Angela), but after making us wait for 30 minutes they announced that all the actors and actresses had gone home. I was quite proud, though, because during this time, Dad went, “Jess, look!” And it was Megan Hilty walking through Shubert Alley after the stage door that night. Aha! My father recognizes Megan Hilty. My life is complete.

That's day two. Next day- 9 to 5 again!!

Now Brigdoon: So. Much. Fun. I'm in the ensemble and it's a blast. After every show on Sat. night, the cast always goes [read: races] to the same restaurant to chill and celebrate. There's a tradition that we always all pitch in and buy our director and bat mitzvah cake and sing "Happy Bat Mitzvah" obnoxiously loudly. (She's Catholic.) So much fun!

^That was more for Philip (the tradition lives on!)

Tomorrow's the last day. SADNESS. Then strike. What's homework? Ah, well. The next show we're doing is "JB" which is a straight play- a modern retelling of the book of Job set in a circus... that's about all I know. I'm working crew for it. Philip's read it, so maybe he can enlighten us further.

Till latah,

Jess