One Amazing Night
So I wanted to document the night that I had this past Sunday June 12, 2011.
Because my girlfriend Kaitlin works for Alan Wasser & Associates, she was able to get tickets to the 65th Annual Tony's Awards that night. And, through my connection with her, I was able to be a seat filler for the occasion.
Now, if you don't know what I seat filler is, it is basically a person who sits in someone's seat that is not in the theatre. They do this because they want to make the theatre look full on camera. The other reason is that presenters and performers who have seats at the show frequently have to leave and go back stage to get ready for their performance or presentation. And since all the nominees/presenters are sitting at aisle seats (where they are easily accesible by camera) many are not in their seats when a close up comes on a nominee when their category is being presented.
I can give you a great example in the words to follow.
So in the beginning of the show, they seat all the seat-fillers throughout the theatre so that when people start trickling in they will have people throughout to fill seats of people who are late or are just not coming all together. This is so they don't have to rush a lot of people through the aisles when the show is about to start.
I was lucky at first because I was able to sit in Norbert Leo Butz/Aaron Tevit's seats. There was another seat-filler with me of course, but they had to be back stage because they were going to perform in a little bit on stage. So for the first part of the show I was able to sit there. Great seats and a great view. Did I mention the show was awesome this year with Neil Patrick Harris?
I sat there and saw a couple of performances and awards and then the Catch Me If You Can performance ended. This was the performance Butz and Tevit were in. During the second commercial break after the performance, Aaron returns but not Norbert. The other seat filler turns to me and says "Are you or me going?" Instead of being a jerk I decided to say that I would go and she could stay. She ended up being able to sit there for even longer until Norbert returned. However, it was the best decision I made at the Tony's.
In result, I was taken to the second row aisle seat. Whoopi Goldberg was in the seat previously and must have been back stage waiting for her time to introduce the Sister Act performance. The best part is that I ended up sitting behind Patti LuPone. At first, it was cool just to be super close to her. Then Harry Conic Jr. came onto the stage and I heard him say that he would be announcing the award for Best Actress for a Featured Role in a Musical.
I became estatic.
This is because Patti was nominated for this category which means she would be shown on camera briefly when Harry read her name. And because I was sitting behind her that meant I would be on camera!
And I was. My girlfriend actually got a seat where she could see the stage as well as what they were broadcasting and she saw me on T.V. and proceeded to update facebook.
So after that I was in Whoopi's seat for a little while longer. Then she introduced Sister Act (which their performace was really good) and right after that she came back and sat down. I was moved around a bunch for the rest of the show to different seats. When you are a seat filler and you don't have any seats to fill you just sit in the back in a designated row for the seat fillers. I sat back there a couple times as well.
Then, towards the end of the show I got another aisle seat close to the stage, actually ahead of the first seat that I had. During this break they had the category Best Actor for a Leading Role in a Musical. This category had the two guys from the Book of Mormon (which Josh Gad should have won) but because they were both in the same category they probably split the vote for Book of Mormon fans. That left the only other contender in the category, Norbert Leo Butz. At this point in the show, he was sitting in the aisle seat about three rows behind me. They showed him when they announced his name in the category and then announced that he had won the Tony.
This is where I got on T.V. again. If you know in award shows, they show the person walk from their seat up to the stage. During that time he passed me with the camera following him. I decided I had to do something this time since I didn't do anything lasst time. So I gave a little "woo hoo" face and leaned towards the camera. It was fun.
So the Tony's ended. No huge surprises with the awards. Although Nikki James won for the Book of Mormon which was great. I totally thought it would be someone else but her speech ended up being the best one. NPH's opening performance as well as his performance with Hugh Jackman was just awesome. His ending rap was great too which was co-written by the guy who wrote In The Heights. So sweet.
Oh, the fun doesn't stop at the Tony's itself. I also got to go to the Tony's Gala.
So the Gala is organized by Kaitlin's boss. She does all the special events for the Tony's as well as special events throughout the year. This special event is the biggest of them all. First of all, it took place at the Plaza, which if you don't know what the Plaza is, look it up. One of the most famous hotels/residencies in New York City, right on the corner of Central Park. The whole Plaza was rented out for the event. This includes all the ballroom spaces and meeting rooms as well as the shops and the fancy fancy food court downstairs. All the food places downstairs were open and you could get basically anything that you wanted. There were also little food places strewen throughout all the rooms as well as a bar everywhere that you walked. Did I mention I could eat and drink anything that I wanted?
There were also many famous people there just hanging out. Chris Rock chilled right behind us while we were getting drinks. John Cryer was hanging out with people. Kaitlin tried to get a picture with Sutton Foster but she was being bombarded by people and it seemed like she was annoyed. But she got a picture with the guy who wrote In the Heights as well as Rory O'Malley, a nomine for Featured Actor in a Musical for Book of Mormon. I got my picture with the Tony award winning Mark Rylance for his performance in Jerusalem which was utterly amazing. I don't think I have ever seen a performance like that on stage, nor will I probably ever see another one like it. And I attacked Josh Gad as he was leaving the party and got a picture with him. So overall, it was pretty cool
However, that wasn't the best part.
The best part is when we went down to the food court area and Kaitlin looked down a hallway and saw Stephen Colbert. Now, this hallway was empty and the only people in it was him, his wife, and this other guy that he was talking to. Kaitlin said that we had to get a picture with him. So we go up and Kaitlin has her camera ready and says, "Stephen, could we get a picture really quick?"
He said, "Sure I got this."
He proceeds to take Kaitlin's camera from her and I thought in my mind "oh no, she said could we get a picture, not 'could we get a picture WITH YOU' so he is probably just going to take a picture of us and be all funny about it."
But no he holds the camera up in front of his face and we huddle in the background to get in the shot. What came out was something way more cooler and funnier than we could have imagined. We both just started laughing as he gave the camera back. It might have been a jerk move but the way he did it made it seem so funny. His wife was even trying to be nice, saying that she would take a good picture. But he refused and kept on walking.
I don't even care if we didn't get a good, nice picture with him, what came out was way better than that.
After that encounter the night slowed down and we went home.
Overall, the experience was something I will never forget for the rest of my life. It was an adventure into a world that I don't get to see all the time and it was just spectacular.
I just hope I can do it again next year :-)
Because my girlfriend Kaitlin works for Alan Wasser & Associates, she was able to get tickets to the 65th Annual Tony's Awards that night. And, through my connection with her, I was able to be a seat filler for the occasion.
Now, if you don't know what I seat filler is, it is basically a person who sits in someone's seat that is not in the theatre. They do this because they want to make the theatre look full on camera. The other reason is that presenters and performers who have seats at the show frequently have to leave and go back stage to get ready for their performance or presentation. And since all the nominees/presenters are sitting at aisle seats (where they are easily accesible by camera) many are not in their seats when a close up comes on a nominee when their category is being presented.
I can give you a great example in the words to follow.
So in the beginning of the show, they seat all the seat-fillers throughout the theatre so that when people start trickling in they will have people throughout to fill seats of people who are late or are just not coming all together. This is so they don't have to rush a lot of people through the aisles when the show is about to start.
I was lucky at first because I was able to sit in Norbert Leo Butz/Aaron Tevit's seats. There was another seat-filler with me of course, but they had to be back stage because they were going to perform in a little bit on stage. So for the first part of the show I was able to sit there. Great seats and a great view. Did I mention the show was awesome this year with Neil Patrick Harris?
I sat there and saw a couple of performances and awards and then the Catch Me If You Can performance ended. This was the performance Butz and Tevit were in. During the second commercial break after the performance, Aaron returns but not Norbert. The other seat filler turns to me and says "Are you or me going?" Instead of being a jerk I decided to say that I would go and she could stay. She ended up being able to sit there for even longer until Norbert returned. However, it was the best decision I made at the Tony's.
In result, I was taken to the second row aisle seat. Whoopi Goldberg was in the seat previously and must have been back stage waiting for her time to introduce the Sister Act performance. The best part is that I ended up sitting behind Patti LuPone. At first, it was cool just to be super close to her. Then Harry Conic Jr. came onto the stage and I heard him say that he would be announcing the award for Best Actress for a Featured Role in a Musical.
I became estatic.
This is because Patti was nominated for this category which means she would be shown on camera briefly when Harry read her name. And because I was sitting behind her that meant I would be on camera!
And I was. My girlfriend actually got a seat where she could see the stage as well as what they were broadcasting and she saw me on T.V. and proceeded to update facebook.
So after that I was in Whoopi's seat for a little while longer. Then she introduced Sister Act (which their performace was really good) and right after that she came back and sat down. I was moved around a bunch for the rest of the show to different seats. When you are a seat filler and you don't have any seats to fill you just sit in the back in a designated row for the seat fillers. I sat back there a couple times as well.
Then, towards the end of the show I got another aisle seat close to the stage, actually ahead of the first seat that I had. During this break they had the category Best Actor for a Leading Role in a Musical. This category had the two guys from the Book of Mormon (which Josh Gad should have won) but because they were both in the same category they probably split the vote for Book of Mormon fans. That left the only other contender in the category, Norbert Leo Butz. At this point in the show, he was sitting in the aisle seat about three rows behind me. They showed him when they announced his name in the category and then announced that he had won the Tony.
This is where I got on T.V. again. If you know in award shows, they show the person walk from their seat up to the stage. During that time he passed me with the camera following him. I decided I had to do something this time since I didn't do anything lasst time. So I gave a little "woo hoo" face and leaned towards the camera. It was fun.
So the Tony's ended. No huge surprises with the awards. Although Nikki James won for the Book of Mormon which was great. I totally thought it would be someone else but her speech ended up being the best one. NPH's opening performance as well as his performance with Hugh Jackman was just awesome. His ending rap was great too which was co-written by the guy who wrote In The Heights. So sweet.
Oh, the fun doesn't stop at the Tony's itself. I also got to go to the Tony's Gala.
So the Gala is organized by Kaitlin's boss. She does all the special events for the Tony's as well as special events throughout the year. This special event is the biggest of them all. First of all, it took place at the Plaza, which if you don't know what the Plaza is, look it up. One of the most famous hotels/residencies in New York City, right on the corner of Central Park. The whole Plaza was rented out for the event. This includes all the ballroom spaces and meeting rooms as well as the shops and the fancy fancy food court downstairs. All the food places downstairs were open and you could get basically anything that you wanted. There were also little food places strewen throughout all the rooms as well as a bar everywhere that you walked. Did I mention I could eat and drink anything that I wanted?
There were also many famous people there just hanging out. Chris Rock chilled right behind us while we were getting drinks. John Cryer was hanging out with people. Kaitlin tried to get a picture with Sutton Foster but she was being bombarded by people and it seemed like she was annoyed. But she got a picture with the guy who wrote In the Heights as well as Rory O'Malley, a nomine for Featured Actor in a Musical for Book of Mormon. I got my picture with the Tony award winning Mark Rylance for his performance in Jerusalem which was utterly amazing. I don't think I have ever seen a performance like that on stage, nor will I probably ever see another one like it. And I attacked Josh Gad as he was leaving the party and got a picture with him. So overall, it was pretty cool
However, that wasn't the best part.
The best part is when we went down to the food court area and Kaitlin looked down a hallway and saw Stephen Colbert. Now, this hallway was empty and the only people in it was him, his wife, and this other guy that he was talking to. Kaitlin said that we had to get a picture with him. So we go up and Kaitlin has her camera ready and says, "Stephen, could we get a picture really quick?"
He said, "Sure I got this."
He proceeds to take Kaitlin's camera from her and I thought in my mind "oh no, she said could we get a picture, not 'could we get a picture WITH YOU' so he is probably just going to take a picture of us and be all funny about it."
But no he holds the camera up in front of his face and we huddle in the background to get in the shot. What came out was something way more cooler and funnier than we could have imagined. We both just started laughing as he gave the camera back. It might have been a jerk move but the way he did it made it seem so funny. His wife was even trying to be nice, saying that she would take a good picture. But he refused and kept on walking.
I don't even care if we didn't get a good, nice picture with him, what came out was way better than that.
After that encounter the night slowed down and we went home.
Overall, the experience was something I will never forget for the rest of my life. It was an adventure into a world that I don't get to see all the time and it was just spectacular.
I just hope I can do it again next year :-)