Almost three (!) months after we've travelled to New York and had the incredible chance to see The Gale playing and meet him, I'm finally posting a big fat entry about it. Phew! Talk about procrastination. I wanted to write a post focusing on the play and the Gale to begin with, but I'll post the faaaabulous adventures of the Berry and the Kiwi, with lots of pictures, later on. Let's not spam your flist all at once.
THE PLAY
Before getting to New York I decided it would be wise to read the play, not only to know what it is all about and to know exactly what would be Gale’s part in it, but I was afraid I might not necessarily understand everything that would be said so I’d rather know the whole story beforehand. I’m glad I did. At least I was warned about the profound weirdness of the play. It’s a strange play (you know?).
Honestly I doubt I would have ever gotten to see such a play if it wasn’t for Gale, but once it begun it turned out I actually enjoyed it. Alright the “staring at Gale for the whole time” sure kept me entertained you’ll say, but even when I make abstraction of this, I can say I enjoyed the play. A bunch of reviews, from theatre critics or fans that went to see the play, were floating around since the beginning of the play, and I made my best not to read any of them. I wanted to know the general opinion but that’s all, I needed to see it for myself and make my own opinion, who cares about what some critic might say anyway if the show pleases me in the end. However I was sort of expecting the worst. I have so much admiration and faith in Gale but no matter how brilliant he is on screen there’s always the possibility that he’s not going to excel on stage.
Basically I know no shit about theatre. All I was expecting from the play, besides seeing Gale that is, was to be entertained, and I was, I honestly was. My Lord, what a torch! The price of the tickets would have been worth it even just for that line and the face he makes when seeing the flame, well torch, no seriously.
Seeing Gale evolving on stage right there before our eyes, no screen there, our EYES! (and your- eeeeyes) was beyond mesmerizing. I just couldn’t take my eyes off him, not that I wanted too anyway you’ll say. Wait what, you mean there were others people on stage with him? I wasn’t the least disappointed by his performance, he did well, he really did. There was no way he could truly shine with such a character and the lines that were attributed to him, so short and simple for most of them. How much emotion can you carry in a single question? He’s brilliant and his perfect portraying of Brian showed us how talented he is but still, I doubt even the best actor could do much with those lines. Yet again I know nothing about theatre you’ll say. He actually gave more contrast and dynamism to the doctor that I could have expected based on the simple reading of the play.
His smile and laugh at the beginning when he tells Mrs Venable to call him Dr Sugar made me melt, every. Single. Time. This was such a genuine and sincere smile and laugh. It felt like Gale, not Dr Sugar actually. The “My lord, what a torch!” was priceless. He managed to act completely surprised every time, see he’s good, he truly is. I also adored his reaction when he lights it again for Catherine later in the play, he really has the face of someone worried about the potential torch that might get out of the lighter. I loved to watch him evolving on stage, see him lifting The Eyebrow, biting his lips, or doing that little thing with his thumb. No matter what part he plays there’s always those little Gale details coming through, I LOVE it. I can watch QaF now and notice all the little Gale things even more and knowing it’s not Brian there, it’s actually Gale, if that makes any sense to you.
Something else I really appreciated about him was seeing how he would give his full attention and support to the others, especially Carla, holding her hands, staring into her eyes (and yet she managed to deliver her lines perfectly, you got to give that woman credit, talking and keeping your concentration when The Gale is staring at you is no easy task).
The last line. He delivered it quite perfectly the first time we went to see the play; I can’t remember much about the second time; and the third time that was quite weird, he made it sound more like a question. Anyway it’s not that little detail that was going to spoil the play, as long as we have our beloved torch line well delivered we were happy hehe.
I can’t say much about the other parts for I focused all my attention on Gale pretty much all the time (how surprising). The first time we went to see the play; while Carla was up the stairs talking and Gale on stage looking at her, I glanced at the people in the audience and all their heads were up facing the steps where Carla was. I remember thinking wow, those people are actually watching her and not Gale, which was the normal thing to do when someone’s on stage talking I know I know, but hum yeah, it amused me. This is the perfect moment when you could tell who’s a Gale fan and who’s not in the audience I guess. :P
Blythe was okay, and it was quite funny to see shy Gilmore Girls’ Wayne Wilcox in such a role, yelling at his sister and calling her a bitch!
Carla. She was simply amazing, I’m such a big fan of her performance, and of her lines as well actually. I ran doooown and doooown! Are you trying to hypnotise me doctor? You’re doing something with your eeeeyes and your - eeeyes! I thought she was really good in the first performance we saw, but I wasn’t blown away until we went back. What amazed me most was how she would always manage to gather all that emotion nights after nights, sometimes twice a day. Every time she would be completely into the character, vibrant, dramatic, every. Single. Time. She’s absolutely brilliant and I totally admire her for that. I’m glad we got her and Blythe to sign our playbills on the last Friday, I just wanted to tell her how amazing I thought she was in that role, that won’t change anything for her but it feels great to tell someone how great you think they are. That was good for my karma at least.
THE GALE
Gale. Oh Gale. So much to say, so little vocabulary. I’m not even sure I could do a better job in French either. This man needs a whole new vocabulary to try to catch and put into words the whole... Gale effect, his essence. Galesome was a good start I believe. ;)
This was such a singular and amazing experience. I see him in a whole new light now. A wonderful (hot white blazing!) shining sparkling light. He’s not just that beautiful sexy man playing Brian Kinney anymore. He’s Gale. He’s so much more. He’s that wonderful man, more beautiful that I could have ever imagined, in and out. No matter how cheesy that might sound, but this is the reality sweetheart.
We keep on saying with Elizabeth, besides the fact that we’re so happy for us, that we’ve had the best encounters of the fandom. Oh pretentious little fangirls you might think! The truth is I’d like to believe that everyone that has been there should be able to say so themselves, you know. From the moment when you came there and got what you were expecting, and more, you can consider yourself happy and seeing your experience and encounter with him as the best right? That’s my vision of things at least.
The thing is we didn’t get what we might have expected. We had so much more than I could have ever imagined or dreamed of. Well maybe not, my dreams involve a little more, ahem. I came to New York to see him, hopefully meet him for a few seconds and got him to sign something. That’s pretty much all I had in mind. Just being in his presence. I never expected anything more.
I did see him. I did meet him. And of those moments I got so much more. I feel like we got to know him better, no matter how weird that sounds considering we’ve seen him quite briefly every times, but yet just seeing him often, seeing the way he behaves with people, the way he walks, the way he talks, the way he interacts with you, the look in his eyes... If you pay even the smallest attention to those little details you can gain so much, you can learn so much about him, piercing a little of the mystery that is The Gale. A beautiful mystery.
We always joke around about how Randy doesn’t like his fans, how he’s going to react if you ever call him Justin (that’s not my name!), what he seems to think about QaF and therefore how I would not dare speaking of it to him, no matter how much I love him as Justin. Though I love Randy more so... Anyway, I had no idea what to expect about Gale. Never did I think he would be rude and a total ass, but I wasn’t expecting him to be particularly nice either considering he doesn’t seem to be much a fan of people paying too much attention to himself.
That whole idea of his interactions with people probably made our encounter even more surprising, pleasant and well, just better. I couldn’t believe how NICE he actually was. He’s absolutely adorable seriously. Every night he would come out of the theatre and take the time to meet everyone who wanted to meet him, talk to people, sign whatever they wanted him to sign (and Gale God knows he could have certainly refused to do so many times); he would just not leave until he made sure everyone’s got their autograph. I certainly don’t see this as a “I’m star, who wants my signature somewhere?!” but kind as a mark of respect for his fans I think, he knows we’re here for him and he gives people what they came for. I guess he would rather run home after each play but he takes the time to meet people anyway. Every night. (at least every times we were there that is).
God I love him so much. So. Much.
The man listens to you. Looks at you. Gives you his undivided attention. He doesn’t know you, you’re one face amongst the crowd of fangirls (/boys) coming to see him, yet he acts like you’re still important somehow. He seems to realize how precious and meaningful those few seconds spent with him mean for us, and he just makes the best of it. He could just not care, quickly sign and get the hell out of there. No, he does take the time to, well make you happy actually. Beyond happy even.
He looks at you straight in the eyes (as if you weren't already completely frozen to the ground just by talking to him), he listens to what you want to tell him, and when he’s concentrating on what people got to say he bends over a little to listen and make that precious little frown that I’m now so fond of. He smiles at you. He fucking smiles at you and you just die a little right there every time. After you had ten thousands of spontaneous orgasms you know. Then he bites his lips in front of you and you die all over again.
This is very selfish of me to think that way but I can’t help it, but you know I wish he would stay just that way famous-wise. He means so much for us, but he doesn’t mean much to the rest of the world, yet. No matter how much I wish him success in his career I still find myself wishing he would just stay where he is, while keeping on getting good jobs of course so that we get to see him, but I can’t imagine him being more famous. That would probably mean the end of nice encounters and chat with him after a play like that. The more he’ll be known the more people we can expect to show up if he does stage work again right? That would ruin the quite intimate (compared to big stars that is) atmosphere there was there.
I had some kind of revelation, or more realization I should say, after meeting Gale a couple of times. Brian Kinney is by far the most complex, interesting and deep character I ever came across. He’s simply meta-fascinating. There’s so much to this character that you could talk about him for ages and still have topics left to cover. There are all those kinds of layers about him that make him who he is and make his depth. It has always been clear to me that Brian wouldn’t be Brian without Gale playing him, obviously in term of beauty Galesomeness, but mainly for the acting, for the perfect way he portrayed Brian. After meeting him, and feeling I’d say, sensing maybe, that mystery surrounding him, my Gale I can’t possibly put this into words! The thing is, I realized that this feeling of depth there is about Brian, those layers of emotions and complexity, are actually coming from Gale, he’s the one who projects is own depth and complexity into the character and how he portrays him. Which is one more proof (not that we needed any) that without Gale Brian wouldn’t be... well he just wouldn’t be. He would be some kind of blank superficial hot guy, for I believe that no matter how good can other actors be, no one is as speshul as Gale, you know. ;)
His absolutely adorable-ness and meta-fascinating-ness made me forget for a moment to talk a bit more about his Galesome-ness. *gasp* That shows how amazing that man is.
Alright go into you pictures folder, and choose the one picture you like best of him, the one where you think he's the most sexy, the most handsome. Look at it closely, you'll probably whisper to yourself how beautiful the man is. Well this person you see? That's barely close to what he actually truly looks like. No seriously. When I was reading about people meeting him and how they would say that he's even more beautiful in person I kept asking myself how was that actually possible. My Gale, it is possible! O_O
Who's THAT guy who is playing Brian in season 5?! Whose hair is that?! That's not Gale, it can't be. The man standing in front of us was more beautiful that I could have ever imagined (wow seems like so much happened in this trip that I could have never imagined lol). He looks SO YOUNG to begin with. Like S1!Brian, if not younger. He has the most perfect face. So tiny! He has very delicate and fine features. Those tiny adorable ears. Those deep magical brown/green eyes (they are supposed to be kinda brown right, yet in my mind I remember gazing into a sea of green, although it's not like my neurons were functionning right when I was talking to him with him staring into my eyes *just die a little at the thoughts*, so maybe it shouldn't count). Those perfect lips. That he bites so often, and we love it precious. And my cheek and ear agree (probably Elz's and Lauren's would agree as well ;)) that his skin is wonderfully soft. As much as it looks. *passed out at the thought*
When seeing the "real" him I got this impression that he's actually not really photogenic, no matter how good he looks on screen and on pics, it barely shows how BEAUTIFUL that man is.
He's quite tall but not as much as I would have expected. He's quite skinny, he has so skinny legs omg, which was emphasized when he would be wearing that tight black pair of jeans mmmmm. Which reminds me of the green sweater that went with it. Aaaah the very soft green sweater he was wearing that last night.
There's just so much to say about him. But I think my rambling is enough for now.
To conclude, a couple of pics of the theater, for it's pretty much all I have to illustrate the post, the Galesomeness of The Gale lives in my thoughts though :P
My very, dearly, precious. It's all so speshul with the way he signed his name haha, he's so speshul. ♥