You make the drinks and I'll bring the posy...
So yesterday I said good-bye to Company, and I couldn't have asked for a better final time.
We got to the city around 9:15 and just hung out and walked around. My grandma wanted to "avoid the gays" so I was dying when we walked to St Pat's Right by the parade route. I figured getting in line at the Barrymore for 11:30 would be more than fine. I was quite wrong, but it worked out fine. We got back to the Barrymore around 11:15 and I was stunned; there was already a decent line. Before Deb met us, I was already Loving the other people in line. There was a group in front of us of kids, most were around early teens, but the girl directly in front of me was ridiculously annoying. She went on and on how she auditioned for Legally Blonde. She actually said: "The only reason I joined a sorority in college was because of that movie." Yeah....she was...special. Deb met us a bit before noon, so we were fine for tickets. Her friend Katy came in with us and the three of us all got student rush tickets. Four of them were in Box A (which the girls and I took) and I gave the front row seats to Gram and Aunt Becky.
The show itself was great. I Loved sitting in our Box- we were our own "company". (Pathetic, whatever, but true.) We would all give each other looks at various points and it was really funny to see Kristin acknowledge Deb. I will say I was dissapointed by the Kathy/Bobby scene in the park, because it wasn't nearly as powerful as my first time, but the rest of the show was great. I noticed some odd little things: For example, I swear Angel gave whichever guy is right behind the piano before "Another Hundred People" a thumbs up- as if to say I'll be okay today- before the song. She then proceeded to pray or cross her fingers...I wonder if she had been struggling the past few days. Nothing could have prepared me for Raul's Bobby yesterday. I noticed he was being extremely subtle, and his singing was Much more controlled which was fine, but a small part of me was worried he was not giving it his all. I was proved quite wrong with his "Being Alive". When he screamed, it seemed to be a complete catharsis. Everything that had been building up (the Tony, the impending closing, etc.) all seemed to come out at once. He sat there, with tears in his eyes, and made the desicion to go to the piano. Sitting in our box we were looking at the piano, able to se him play. But...he didn't. He couldn't. His emotions got the best of him for a moment. He seemed like he was going to throw up out of sheer terror to finally deciding to commit. A few time I saw him convulse as if he was about to throw up any second. He tried to start to play, but couldn't. He paused and tried to collect himself to go on. He finally began the song but had to stop after every chord as he was shaking too ahrd to go on. He finally began singing but he voice wasn't really there, it was completely emotional as opposed to vocal...it was surreal. As he tried to continue I thought I noticed Barbara Walsh silently standing behind him with tears streaming down her face, unable to help him- though it could have been the shadow. Raul finally was able to get throught the first verse, but just barely. As he played between the verses we saw sweat, tears, and snot just fall from him- he was completely and utterly broken. I can't write that without it sounding gross...but it wasn't...it was heartbreaking. I think that was the point that all of us in the box really got hit. I know seeing him that broken just killed me. He seemed so frozen that I think he stayed at the piano longer than usual. Amy Justman was almost right on top of him to play the piano and he seemed late getting to center but it didn't matter. Bobby was usuing every ounce of energy he had left to commit. Seeing him step into the light was unbelievably powerful and his final notes weren't pretty- they were very, very raw, but so very, very beautiful. Afterwards Katy and I started (I think, I honestly can't remember) a pseudo standing ovation. It was awkward, yes, but I don't think we cared. I have NEVER seen something so emotionally raw, stunning, visceral, and beautiful performance. He still had tears in his eyes when he blew out the candles and it was a stunning ending.
I was glad that my grandma and aunt loved the show and then the girls and I took the stagedoor by storm. Well, sort of :-P Sloane met up with us to meet Raul and the five of us had fun running around seeing Kristin and taking pictures. I taught Sloane the awkward turle (it applied nicely when describing the standing ovation). Finally Raul came out and the five of us waited it out. We got near the end of his crowd (second to last group) and it was a Lot of fun. We saw the crazy girl who started crying when he got to her and then she hugged him out of nowhere...weird. After a while he finally got to us and apologized for taking so long (we really didn't mind :-) ). First, he signed my copy of The Normal Heart (biggest signature Ever). He asked if I'd seen it and I proceeded to ramble. Awesome, I know. I said that I hadn't and I felt bad. Raul (and Deb) said it was okay but I think I proceeded to ramble. Raul insisted it was fine and we took an awesome picture. Well, I think I look alright, but poor Raul needed sunglasses. Oops. Deb then got a picture with him, as did Sloane. *I don't remember if the other girls did too.* Sloane got him to sign her Playbill and he smudged it and felt really bad so he wrote over his name a few times. Deb then asked him about the lyric change. He finally admitted that if she ever heard anything different than the current lyric, he had been singing it wrong. He said "I even sang it wrong on the recording!" Then he proceeded to tell us about the lyric change Sondheim made in "Side By Side"...via an impression of the man himself. It was priceless. He did a fantastic caricature we can only assume is strikingly similar to Sondheim. "Yeah, uh, I want you to change the "bring" to a "make" and the "that" to a "this". Okay, don't forget that!" It was awesome. Then he told us how one night he destroyed the words to "Being Alive" and Sondheim didn't even notice. He seemed so giddy to go see himself impersonated and he headed off to Forbidden Broadway to see "Being Intense". The girls and I then parted and we headed home.
Overall, an AMAZING day with some Awesome people!! :-)
We got to the city around 9:15 and just hung out and walked around. My grandma wanted to "avoid the gays" so I was dying when we walked to St Pat's Right by the parade route. I figured getting in line at the Barrymore for 11:30 would be more than fine. I was quite wrong, but it worked out fine. We got back to the Barrymore around 11:15 and I was stunned; there was already a decent line. Before Deb met us, I was already Loving the other people in line. There was a group in front of us of kids, most were around early teens, but the girl directly in front of me was ridiculously annoying. She went on and on how she auditioned for Legally Blonde. She actually said: "The only reason I joined a sorority in college was because of that movie." Yeah....she was...special. Deb met us a bit before noon, so we were fine for tickets. Her friend Katy came in with us and the three of us all got student rush tickets. Four of them were in Box A (which the girls and I took) and I gave the front row seats to Gram and Aunt Becky.
The show itself was great. I Loved sitting in our Box- we were our own "company". (Pathetic, whatever, but true.) We would all give each other looks at various points and it was really funny to see Kristin acknowledge Deb. I will say I was dissapointed by the Kathy/Bobby scene in the park, because it wasn't nearly as powerful as my first time, but the rest of the show was great. I noticed some odd little things: For example, I swear Angel gave whichever guy is right behind the piano before "Another Hundred People" a thumbs up- as if to say I'll be okay today- before the song. She then proceeded to pray or cross her fingers...I wonder if she had been struggling the past few days. Nothing could have prepared me for Raul's Bobby yesterday. I noticed he was being extremely subtle, and his singing was Much more controlled which was fine, but a small part of me was worried he was not giving it his all. I was proved quite wrong with his "Being Alive". When he screamed, it seemed to be a complete catharsis. Everything that had been building up (the Tony, the impending closing, etc.) all seemed to come out at once. He sat there, with tears in his eyes, and made the desicion to go to the piano. Sitting in our box we were looking at the piano, able to se him play. But...he didn't. He couldn't. His emotions got the best of him for a moment. He seemed like he was going to throw up out of sheer terror to finally deciding to commit. A few time I saw him convulse as if he was about to throw up any second. He tried to start to play, but couldn't. He paused and tried to collect himself to go on. He finally began the song but had to stop after every chord as he was shaking too ahrd to go on. He finally began singing but he voice wasn't really there, it was completely emotional as opposed to vocal...it was surreal. As he tried to continue I thought I noticed Barbara Walsh silently standing behind him with tears streaming down her face, unable to help him- though it could have been the shadow. Raul finally was able to get throught the first verse, but just barely. As he played between the verses we saw sweat, tears, and snot just fall from him- he was completely and utterly broken. I can't write that without it sounding gross...but it wasn't...it was heartbreaking. I think that was the point that all of us in the box really got hit. I know seeing him that broken just killed me. He seemed so frozen that I think he stayed at the piano longer than usual. Amy Justman was almost right on top of him to play the piano and he seemed late getting to center but it didn't matter. Bobby was usuing every ounce of energy he had left to commit. Seeing him step into the light was unbelievably powerful and his final notes weren't pretty- they were very, very raw, but so very, very beautiful. Afterwards Katy and I started (I think, I honestly can't remember) a pseudo standing ovation. It was awkward, yes, but I don't think we cared. I have NEVER seen something so emotionally raw, stunning, visceral, and beautiful performance. He still had tears in his eyes when he blew out the candles and it was a stunning ending.
I was glad that my grandma and aunt loved the show and then the girls and I took the stagedoor by storm. Well, sort of :-P Sloane met up with us to meet Raul and the five of us had fun running around seeing Kristin and taking pictures. I taught Sloane the awkward turle (it applied nicely when describing the standing ovation). Finally Raul came out and the five of us waited it out. We got near the end of his crowd (second to last group) and it was a Lot of fun. We saw the crazy girl who started crying when he got to her and then she hugged him out of nowhere...weird. After a while he finally got to us and apologized for taking so long (we really didn't mind :-) ). First, he signed my copy of The Normal Heart (biggest signature Ever). He asked if I'd seen it and I proceeded to ramble. Awesome, I know. I said that I hadn't and I felt bad. Raul (and Deb) said it was okay but I think I proceeded to ramble. Raul insisted it was fine and we took an awesome picture. Well, I think I look alright, but poor Raul needed sunglasses. Oops. Deb then got a picture with him, as did Sloane. *I don't remember if the other girls did too.* Sloane got him to sign her Playbill and he smudged it and felt really bad so he wrote over his name a few times. Deb then asked him about the lyric change. He finally admitted that if she ever heard anything different than the current lyric, he had been singing it wrong. He said "I even sang it wrong on the recording!" Then he proceeded to tell us about the lyric change Sondheim made in "Side By Side"...via an impression of the man himself. It was priceless. He did a fantastic caricature we can only assume is strikingly similar to Sondheim. "Yeah, uh, I want you to change the "bring" to a "make" and the "that" to a "this". Okay, don't forget that!" It was awesome. Then he told us how one night he destroyed the words to "Being Alive" and Sondheim didn't even notice. He seemed so giddy to go see himself impersonated and he headed off to Forbidden Broadway to see "Being Intense". The girls and I then parted and we headed home.
Overall, an AMAZING day with some Awesome people!! :-)