sometimes crazy pays off
Warning: Way, way, way, way, way long post ahead.
So, the main reason I went to New York was to have dinner with Julia Murney and get a backstage tour of Wicked with her.
Way back in April I bid on the Playwrights Horizons gala auction just because. I honestly didn't think I was gonna win 'cause ... really? But yeah, I did. (Not gonna lie, the first credit card bill that came in after that made me shed a few tears.) The package included dinner and show tickets but nothing else. Also, it had to happen on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday in September or October, which was gonna be fun to try and schedule based on what I could get off work and whatever may or may not work for Julia.
Hoping to get the scheduling ball rolling right away, I emailed Briel (the Playwrights Horizons contact lady) at the beginning of May to tell her about coming in from out-of-town and gave her the dates for the week Shelley and I had reserved at the end of September. I honestly didn't expect a response back, or if I did get one, I figured it'd be along the lines of "we can't confirm anything this early so we'll get back to you." Well. Much to my complete surprise, I got a response within five hours that included confirmation from Julia. Holy crap!
Congratulations on that auction item, and thanks for getting the ball rolling so far in advance! I've been in touch with Julia Murney, and she is available on Tuesday, September 22nd to have dinner with you and then show you around backstage after the performance of WICKED that evening. I'm checking in now to confirm tickets for that night, and when that's all set as well I will let you know. Please let me know if you have any questions before that.
Things were good ... for a month and a half. Then I received this email and my heart totally sank.
I just got an email from Julia Murney who is very sorry but needs to reschedule your dinner that was supposed to be September 22nd. She just got a job doing a Kander and Ebb concert series in Virginia and will be gone from NYC the entire month of September. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, but we will need to reschedule. I could keep your tickets to the show for September 22nd and reschedule the dinner with Julia and the backstage tour of the show for another time perhaps in October. Or we can reschedule the tickets as well as the dinner and do it all in one night as originally planned. Please let me know what you prefer - and feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email to discuss. I’m waiting to hear back from Julia about when she will be back in New York and available - please let me know of any other trips to NYC you may be planning so we can try to find dates that work. Again, so sorry about this.
Okay. Back to square one. Awesome. Having something like this happened was truly my worst nightmare. The auction was a crazy, impulsive, not-at-all-well-thought-out decision to begin with and it could've gone real good or real bad. At that moment, it was leaning toward real bad.
The next day I snagged the vacation book and quite literally took off the entire month of October because it was available. I wanted to give Julia as many options as possible to find something that worked for her. Shelley and I would then schedule around that choice. By the next week the little bit of panic I had had was subsiding.
I spoke with Julia, and she said that Thursday, October 15th would be perfect for her. Let me know if that date still works for you, and I will confirm with Julia. Thanks so much for your patience with this - it will be a fantastic evening, once we can pin it down!
Things were confirmed with Julia so the trip planning commenced. Shelley and I booked flights and started looking at sight-seeing tours and other theatre options and such.
Then, come late August, I received another email from Briel when I checked my account during lunch. I almost didn't want to open it because I immediately thought it'd be about another need to reschedule. (At least I hadn't given back the "unused" vacation time yet). So I took a deep breath and just opened it, content be damned. Once I saw it though, I let out a small squeal of excitement because it was totally good news.
Just wanted to check in now that summer is (all too soon) winding down. All is full speed ahead for Thursday, October 15th. Dinner will be at Sosa Borella, a restaurant right around the corner from the theater that Ms. Murney suggested. Dinner will be at 6:30pm, show is at 8pm, and then your visit backstage will be immediately after the show. I'll have more details for all of this when it gets a little bit closer.
I just wanted to check in and make sure you'll be using your pair of tickets for WICKED that evening and weren’t planning on flying solo - either is perfectly fine, and course you got 2 tickets in the auction package, but I don't want to book a pair if you're a single. Let me know whenever you have a chance.
Fantastic! I looked up Sosa Borella online and the menu looked absolutely amazing. I was finally letting myself get excited now that I knew everything was falling into place.
I got final email confirmation prior to leaving for New York and Briel called Wednesday afternoon to check in since I was in town.
That morning we switched hotels from Queens to midtown. We were now situated across the street from Sosa Borella and the Gershwin, which was planned for convenience. (I did, however, pick the hotel before knowing what restaurant we were gonna eat at. That ended up being a nice bonus being so close.)
Shelley and I kept ourselves entertained until it was time to prep for dinner. Relaxing in the hotel beforehand, I had butterflies in my stomach and was nervous but once I changed and was busy getting ready I calmed down a lot. I wasn't worried about Julia not recognizing me or not having anything to talk about ... it was just something of an intimidating situation to be walking into, you know?
I wanted to get to the restaurant early so we arrived around 6:15pm. When we told the waiter we were there for the Julia Murney reservation, the woman standing in front of us turned around and introduced herself as Briel. Julia wasn't there yet so the three of us got seated (Briel was only staying to make introductions). We were seated straight back from the door in the left-hand corner. Shelley and I sat on the side by the wall, which was also hidden by plants and a computer station. We chit-chatted about the zoo and our vacation with Briel, who also took care of the dinner gift certificate with the manager and kept an eye on the door for Julia.
Around 6:30pm (actually, I think it was a couple minutes past) Julia was sighted and Briel went to retrieve her. Right then, my heart started pounding. I could see them approaching so I stood up. As soon as I came into Julia's line of sight, she pointed at me with a big smile and said "Penguins!" Seriously?! I don't know what type of look I gave her, but my jaw definitely hit the ground and I said, "You remember that from three years ago?" She's like, "Of course I do. You're a zookeeper, right? Penguins!" So, okay. Briel goes to introduce us and Julia kinda waves her off with an "Oh, I know her" comment while we shook hands and I told her my name. Then she turned to shake hands with Shelley and said, "I don't know anything about you so I'll just say 'necklace.'" (Shelley was wearing a rather sizable one that stood out.) After that moment I was completely calm and at ease.
Briel left, we sat and Julia said her friend Michael would be coming shortly. I went back to the penguin thing, still not believing she remembered it from three years ago when it's something we've never spoken about in person and she's never mentioned in the few times we've met. Random. But she's like, "It's not every day you get a penguin painting in the mail from someone. That's really memorable compared to another 'it's not easy being green' shirt." She also said she clearly remembers opening it and running over to Kendra's dressing room to show her because she was so excited. The one I sent her wasn't great quality so I'm gonna make her a better one as a thank you gift.
At some point during the few minutes of this conversation Michael (an adorably handsome and insanely friendly gay guy) showed up. We didn't get a last name and while I didn't recognize him, if I saw him in a picture I could identify him. Julia introduced us as zookeepers from Ohio and told him all about the penguin painting.
I don't really remember the exact progression of the conversation but the two of them started asking questions about the animals we worked with and about the zoo in general so I reached in my purse and pulled out the album of pictures I'd brought with me. When I said I had pictures Julia was all "gimme, gimme, gimme" and totally reached across the table to grab it.
She and Michael both asked very intelligent questions about the animals and wanted to know everything we were willing to tell them. They asked how I could tell the penguins apart, if the animals missed us when we were gone, how the SSP breeding stuff works. Michael had apparently been in Antarctica not too long ago (sure, why not?) and Julia told us about staying at White Oaks Plantation while she was in Florida doing the Saint Ex project (including a funny story about Matt Farnsworth having a face-off with a rhino).
At some point during the zoo conversation we ordered dinner. Michael and Shelley got the spinach linguine with mussels special and Julia and I got the parmesan-crusted chicken (which is what she always gets at the restaurant because she's "boring like that"). The food was crazy delicious, by the way.
We talked about the Equality March a bit. Julia mentioned walking with Kristin Chenoweth, who was being pulled into pictures by fans throughout the day. She had asked Anne, another friend with them, if they needed to keep an eye on Kristi just because. Anne said no, that Kristin was very awake of what she was doing seeing as she wore a bright pink ski vest that was not making her inconspicuous by any means. This led to Shelley questioning if anyone knew why the rainbow flag was the gay community's symbol because friends she had asked never knew. Michael and Julia didn't know either so Julia told Michael to whip out his fancy phone and find out. So he did and we were all educated about it.
Julia also asked if I was at the "crazy Cleveland" concert she did earlier in the year because she thought she remembered taking a picture with me. (At least she didn’t remember me chasing her down the stairs. lol) I said I was and pulled the picture out to show her our matching shirts. She and Michael both found it amusing. It would've been far more amusing had I worn my jean skirt like I originally planned because Julia was wearing one and we would've matched ... again.
Other topics of conversation included her solo concert at the castle, the Rosie-Kelli-Julia love triangle thing (Michael made a joke, she followed up), YouTube bootlegs, the Actors Fund concert and the Huntsville Broadway concert she has coming up, among other things. Doesn't sound like she's real thrilled about that concert because while she will sing "The Wizard and I" she basically refuses to do "Defying Gravity." Well, Huntsville pretty much gave her an ultimatum about the song - sing "Defying Gravity" or you can't do the concert. Nice, huh? She's also singing the show version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart," which doesn't really thrill her either because it makes no sense out of context but they don't want to do the radio version.
Before we knew it, it was almost 8pm and we all had to get moving. Shelley and I needed to get to the theatre around the corner and Michael and Julia had to head out for an 8:10pm showing of Whip It. So we packed up, said our goodbyes and headed separate directions. I almost wish we didn't have to worry about the show because it would've been interesting to see how long the conversation could have lasted. I bet we could have talked for a couple more hours, easy.
I still can't get over how incredibly awesome dinner was. No awkward pauses at all, everyone laughing and talking and having an amazing time. Etiquette was kinda tossed out the window because we were all talking with food in our mouths throughout the night, which made it all very casual. Also, Julia was getting over a cold because she was coughing off and on but she didn't sound terrible.
Once Wicked let out, we headed to the stage door. At dinner Julia had told us to just go inside because she probably wouldn’t be standing on the street if it was still raining. It was weird to see no one lined up at the stage door. No barricades or anything. I'm sure the rain had something to do with it and maybe the fact that the cast was doing a talkback. I don't know, but it seemed odd to me 'cause I'm used to crazy Wicked crowds.
Anyway, seeing as no one was at said door, I paused a moment then opened it. Julia was right inside talking to a couple of guys, whom she shooed away as she beckoned us in. She asked what we thought of the show, we asked about her movie, then we set off for the tour.
We headed in one direction but quickly halted and turned around when we were told the elevator was down. "So we'll take the stairs. It'll put hair on your chest," Julia said. I told her we'd climbed six flights at the Empire State Building, which she misheard as 60. Yeah, no. The door had a code, which Julia had forgotten over the course of two years so she went over to the desk to retrieve it and off we went.
Getting all turned around with the stairs and hallways and such, I don't remember the order of places we were taken. The main stairwell is covered with this absolutely huge and insanely awesome mural that Eddie Pendegraft painted. Other cast members, including Julia, have helped but it was Eddie's idea and design.
At one point we were under the stage by the orchestra pit, which is where the trap door is for "No Good Deed." Julia said as your running through the tight space you have to collect the skirt of the dress, pass by the orchestra and shove yourself up onto the little platform before you're shot up to the stage. She also said Kathy, the dresser, follows behind and taps the heels of your boots to make sure you're completely on said platform. That lesson was learned when Shoshana's shoes got caught one night.
Since the cast was doing a talkback, we didn't run into any of them in the halls. We did, however, run into a handful of tech and orchestra people, most of whom Julia knew and stopped to talk to. It was fun to see her interact with some of the friends she hadn't seen in a while. We'd get introduced to them with Julia proudly saying "I was auctioned off so I'm giving them a tour." When we were headed down the hallway with dressing rooms, you could tell Julia really wanted us to meet Kathy but she was nowhere to be found.
When we were at the staircase leading to the stage right "wing" stairs, Julia said there was one night where she was thinking, "I hope I don't fall because there are really steep." Next thing she knows, she trips. To save her face she put her right arm down and banged up her fingers and jammed her arm. Of course, she had to go out on stage into the "Wonderful" scene where the Wizard's constantly grabbing her while she's wincing in pain the entire time. Sounds like it took a while before her hand fully healed.
Compared to the Cleveland Wicked tour I had last winter, there's really not that much to see backstage at the Gershwin. Everything's stored up in the fly space with very little actually on the ground. It didn't surprise me, but it shows how different sit-down productions are from touring productions.
Everything had a very secretive vibe once we got on stage. Because of the talkback going on, Julia, Shelley and I were huddled close together while Julia whispered. She was trying to get Kenway's attention at one point and when he realized it was her, he totes jumped up and left the talkback, Lindsay Northern close on his heels. The three of them talked for a few minutes and Julia had to add both of their phone numbers into her cell because they'd disappeared, for whatever reason. The girls talked about their dogs and setting up a puppy playdate in the near future. ("Pepper is B-O-R-E-D" and was apparently on a pee strike that day, making Julia a little nervous about what she might walk into when she got home.)
Kenway and Lindsay returned to the edge of the stage and we continued to the other wing. Once we got there, some random girl appeared and joined us. It was an odd situation, to say the least. She recognized Julia and Julia kinda played along, although it quickly became obvious she had no idea who random girl was. Random girl said she was a stage manager (where, I know not) and didn't realize she just walked across the stage while something was going on. She mentioned she was waiting for a friend and then went off on a tangent about Julia's Joe's Pub concert last year. A good chunk of it wasn't 100% coherent because the girl was somewhat wasted. Julia was trying to get out of the conversation but random girl stuck to her guns. Luckily, the talkback broke up at that moment and we were able to walk away. When random girl was gone, Julia's like, "I have no idea who that was but she was clearly drunk on something." Good times.
On the way off stage, we bypassed the broken elevator (which Julia almost forgot wasn't working) and went back to the lobby area with the call board. As Julia was signing a couple of things for us, she mentioned that the night was really, really enjoyable. She and Michael had been talking on the way to the movie about how things like this either go good or are kinda iffy but that we "got a gold star." I would have to agree. Michael was obviously a safety net of sorts and Julia could've bailed far earlier than she did but all four of us had an awesome time.
Shelley and I each took a picture with Julia and she thanked us again for supporting Playwrights Horizons and we thanked her for her time. We got great big hugs before saying goodbye out on the street.
A couple other random things.
The night was absolutely amazing. Words can't begin to describe it for me. Given the situation I put myself in, I couldn't have hoped for things to turn out better. It was more than worth the big price I paid. Julia is truly the most beautiful person, inside and out.
So, the main reason I went to New York was to have dinner with Julia Murney and get a backstage tour of Wicked with her.
Way back in April I bid on the Playwrights Horizons gala auction just because. I honestly didn't think I was gonna win 'cause ... really? But yeah, I did. (Not gonna lie, the first credit card bill that came in after that made me shed a few tears.) The package included dinner and show tickets but nothing else. Also, it had to happen on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday in September or October, which was gonna be fun to try and schedule based on what I could get off work and whatever may or may not work for Julia.
Hoping to get the scheduling ball rolling right away, I emailed Briel (the Playwrights Horizons contact lady) at the beginning of May to tell her about coming in from out-of-town and gave her the dates for the week Shelley and I had reserved at the end of September. I honestly didn't expect a response back, or if I did get one, I figured it'd be along the lines of "we can't confirm anything this early so we'll get back to you." Well. Much to my complete surprise, I got a response within five hours that included confirmation from Julia. Holy crap!
Congratulations on that auction item, and thanks for getting the ball rolling so far in advance! I've been in touch with Julia Murney, and she is available on Tuesday, September 22nd to have dinner with you and then show you around backstage after the performance of WICKED that evening. I'm checking in now to confirm tickets for that night, and when that's all set as well I will let you know. Please let me know if you have any questions before that.
Things were good ... for a month and a half. Then I received this email and my heart totally sank.
I just got an email from Julia Murney who is very sorry but needs to reschedule your dinner that was supposed to be September 22nd. She just got a job doing a Kander and Ebb concert series in Virginia and will be gone from NYC the entire month of September. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, but we will need to reschedule. I could keep your tickets to the show for September 22nd and reschedule the dinner with Julia and the backstage tour of the show for another time perhaps in October. Or we can reschedule the tickets as well as the dinner and do it all in one night as originally planned. Please let me know what you prefer - and feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email to discuss. I’m waiting to hear back from Julia about when she will be back in New York and available - please let me know of any other trips to NYC you may be planning so we can try to find dates that work. Again, so sorry about this.
Okay. Back to square one. Awesome. Having something like this happened was truly my worst nightmare. The auction was a crazy, impulsive, not-at-all-well-thought-out decision to begin with and it could've gone real good or real bad. At that moment, it was leaning toward real bad.
The next day I snagged the vacation book and quite literally took off the entire month of October because it was available. I wanted to give Julia as many options as possible to find something that worked for her. Shelley and I would then schedule around that choice. By the next week the little bit of panic I had had was subsiding.
I spoke with Julia, and she said that Thursday, October 15th would be perfect for her. Let me know if that date still works for you, and I will confirm with Julia. Thanks so much for your patience with this - it will be a fantastic evening, once we can pin it down!
Things were confirmed with Julia so the trip planning commenced. Shelley and I booked flights and started looking at sight-seeing tours and other theatre options and such.
Then, come late August, I received another email from Briel when I checked my account during lunch. I almost didn't want to open it because I immediately thought it'd be about another need to reschedule. (At least I hadn't given back the "unused" vacation time yet). So I took a deep breath and just opened it, content be damned. Once I saw it though, I let out a small squeal of excitement because it was totally good news.
Just wanted to check in now that summer is (all too soon) winding down. All is full speed ahead for Thursday, October 15th. Dinner will be at Sosa Borella, a restaurant right around the corner from the theater that Ms. Murney suggested. Dinner will be at 6:30pm, show is at 8pm, and then your visit backstage will be immediately after the show. I'll have more details for all of this when it gets a little bit closer.
I just wanted to check in and make sure you'll be using your pair of tickets for WICKED that evening and weren’t planning on flying solo - either is perfectly fine, and course you got 2 tickets in the auction package, but I don't want to book a pair if you're a single. Let me know whenever you have a chance.
Fantastic! I looked up Sosa Borella online and the menu looked absolutely amazing. I was finally letting myself get excited now that I knew everything was falling into place.
I got final email confirmation prior to leaving for New York and Briel called Wednesday afternoon to check in since I was in town.
That morning we switched hotels from Queens to midtown. We were now situated across the street from Sosa Borella and the Gershwin, which was planned for convenience. (I did, however, pick the hotel before knowing what restaurant we were gonna eat at. That ended up being a nice bonus being so close.)
Shelley and I kept ourselves entertained until it was time to prep for dinner. Relaxing in the hotel beforehand, I had butterflies in my stomach and was nervous but once I changed and was busy getting ready I calmed down a lot. I wasn't worried about Julia not recognizing me or not having anything to talk about ... it was just something of an intimidating situation to be walking into, you know?
I wanted to get to the restaurant early so we arrived around 6:15pm. When we told the waiter we were there for the Julia Murney reservation, the woman standing in front of us turned around and introduced herself as Briel. Julia wasn't there yet so the three of us got seated (Briel was only staying to make introductions). We were seated straight back from the door in the left-hand corner. Shelley and I sat on the side by the wall, which was also hidden by plants and a computer station. We chit-chatted about the zoo and our vacation with Briel, who also took care of the dinner gift certificate with the manager and kept an eye on the door for Julia.
Around 6:30pm (actually, I think it was a couple minutes past) Julia was sighted and Briel went to retrieve her. Right then, my heart started pounding. I could see them approaching so I stood up. As soon as I came into Julia's line of sight, she pointed at me with a big smile and said "Penguins!" Seriously?! I don't know what type of look I gave her, but my jaw definitely hit the ground and I said, "You remember that from three years ago?" She's like, "Of course I do. You're a zookeeper, right? Penguins!" So, okay. Briel goes to introduce us and Julia kinda waves her off with an "Oh, I know her" comment while we shook hands and I told her my name. Then she turned to shake hands with Shelley and said, "I don't know anything about you so I'll just say 'necklace.'" (Shelley was wearing a rather sizable one that stood out.) After that moment I was completely calm and at ease.
Briel left, we sat and Julia said her friend Michael would be coming shortly. I went back to the penguin thing, still not believing she remembered it from three years ago when it's something we've never spoken about in person and she's never mentioned in the few times we've met. Random. But she's like, "It's not every day you get a penguin painting in the mail from someone. That's really memorable compared to another 'it's not easy being green' shirt." She also said she clearly remembers opening it and running over to Kendra's dressing room to show her because she was so excited. The one I sent her wasn't great quality so I'm gonna make her a better one as a thank you gift.
At some point during the few minutes of this conversation Michael (an adorably handsome and insanely friendly gay guy) showed up. We didn't get a last name and while I didn't recognize him, if I saw him in a picture I could identify him. Julia introduced us as zookeepers from Ohio and told him all about the penguin painting.
I don't really remember the exact progression of the conversation but the two of them started asking questions about the animals we worked with and about the zoo in general so I reached in my purse and pulled out the album of pictures I'd brought with me. When I said I had pictures Julia was all "gimme, gimme, gimme" and totally reached across the table to grab it.
She and Michael both asked very intelligent questions about the animals and wanted to know everything we were willing to tell them. They asked how I could tell the penguins apart, if the animals missed us when we were gone, how the SSP breeding stuff works. Michael had apparently been in Antarctica not too long ago (sure, why not?) and Julia told us about staying at White Oaks Plantation while she was in Florida doing the Saint Ex project (including a funny story about Matt Farnsworth having a face-off with a rhino).
At some point during the zoo conversation we ordered dinner. Michael and Shelley got the spinach linguine with mussels special and Julia and I got the parmesan-crusted chicken (which is what she always gets at the restaurant because she's "boring like that"). The food was crazy delicious, by the way.
We talked about the Equality March a bit. Julia mentioned walking with Kristin Chenoweth, who was being pulled into pictures by fans throughout the day. She had asked Anne, another friend with them, if they needed to keep an eye on Kristi just because. Anne said no, that Kristin was very awake of what she was doing seeing as she wore a bright pink ski vest that was not making her inconspicuous by any means. This led to Shelley questioning if anyone knew why the rainbow flag was the gay community's symbol because friends she had asked never knew. Michael and Julia didn't know either so Julia told Michael to whip out his fancy phone and find out. So he did and we were all educated about it.
Julia also asked if I was at the "crazy Cleveland" concert she did earlier in the year because she thought she remembered taking a picture with me. (At least she didn’t remember me chasing her down the stairs. lol) I said I was and pulled the picture out to show her our matching shirts. She and Michael both found it amusing. It would've been far more amusing had I worn my jean skirt like I originally planned because Julia was wearing one and we would've matched ... again.
Other topics of conversation included her solo concert at the castle, the Rosie-Kelli-Julia love triangle thing (Michael made a joke, she followed up), YouTube bootlegs, the Actors Fund concert and the Huntsville Broadway concert she has coming up, among other things. Doesn't sound like she's real thrilled about that concert because while she will sing "The Wizard and I" she basically refuses to do "Defying Gravity." Well, Huntsville pretty much gave her an ultimatum about the song - sing "Defying Gravity" or you can't do the concert. Nice, huh? She's also singing the show version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart," which doesn't really thrill her either because it makes no sense out of context but they don't want to do the radio version.
Before we knew it, it was almost 8pm and we all had to get moving. Shelley and I needed to get to the theatre around the corner and Michael and Julia had to head out for an 8:10pm showing of Whip It. So we packed up, said our goodbyes and headed separate directions. I almost wish we didn't have to worry about the show because it would've been interesting to see how long the conversation could have lasted. I bet we could have talked for a couple more hours, easy.
I still can't get over how incredibly awesome dinner was. No awkward pauses at all, everyone laughing and talking and having an amazing time. Etiquette was kinda tossed out the window because we were all talking with food in our mouths throughout the night, which made it all very casual. Also, Julia was getting over a cold because she was coughing off and on but she didn't sound terrible.
Once Wicked let out, we headed to the stage door. At dinner Julia had told us to just go inside because she probably wouldn’t be standing on the street if it was still raining. It was weird to see no one lined up at the stage door. No barricades or anything. I'm sure the rain had something to do with it and maybe the fact that the cast was doing a talkback. I don't know, but it seemed odd to me 'cause I'm used to crazy Wicked crowds.
Anyway, seeing as no one was at said door, I paused a moment then opened it. Julia was right inside talking to a couple of guys, whom she shooed away as she beckoned us in. She asked what we thought of the show, we asked about her movie, then we set off for the tour.
We headed in one direction but quickly halted and turned around when we were told the elevator was down. "So we'll take the stairs. It'll put hair on your chest," Julia said. I told her we'd climbed six flights at the Empire State Building, which she misheard as 60. Yeah, no. The door had a code, which Julia had forgotten over the course of two years so she went over to the desk to retrieve it and off we went.
Getting all turned around with the stairs and hallways and such, I don't remember the order of places we were taken. The main stairwell is covered with this absolutely huge and insanely awesome mural that Eddie Pendegraft painted. Other cast members, including Julia, have helped but it was Eddie's idea and design.
At one point we were under the stage by the orchestra pit, which is where the trap door is for "No Good Deed." Julia said as your running through the tight space you have to collect the skirt of the dress, pass by the orchestra and shove yourself up onto the little platform before you're shot up to the stage. She also said Kathy, the dresser, follows behind and taps the heels of your boots to make sure you're completely on said platform. That lesson was learned when Shoshana's shoes got caught one night.
Since the cast was doing a talkback, we didn't run into any of them in the halls. We did, however, run into a handful of tech and orchestra people, most of whom Julia knew and stopped to talk to. It was fun to see her interact with some of the friends she hadn't seen in a while. We'd get introduced to them with Julia proudly saying "I was auctioned off so I'm giving them a tour." When we were headed down the hallway with dressing rooms, you could tell Julia really wanted us to meet Kathy but she was nowhere to be found.
When we were at the staircase leading to the stage right "wing" stairs, Julia said there was one night where she was thinking, "I hope I don't fall because there are really steep." Next thing she knows, she trips. To save her face she put her right arm down and banged up her fingers and jammed her arm. Of course, she had to go out on stage into the "Wonderful" scene where the Wizard's constantly grabbing her while she's wincing in pain the entire time. Sounds like it took a while before her hand fully healed.
Compared to the Cleveland Wicked tour I had last winter, there's really not that much to see backstage at the Gershwin. Everything's stored up in the fly space with very little actually on the ground. It didn't surprise me, but it shows how different sit-down productions are from touring productions.
Everything had a very secretive vibe once we got on stage. Because of the talkback going on, Julia, Shelley and I were huddled close together while Julia whispered. She was trying to get Kenway's attention at one point and when he realized it was her, he totes jumped up and left the talkback, Lindsay Northern close on his heels. The three of them talked for a few minutes and Julia had to add both of their phone numbers into her cell because they'd disappeared, for whatever reason. The girls talked about their dogs and setting up a puppy playdate in the near future. ("Pepper is B-O-R-E-D" and was apparently on a pee strike that day, making Julia a little nervous about what she might walk into when she got home.)
Kenway and Lindsay returned to the edge of the stage and we continued to the other wing. Once we got there, some random girl appeared and joined us. It was an odd situation, to say the least. She recognized Julia and Julia kinda played along, although it quickly became obvious she had no idea who random girl was. Random girl said she was a stage manager (where, I know not) and didn't realize she just walked across the stage while something was going on. She mentioned she was waiting for a friend and then went off on a tangent about Julia's Joe's Pub concert last year. A good chunk of it wasn't 100% coherent because the girl was somewhat wasted. Julia was trying to get out of the conversation but random girl stuck to her guns. Luckily, the talkback broke up at that moment and we were able to walk away. When random girl was gone, Julia's like, "I have no idea who that was but she was clearly drunk on something." Good times.
On the way off stage, we bypassed the broken elevator (which Julia almost forgot wasn't working) and went back to the lobby area with the call board. As Julia was signing a couple of things for us, she mentioned that the night was really, really enjoyable. She and Michael had been talking on the way to the movie about how things like this either go good or are kinda iffy but that we "got a gold star." I would have to agree. Michael was obviously a safety net of sorts and Julia could've bailed far earlier than she did but all four of us had an awesome time.
Shelley and I each took a picture with Julia and she thanked us again for supporting Playwrights Horizons and we thanked her for her time. We got great big hugs before saying goodbye out on the street.
A couple other random things.
- Julia didn't necessarily like being blonde (especially the blonde-blonde) - it was required for Lennon. It took something like eight hours to do so her stylist wouldn't change it back right away and Julia just left it. She said she's far more comfortable as a brunette or redhead.
- She had ten days of rehearsal before being put into Wicked. She was the guinea pig for that short a time period. In return, she told the producers (or whomever) that if they wanted to do that again, they couldn't do it with someone who was "an idiot" and the person had to have time to freak out and get over the whole "I can't do this" thing prior to the rehearsals. Julia knew she was going into the show long before and had her break-down over it prior to rehearsals.
- Fashion-wise, she was wearing a short-sleeve black sweater with a blue tank top underneath, jean skirt, black tights and knee-high red boots. (When we were talking to Kenway, we learned they were her "happy red rainboots" from Aerosoles.) She came with her hair down but pulled it into a ponytail as soon as she sat down at the restaurant.
- Her mom called during the end of dinner. She ignored it and said, "Sorry, Mom, can't talk right now."
- I don't remember the context that led up to it - probably one of the zoo pictures because of an animal's expression - but she said growing up they never really had donuts in the house except for Christmas morning. She and her mom had been wrapping presents and when they finished her mom yelled at Patrick (in elementary school at the time) about being in the donuts. He turned around with a firm denial, even though there was powered sugar all over his face.
- She was completely enamored with this picture of Tadeo.
- Shelley borrowed her roommate's camera and when you take a picture it barks. Yeah, it barks. Anyway, I used it to take her picture with Julia and when the camera barked Julia's eyes got really big and she's like, "What the heck was that?"
The night was absolutely amazing. Words can't begin to describe it for me. Given the situation I put myself in, I couldn't have hoped for things to turn out better. It was more than worth the big price I paid. Julia is truly the most beautiful person, inside and out.