Stagedooring, Part One
Before I get to posting reviews, I decided I'd relate my two trips to the Phantom stage door on Friday and Saturday, since I've already got most of my first review written and not a lot will change for the second one, and I am already starting to forget things since I am freaking senile.
Friday
Eric and I scooted quickly out and around to the stage door, which was probably a good thing since David DeWitt (Monsieur Reyer) came out about a minute or two after we got there. Apparently he was looking for his brother and a very large group of people. He recognized me, which made me happy since I haven't seen him in over four years. He came over and gave me a hug, and said hello to us and asked how we were doing. There was a teenage boy there with his mother who seemed to be inwardly spazzing out with glee, which made me want to put him in my pocket because it reminded me of myself, not-so-inwardly spazzing out with glee at the very same stage door, seven years ago. (!!!) He asked David if he was the Phantom, and David laughed and said no, and I said it would be awesome if he was (because it would--he'd be such a short Phantom!). David said he played Monsieur Reyer, and signed the boy's playbill. His mom took a picture like the excited mama she obviously was. :)
I remember I was still standing next to the boy when I asked David if he had known that the chandelier had gotten hung up on itself during the overture, and the boy excitedly chimed in with details. David had not known that the chandelier nearly experienced some epic fail, and seemed amused about it.
Eric and I talked to David for a bit about what we were up to these days, while I felt like a complete tool because I never know what to say without making myself sound like a complete dumbass. Erin Stewart, his wife and the Christine understudy, came out not too long after. I said hello to her and shook her hand, and said that I'd met her before in Jacksonville but couldn't quite remember it. She apparently did, though. She and David both signed my playbill, and Eric took a picture of us.
Erin said her bangs looked weird, and I said just be glad your scalp isn't snowing--mine was flaking from a hellish sunburn I got last weekend at Troy's homecoming, and I showed them the tops of my hands and said that just two days before they were still deep red.
Eric reminds me that I had said something about how good our seats were, and David agreed "those were really good seats", which more or less confirms my suspicion that he'd sighted us during Hannibal.
Laureen Vigil, who had gone on as Carlotta, came out while we were talking to them. Eric either recognized her because he's good like that, or the boy and his mom asked who she was and Eric overheard her answer. At any rate, Eric snagged her and I got her autograph too (in pen because my silver Sharpie had gone elsewhere) and told her how awesome I thought she'd been. Erin said "she rocks," to which Laureen replied "I love you Ern!"
Erin and David were a little distracted with trying to keep a lookout for their expected entourage, which I totally understood, and eventually they decided to go and see if they could find them themselves. We exchanged goodbyes and I said I'd be back the next night with something for them.
About that time I spied D.C. Anderson (Monsieur Andre) making a break for it, and yelled, "Hey, D.C.! You can't go home yet!" He changed course and came over to our group--me, Eric, and glee!boy and his mom. He said hello and gave me a hug and for some reason thought he'd only seen us around two months ago. We had to remind him it'd been more like a year and a half. :) I asked him if he'd got my e-mail about ideas for promoting his new album, and he said it must have gotten lost in the mire that is his inbox so could I send it again?
I saw someone who looked familiar walking by behind D.C., and I asked if it was Michael McCoy, who played Firmin. D.C. said it was, and called him over to say hello. He introduced me with "This is Allison..." and added something (I can't quite remember what) that made me blurt "You talk about me?" Apparently I'd misheard and he was just asking if Michael already knew me. (Now that I think about it, that makes me giggle.) I said he didn't, and that I knew D.C. because I'd been corresponding with him for eight years. To which Michael said: "They make twelve-step programs for that, you know."
We all laughed and I said that Eric just encourages me because he's gone to see the show with me more than once, and was supposed to come with me again tomorrow, but his mother had sprung a surprise 80th birthday party for his grandfather on him. Michael said they shouldn't do that, because they'd thrown one for his father's 70th birthday and it nearly gave him a heart attack. :)
D.C. and Michael then introduced us to one of the orchestra members, Silvio Scambone, who does flute and clarinet duty. That launched us into a discussion on an observation Eric had made earlier: at the middle and high school levels, you only ever see girls playing flute, but once you get up to the professional level, they all seem to be men, so what gives? Silvio said they all switch to strings. :D That led him to relate an anecdote that he prefaced with "I'm gay." Michael made an "O RLY?!" noise and D.C. quipped "No way!" But the story went--he had once played in an all-gay orchestra, and all the high winds players were male, while all the percussion and brass players were female. If you know anything about instrument stereotypes, that's pretty funny. :)
While we were talking, John Cudia (the Phantom) had come out and done some signing for glee!boy. He looked like he was about to leave so I got his attention (Eric had more or less been alerting me to people the entire time so I didn't miss anyone), and Michael, D.C., and Silvio made their exit then, saying they'd see me tomorrow. John came over with both his dog and Sara Jean Ford, who played Christine. I'm pretty sure he introduced her to us. They both signed my program while I introduced myself to the dog, a boxer/lab mix who was the sweetest, calmest thing. Sara said John was a very good Phantom and I said he'd gotten even better since last year, which made him go quoi?, and we said we'd seen him in Jacksonville. He remembered us then.
Sara made a joke about her making John a man, to which I said "shouldn't Kathy [his wife] do that?" Nice move, dumbass, that probably made you sound stalkerish, because he paused. Then repeated "Make me a man?" in an exaggerated cowboy accent and Sara laughed.
I asked John if William Patrick Dunne would be coming out, and he said no, William was all costumed up because he was going to a costume party. I said, "Where in Birmingham could you go to a costume party?" (no, I don't really have a high opinion of the city, though Montgomery makes it look like a shining utopia) and John laughed and said, "I have no idea, but he found one." I asked if any of them had been to the Sloss Fright Furnace. John didn't know they had a haunted house (furnace) there, but said it seemed like it would be a really cool place to have one. I was a little surprised he even knew about Sloss, but maybe he just did his homework on Birmingham. :)
And about that time we all said goodbye and went our separate ways. I just had Eric look this over to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything and he gave it his stamp of approval. :)
Friday
Eric and I scooted quickly out and around to the stage door, which was probably a good thing since David DeWitt (Monsieur Reyer) came out about a minute or two after we got there. Apparently he was looking for his brother and a very large group of people. He recognized me, which made me happy since I haven't seen him in over four years. He came over and gave me a hug, and said hello to us and asked how we were doing. There was a teenage boy there with his mother who seemed to be inwardly spazzing out with glee, which made me want to put him in my pocket because it reminded me of myself, not-so-inwardly spazzing out with glee at the very same stage door, seven years ago. (!!!) He asked David if he was the Phantom, and David laughed and said no, and I said it would be awesome if he was (because it would--he'd be such a short Phantom!). David said he played Monsieur Reyer, and signed the boy's playbill. His mom took a picture like the excited mama she obviously was. :)
I remember I was still standing next to the boy when I asked David if he had known that the chandelier had gotten hung up on itself during the overture, and the boy excitedly chimed in with details. David had not known that the chandelier nearly experienced some epic fail, and seemed amused about it.
Eric and I talked to David for a bit about what we were up to these days, while I felt like a complete tool because I never know what to say without making myself sound like a complete dumbass. Erin Stewart, his wife and the Christine understudy, came out not too long after. I said hello to her and shook her hand, and said that I'd met her before in Jacksonville but couldn't quite remember it. She apparently did, though. She and David both signed my playbill, and Eric took a picture of us.
Erin said her bangs looked weird, and I said just be glad your scalp isn't snowing--mine was flaking from a hellish sunburn I got last weekend at Troy's homecoming, and I showed them the tops of my hands and said that just two days before they were still deep red.
Eric reminds me that I had said something about how good our seats were, and David agreed "those were really good seats", which more or less confirms my suspicion that he'd sighted us during Hannibal.
Laureen Vigil, who had gone on as Carlotta, came out while we were talking to them. Eric either recognized her because he's good like that, or the boy and his mom asked who she was and Eric overheard her answer. At any rate, Eric snagged her and I got her autograph too (in pen because my silver Sharpie had gone elsewhere) and told her how awesome I thought she'd been. Erin said "she rocks," to which Laureen replied "I love you Ern!"
Erin and David were a little distracted with trying to keep a lookout for their expected entourage, which I totally understood, and eventually they decided to go and see if they could find them themselves. We exchanged goodbyes and I said I'd be back the next night with something for them.
About that time I spied D.C. Anderson (Monsieur Andre) making a break for it, and yelled, "Hey, D.C.! You can't go home yet!" He changed course and came over to our group--me, Eric, and glee!boy and his mom. He said hello and gave me a hug and for some reason thought he'd only seen us around two months ago. We had to remind him it'd been more like a year and a half. :) I asked him if he'd got my e-mail about ideas for promoting his new album, and he said it must have gotten lost in the mire that is his inbox so could I send it again?
I saw someone who looked familiar walking by behind D.C., and I asked if it was Michael McCoy, who played Firmin. D.C. said it was, and called him over to say hello. He introduced me with "This is Allison..." and added something (I can't quite remember what) that made me blurt "You talk about me?" Apparently I'd misheard and he was just asking if Michael already knew me. (Now that I think about it, that makes me giggle.) I said he didn't, and that I knew D.C. because I'd been corresponding with him for eight years. To which Michael said: "They make twelve-step programs for that, you know."
We all laughed and I said that Eric just encourages me because he's gone to see the show with me more than once, and was supposed to come with me again tomorrow, but his mother had sprung a surprise 80th birthday party for his grandfather on him. Michael said they shouldn't do that, because they'd thrown one for his father's 70th birthday and it nearly gave him a heart attack. :)
D.C. and Michael then introduced us to one of the orchestra members, Silvio Scambone, who does flute and clarinet duty. That launched us into a discussion on an observation Eric had made earlier: at the middle and high school levels, you only ever see girls playing flute, but once you get up to the professional level, they all seem to be men, so what gives? Silvio said they all switch to strings. :D That led him to relate an anecdote that he prefaced with "I'm gay." Michael made an "O RLY?!" noise and D.C. quipped "No way!" But the story went--he had once played in an all-gay orchestra, and all the high winds players were male, while all the percussion and brass players were female. If you know anything about instrument stereotypes, that's pretty funny. :)
While we were talking, John Cudia (the Phantom) had come out and done some signing for glee!boy. He looked like he was about to leave so I got his attention (Eric had more or less been alerting me to people the entire time so I didn't miss anyone), and Michael, D.C., and Silvio made their exit then, saying they'd see me tomorrow. John came over with both his dog and Sara Jean Ford, who played Christine. I'm pretty sure he introduced her to us. They both signed my program while I introduced myself to the dog, a boxer/lab mix who was the sweetest, calmest thing. Sara said John was a very good Phantom and I said he'd gotten even better since last year, which made him go quoi?, and we said we'd seen him in Jacksonville. He remembered us then.
Sara made a joke about her making John a man, to which I said "shouldn't Kathy [his wife] do that?" Nice move, dumbass, that probably made you sound stalkerish, because he paused. Then repeated "Make me a man?" in an exaggerated cowboy accent and Sara laughed.
I asked John if William Patrick Dunne would be coming out, and he said no, William was all costumed up because he was going to a costume party. I said, "Where in Birmingham could you go to a costume party?" (no, I don't really have a high opinion of the city, though Montgomery makes it look like a shining utopia) and John laughed and said, "I have no idea, but he found one." I asked if any of them had been to the Sloss Fright Furnace. John didn't know they had a haunted house (furnace) there, but said it seemed like it would be a really cool place to have one. I was a little surprised he even knew about Sloss, but maybe he just did his homework on Birmingham. :)
And about that time we all said goodbye and went our separate ways. I just had Eric look this over to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything and he gave it his stamp of approval. :)