My manifesto
So, today marks the one year anniversary of the first time I saw Altar Boyz. This has been such a crazy and fantastic year filled with change and maturing. With this date finally being here and with the fact that I’ve basically been listening to my Andy Karl playlist nonstop lately, I feel like I need to write all of this down and get it out there - it’s basically things you all have known at one point in time, but for my own sanity I need to put it out there. It’s staying unlocked because I’m being 100% honest and have nothing to hide. It’s being cut for kindness though, as it is massively long.
April 17th, 2005. It was a Sunday afternoon. I was on the train, going into Manhattan to meet up with Bryan, Gina, and Cherie at Ars Nova for a question and answer session with some of the cast and creative team of Altar Boyz. My train ended up being about 20 minutes late…I remember sitting there, and as we finally pulled into Penn Station, the woman next to me turned to her daughter and her friend and said “We need to get to Ars Nova - we’re late.” Turned out to be Ashley and her mother…we talked a little and took the subway together down to the event, walking in late.
I had never seen the show before this. All I knew about it was what Heather Ticotin and Gina had told me. I knew it was about a Catholic boyband, I knew Tyler Maynard was a woman gay, and I knew Scott Porter took over for what Cheyenne did in the NYMF. Oh, and I knew Gina wanted to get in Porter’s pants. LOL. I wouldn’t know anything more about the show until I saw it that afternoon, as I had a ticket for the 3pm matinee after the Q & A.
The Q & A was incredibly interesting, having never seen the show. I remember sitting there and thinking that Scott was cute, but kind of boring. I remember thinking Stafford was boring. I remember thinking that Ryan Duncan talked too much (oh, Ryan. ♥). I remember thinking that Michael Patrick Walker was cuuuuuute, and VERY funny. I remember thinking that Andy Karl had REALLY nice hair (shut up), and more importantly, was incredibly charismatic and gave the most interesting interview (he and MPW).
Cut to a little before 3pm. I made my way, for the first time, downstairs in Dodger Stages, towards Theatre #4. I had a seat by myself, in A104. Those of you who’ve been in that theatre know how crazy that seat is. Ha.
I’ve seen a lot of shows. I consider myself pretty well versed in musical theatre. I know this show isn’t the best thing in the world. I know there are much deeper and more profound pieces of theatre out there. But for the first time in my life, at 3:06 (or whatever time the show began), I started smiling at the opening notes, and didn’t stop until the end of the show. It’s pure, unadulterated fun. The music is the type of music that I lived and breathed in my early to mid teenage years. I’ve always had a love and respect for high intensity dance routines. And the show had the absolute most perfect blend of lightheartedness and satire.
I distinctly remember the exact moment in the show where I knew that I fell in love with the show - directly after The Calling, David is standing in front of me, and he says “And since that divine moment, the group has evolved…” And Scott interrupts him and goes “OHH! Don’t say…evolved.” There was an awkward pause between the two, and the audience laughed….and I cracked up. That to me was the moment where I thought…this is my kind of show.
Everyone in the cast impressed me. Tyler is…well, Tyler. You all know how impressive and fantastic he is. Ryan’s sweat grossed me out a bit, but he is such a talented dancer and was just so. funny. Porter is a fantastic dancer, and has a really strong persona, perfect for being the leader of the band. David is one of the most talented comedic actors I’ve ever seen, and has one of the most fantastic voices I’ve ever heard. Andy…well Andy Karl, to me, was the best part of the show. I was so blown away by his dancing ability. Luke had the most phenomenal lines, and Andy’s delivery was perfect. And from what I could tell in “The Calling,” he had an absolutely beautiful voice (Luke isn’t the most vocally challenging role).
I’m not usually the type of person to get attached to an actor and follow them from show to show. The only people I’d specifically gone to see a show for were Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in The Producers, and Jane Krakowski in Nine. The only non-“celebrity” theatre actor who’d ever moved me and stayed in my head was Coleen Sexton, who I had seen as Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde - when the DVD of the final performance came out, I was ecstatic to learn that she was still with the cast, and therefore captured forever on my DVD. Walking out of Dodger Stages that day, though, I just had this feeling that I would be back. I wanted to go back that night and get to see those guys (and specifically, Andy) get up there and perform again.
That night, I went home and started looking up as much information on the show as I possibly could. I downloaded Tracee’s NYMF audio of the show. I read reviews, I looked up pictures, I registered for the old Altar Boyz groupee message board.
When I get into something, I seriously get into something. It’s always been the case, be it Nine Days or the world according to JJ Abrams or Idol or the Jossverse. I just jump in and am 150% all about it all the time. Not surprisingly, I was the same way about Altar Boyz. Two weeks after I saw it for the first time, I took my mother, along with Amy and Leon, to see it. Amy and I started talking about it nonstop. Heather Ticotin and I started making plans to hang out at the CD signing at the Virgin Megastore on May 17th. I started making really crappy LJ icons. I started talking to Monica on AIM. I started talking to Kait on AIM.
May 17th, Pam Sheridan and I got up early and went into the city for our day of Altar Boyz. We would be meeting up with Heather (aleapofaith), Heather (fullofstrength), and Kristen (aptlyinept) all at some point during the day. We watched them put the big Cheyenne’s on the doors outside the Palace (this was BEFORE the crazy ASU fan stole them off the door. lmao). We headed on down to the soundcheck of the CD signing and laughed and laughed…I met up with Gina and Cherie, finally met the infamous Braden (“The Virgin Mary” from all the Virgin CD signing pictures) WHO I ADORE AND MISS. I got to spend some time with Daniel. I got to meet Josie and Jenn for the first time ever. That in-store appearance was AMAZING. They were all adlibbing in character (which I later found out that night that Porter HATED, lol), and it was just so fun and silly and amazing. They had fake bodyguards, they had “challenged” the Backstreet Boys (who were coming out wit a CD the next month) to a “boyband-off.” It seriously felt like I was 14 years old again, feeling that adrenaline rush of being at a boyband concert. I remember standing on line after the performance with Kristen and Pam, meeting the person who’d end up being way too creepily similar to me - Miss Lori Mooney - by sharing more attributes than just a name, getting harassed by Noah with his video camera (I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but he would NOT leave me alone) a thousand times (mid conversation with Ken Davenport, I look over Ken’s shoulder and THERE HE IS AGAIN, wtf), I remember getting up to the line and telling Michael Patrick Walker how much I loved listening to him speak at the Q & A the month before, I remember being freaked by the fact that Andy knew who I was (damn those boys and their internets, checking that old message board).
The show that night was so high energy. Pam and I sat in A 2 and 4, and we just had such a blast. They had their first ever post show CD signing that night…Pam, Josie, Jenn and myself hung out for a really long time chatting with Scott, Andy, and Ryan. That was SUCH a blast, the first time I really talked to any of the guys just about anything and everything. Porter showed he had personality, which was something I didn’t expect - we talked about the CD signing, BSB, how they all expected the producers of the show to make them show up at the BSB signing (Porter - “I can just see us now, on the escalator…WE ARE THE ALTAR BOYZ!” and he proceeded to pretend to do the ABz dance moves while moving down an imaginary escalator), 2Gether (Porter reenacted Whoa’s “Rub One Out” music video for Andy…you have not lived until you’ve seen Scott Porter mock gyrate against an imaginary octopus tentacle), SNL (Andy Karl ♥’s 7 Degrees Celcius), Justin Timberlake on SNL (Ryan Duncan does a MEAN impression…BRING IT ON DOWN TO OMLETTEVILLLLLEEE). It was really, really fantastic.
From that point on, my summer revolved around that show. Heather had the idea of putting together a scrapbook for Daniel, who would be leaving the show in July, and asked me if I would want to help her with it. I jumped at the chance, since I knew I had Rachel, my scrapbooking queen. I don’t think Heather knew the types of things you could do with scrapbooks until that one afternoon at Rachel’s. :-) We spent so many nights in the city together working on that scrapbook, collecting pictures and letters and showing our progress to the various Boyz, getting them to help. It was such a really, really nice and fantastic bonding experience, for Heather and I, for us and everyone who contributed…it was a really, really great project and I am so proud of us for the final product.
One night, in June, I was at the show with Heather, and I was over by the merch booth. I turned around to see these two girls and a guy walking towards me. I looked at one of the girls and I thought, is that Heather Verron? I wasn’t completely sure though, but then I saw the OTHER girl. I thought to myself, okay, that is COMPLETELY Jamie, so that HAS to be Heather, because there is no way there is something who looks EXACTLY like Heather Verron who hangs out with a girl who looks EXACTLY like Jamie Lypka. Turns out that Heather, who I’ve known since I was 16 years old, and unfortunately hadn’t talked to in about 2 years, still read my livejournal! And she read all about ABz and being the boyband lover that she is, she decided that she and Jamie (and their friend David) should go see it. Thank god they did, because they fell in love with it, and continued to go back time and time again, and we started talking a lot and hanging out when we weren’t in the city, taking the train together…that’s one of the things I’m happiest for this year. :-)
I remember the day I heard Andy and David were leaving Altar Boyz. Heather T. called me on the phone and told me to go to Broadway.com…one of their main stories was that Andy and David were going to be in this new show opening in September called Slut, with Andy as the lead guy. At first I was pretty upset/sad, but then I realized that I was really looking forward to seeing him be something OTHER than Luke. We found out two months in advance that they were leaving, so it was a good deal of time to prepare (god, that sounds kind of creepy, haha).
The rest of that summer was a total whirlwind. I remember the first time I ever got the pleasure of seeing Daniel perform. It was in June, the day of the gay pride parade. I was talking to him on AIM prior to leaving, and he asked me what show I was going to. I said the matinee, and he said something along the lines of that meant I would see him. I became SO ecstatic and overjoyed. That day, he would be going on as Abraham for the matinee (and later he went on for the night show too). The minute he walked out on that stage in his Brooklyn sweatshirt…I could NOT stop giggling and smiling. I felt like a proud parent watching her child on stage - how dorky is that? It doesn’t matter though, because he was absolutely phenomenal. Not the best beat boxer, but ehh, I could forgive him for that. :-) At one point, early on in the show, he’s over on my side of the stage (I was in D101), and he broke character for a millisecond to wave to me and mouth “Hi baby!” That was such an adorable moment, and such a memorable performance. My tenth time seeing Altar Boyz, my first time seeing Daniel Torres perform. It was such a phenomenal time - his I Believe speech is better than David’s. :-X
Speaking of Daniel, the boys all contributed in one way, shape or form to the scrapbook (Scott made a page AND WAS SO CUTE ABOUT IT *squishes*, Tyler wrote Daniel a really lovely note, Ryan made a page *complete with chest hair. Um, ew*, David gave us the most hysterically disgusting picture of himself (I will never look at nipple rings and bunny ears the same way), Kevin made us the cutest photoshopped page ever (I believe my favorite quote would be the thing Kevin wrote above Megan’s head - “You can fuck my husband all you want, as long as he helps out with the kids!” or something along those lines), and Andy wrote and recorded a song for Daniel and Tyler, and gave us the CD and sheet music to put in the scrapbook.
A few days before 7/10, Cristen finally convinced Jen to come to the show. She used to scroll past my entries, totally not caring about any of this stuff, haha, and then Cristen finally managed to get her to come, and she completely and totally fell in love with it, and understood 100% why I gushed about it so much. :-P
Daniel and Tyler’s last was a really emotional day. Lots of tears, lots of laughing, lots of hugs. Everyone was so excited about Daniel finally getting the scrapbook. I’ll never forget the look on his face when we handed it to him…first confusion, and then overwhelming emotion when he started to flip through it and go page by page. That was such a defining moment for me…two months of nonstop work, pouring our hearts and souls into that book, and Heather and I were done. We almost didn’t want to give it to him - we were so proud of it that we wanted to keep it ourselves! :-)
I remember the next time I saw the show (with my darling livefortoday!), I thought to myself that Bar 39 seemed so EMPTY without Daniel around. It was really telling how much he affected the atmosphere. It was still a wonderful time, but the lack of Daniel was very much noticed.
Anyone who knows me even the slightest bit knows how amazing and wonderful my 21st birthday was, and how much everything that day meant to me, so I’m not even going to go into any of that. Let’s just say it’s probably going to go down as my favorite birthday ever.
Andy’s last was a weird weekend. Jen, Cristen, Cailin and I all went to see Trailer Park for the first time the Saturday matinee on Andy’s birthday (and decided that Duke = Luke). We were all a little weirded out by the fact that Orfeh knew who we all were without us introducing ourselves, but also thought it was sweet, since that meant we were talked about. Haha.
The night show that night was a really fantastic show. I remember sitting in G107 with Monica just laughing harder than I had in a long time…one of my favorite moments was during Something About You, when Monica had her head on my shoulder (she is a very touchy feely girl), and we both noticed that David was laughing at us. So….we lesbo-ed it up a bit more. Hahaha. David STILL brings that up.
Both shows on Sunday were really crazy. I sat in E106 for the matinee, and E101 (♥) for the night show. The people in E101-104 for the matinee were such ASSHOLES. Even David bitched about them to us afterwards, it was good times. The woman’s cell rang during SAY, and she didn’t return until La Vida…and she was just glaring at the stage the entire time.
The matinee was amazing though…that show was performed for me, Jen, Cristen, Heather Verron, and Jamie. Call that pompous, but everything done in that show was meant to make the five of us laugh. Heather, Jamie and Andy were developing this new rapper last summer called “Da Raptor,” and we’re watching Andy during 918 in the first verse…everyone gets blown backwards, and then they turn around to walk in slow motion again. All of a sudden, Andy is Da Raptor on stage, complete with claws and facial expressions. Tears of laughter for the rest of the show, you don’t even understand. It was quite possibly the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen that man do onstage. LOL.
The night show was so emotional. During the matinee, I had tried to sneak into E101 for BM&S, but the bitch who’s phone rang’s friend was all “PFFT SHE’S COMING BACK.” So I went back to my seat…David asked me between shows if I was going to “stay in one seat” that night, haha. When he saw that I managed to get E101 (thanks to the amazing people in E101-105 who were wonderful about shifting over a few seats) and got this huge grin on his face - it was really adorable. For as emotional as that show was, though…leave it to Scott Porter to fuck up. God, I love that man for this…now, his big song? Is called Something About You. He sings those three words like 80 times in the song. And what words does he forget? The chorus. First he sang “And I knew that you-I’d be making you my wife.” And then? “And I know that nah nah naaaaaaah *mumble mumble* YOU BABY.” The four boys on that stage, plus all of us in the audience, were fighting back tears of laughter SO much. Who forgets the name of the song? I mean come on, Scott Porter.
Body, Mind and Soul was probably the most energetic I’ve ever seen it done. Sitting in E101 during that was the absolute craziest experience for me. For those who don’t know, E101 was the seat that Andy would stop at during BM&S to “cleanse” the person after the dance break. He’d stop at D101 if he knew the person, but 95% of the time, E101 was the seat. I’d sat D101 before, but there was just something special about getting to say that you’d sat E101, you know? I’m sure this sounds insanely silly and dorky to those of you reading this, but it was a pretty big deal, and its really nice to be able to say that I was the last person to ever be sung to by him during that song.
Randomly, in retrospect, I realize that we were sitting directly behind Mary Faber and Amanda Watkins.
I took a bit of a break from Altar Boyz after that. I was kind of worn out on it (I saw the show 24 times in four months), and I also didn’t want to see the new Luke or Abraham right away - I felt I would unfairly judge their performances if I saw them too soon to their start dates. I wanted to give them time to fall into the role, get into their own flow with it.
My first time back into the city after Andy’s last was the first preview of Slut. That afternoon, I was meeting up with Tierney for dinner so we could spend time together before she moved to London. We made plans to meet up in the courtyard, and I got there relatively early, so I plopped myself down along one of the cement rails with my book, by Starbucks, and started reading. Cut to fifteen minutes later, when I’m sitting there with Andy, who was walking through the courtyard and saw me, and he is just SO giddy that a bunch of us were coming to the first preview.
The first preview of Slut…oh, what can I say about the first preview of Slut? That show was a mess. But such a FUN mess. I remember putting it akin to From Justin to Kelly, in that it was so horrible that it wrapped around to being THE BEST THING EVER again. The theatre was disgusting, though, as there was no AC, Mary Faber was put in some of the most unflattering costumes I’ve ever seen (thank GOD the Winterbottom’s became JANEY’S parents, as I don’t think I could stand seeing Mary as Janey’s mom the entire run. That poor girl). The dialogue was cheesy. The songs were amazing, but the entire show was just…one big "LOL!!!"
It had promise, though, which was the most important thing. It was the first preview! Changes were going to be made over the next two weeks, and it had the promise of being a really good, fun, silly show.
The one thing that sticks out in my head the most from the first preview of Slut was getting to meet Jim Stanek for the first time ever. We were talking to…I forget who, either Andy or David, and Jim came over and introduced himself. He started joking around and talking with us and that was the first experience any of us ever had with the man also known as “THE NICEST MAN. EVER. IN THE WHOLE WORLD.” ♥ Stanek ♥
A little bit before the first preview of Slut, it was announced that Ryan Duncan would be taking a two week leave of absence from the show to do something in the NYMF, and that Daniel would be returning in those two weeks to take over for him. Obviously, that shook me and screamed “GO BACK TO ABZ!!!!”
The weekend of the Flea Market, Heather Verron and I ushered both shows of Slut that Saturday. That was a FUN TIME. Ushering, with Shorey as the stage manager, was such a good time. Shorey is GOOD PEOPLE, and we had such a blast working with her. The matinee was odd, because they ran it without an intermission. It was really nice to see it again, though, after a week and a half, so see the changes they made to it. In those, what, eleven days? They managed to push it in the right direction. It went from being horrible but amazing to really funny and genuinely good. Heather and I had a really wonderful time together, though, getting to chat with the cast pre and post shows, getting to clean up and dance to the music they played in house. Why don’t we get drunk and screw? Haha. Plus, Ben Winters and Stephen Sislen were there both shows, and Ben totally loved/was really freaked out by Heather and my secret language that we’d use across the seats. lmao.
That Sunday was the Flea Market, and, well, what can I say about that? Heh. Heh. It was good times. I’ll leave it at that. :-P
After the Flea Market, Heather and I headed on over to ABz so I could see Daniel as Juan for the first time. Oh my word, it was worth the five month wait to see him. He is Juan. That’s really all I can say about that, you know? He’s got such a beautiful voice, and was such a pleasure to watch up there. I adore Daniel Torres - he is genuinely one of the most amazing human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and he deserves all of the success in the world.
A few weeks later, I ended up staying w/ Heather Verron yet again. We hit up Slut Saturday afternoon, Trailer Park that night, ABz Sunday afternoon, and Slut that night. It was post opening, so Slut was frozen. That was the weekend everyone and their mom was here in October, haha. The first time I sat in A107. OY. It wouldn’t have been that bad had y’all not been like OHHH LORIIIII LETS MAKE A BIG DEAL OF THE STRIP SCENE and made me want to slink down onto the floor. :-P
Sunday afternoon ended up being Daniel’s official final performance with Altar Boyz. After having been offered the role of Juan fulltime post Ryan and accepting it, Daniel was offered the chance to make his Broadway debut in The Woman in White. Heather V. and I ended up sitting in old school rush, but getting to move over to A5/7 because the people didn’t show, haha. That was such a wonderful seat…Daniel was so adorable during it, shoving his lambchop in my face and giggling at us non-stop during Epiphany. That was a wonderful show, and a really, really fantastic send off for Daniel.
After that, I spent all of my time in the city at either Slut or Trailer Park. I took about a three month break from Altar Boyz. It was nice…gave me time to cool off and made it so that the next time I saw the show (Danny’s last), I appreciated it more.
Those three months, though, like I said, were spent at Slut and Trailer Park. I ended up seeing Slut eleven times in total by its closing, and Trailer Park 7 times by its closing. Going to see Slut so often during those two months was fantastic, as I got to know bucklind!Joanne really well. We hit it off amazingly, and spent some really fantastic times together at those shows. Because of her, I got to usher the last matinee of Slut, which was such a blast. Me in Monica’s captain hat, looking like a total assjacket! LOL. Me in the captain hat, getting the shit scared out of me by Andy before the show! Me in my captain hat, hitting on Rich Affanato - “You wanna be captain? You can be captain.” That was GOOD times, my dears. Good times.
Poor Andy was so sick that last day of the show, but you couldn’t really tell in his performance. From what I could tell the little I saw of him preshow, and from what the other actors were saying, he was really sick though. Poor thing.
I remember talking to Mary Faber after the matinee, and having her squeal over getting cast as Stephanie D’Abruzzo’s replacement in Avenue Q. I freaked out for her, and she got all giddy and squealed “HUG ME!!!!!” and we bonded. Hahaha. I ♥ her.
The final show was so fun. I got to see Laine and Sami and meet Jessi for the first time!!! We had so much fun sitting in A108-110. David scratched his balls in my face during J-Dogg’s Lament. ♥ Hahaha. That was just such a memorable show, though. I’ve never been a part of a show where all of the actors were just so insanely appreciative of all of us. Not to say that I didn’t feel that at Altar Boyz, but it was just to such a larger extent at Slut. Jenn Colella would gush over how much she loved having us there every chance she got.
The best thing anyone could’ve done though to show how much they loved and appreciate us was what David did during the night show. During the first…probably week of the show, David’s character Buddy had this line about how if Delia wouldn’t sleep with him, it’d be drapes for her career. And then he stormed out, and snuck his head back in and muttered, “I meant curtains.” It was a hysterical line, and we were all so disappointed when it was cut. The pied piper line, which replaced it, was funny, but it was never as good as the drapes. Anyway, at the final show, David says his pied piper line, and he leaves the room….only to open the door and go “OR!!!!! It’ll be DRAPES for you…..” cut to me letting out the loudest, most high pitched squeal I have ever done. LOL. That was just so touching and amazing and wonderful, and to this day, it still puts the biggest smile on my face that David would do that for us. It was such a little thing, but it was so wonderful and meant so much.
The last few months since then have been nice and slow, but eventful nonetheless. I’ve seen Altar Boyz four times since October, and that’s totally fine. Every time I’ve gone, it’s been genuinely funny and genuinely entertaining, which is something I feel like it may have lost to me after having seen it so many times in such a short amount of time. The times I’ve seen it (1/9 - Danny’s last, 2/4 - Jim Daly Luke, 2/18 Jim Daly Matthew, and 3/26 - Corey Boardman Matthew) have all been SO wonderful and entertaining. They’ve got a really good blend of a cast right now from what I can tell. After seven months of James Royce Edwards (who is a nice guy, don’t get me wrong), Andrew Call is a breath of fresh air. Wonderfully talented guy, a really fantastic Luke. Tyler is in fine form as Mark - seeing him for the first time on 2/4 was a reminder of why this show is SO funny. The return of Ryan Duncan makes me incredibly happy - the original cast can do no wrong in my eyes, so his coming back is such a welcome change. I’ve thought from the first time I saw Dennis that he was a solid performer, and I still think so - his Abe is just as strong as it ever was. I haven’t seen the new Matthew, so I can’t comment on him yet. But with Kevin Kern’s exit in November and Jim Daly joining the cast, they made a perfect move. Jim Daly was MADE for Altar Boyz. He is absolutely perfect for this show - such a talent, such a nice guy, and perfect for the show.
In these past four months, I’ve seen Andy perform in Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Love (which was such a fun time. I still listen to my audio from that and it makes me smile and giggle. That was a good show!), I’ve seen Mary Faber perform in Avenue Q three times (she’s better than Stephanie D’Abruzzo :-X I mean, what? Plus, she’s a wonderful, sweet, lovely girl), I've played "Spot Daniel Torres!" at Woman in White (that man can lay on the stage like NOBODIES BUSINESS), I’ve seen David and Kevin in The Wedding Singer twice (I didn’t realize how much I missed David until I saw him at TWS), and I’ve seen Jim Stanek in Lestat. As a first preview present, we gave Jim Stanek a huge basket filled to the brim with kids meal toys for his children, and in turn, discovered that he’d gushed about us to all of his costars in Lestat. HE IS THE NICEST MAN TO HAVE EVER LIVED.
This year has been filled with excitement and growing experiences and amazing, fantastic, wonderful times. Had I not seen Altar Boyz on this day last year, I never would’ve had the chance to expose myself to so many talented performers and all around wonderful people. These performers, whether I met them through Altar Boyz or through other shows associated with Altar Boyz (TP/Slut/Lestat/TWS/whatever), have all gained a lifelong fan in me, no matter what. I will always be Andy Karl’s biggest fan. I will always be there to give Jim Stanek a new toy everytime I see him in a show. I will always giggle and cheer like crazy for Mary Faber in every show she does in the future. Daniel Torres will always be one of my absolute favorite people in the world, and forever my inspiration for this LJ name. :-) I will always be there to support David Josefsberg, listen to him sing ANYTHING and giggle over how silly he can be. I will ALWAYS support these performers because of the amazing performances I’ve seen them give over the past year.
Without this show, I also never would’ve had the opportunity to reconnect with so many friends, to meet so many new people. I never would’ve seen even half of the shows I’ve seen in the past year (well, I would’ve seen TWS no matter what, as I am a massively huge Stephen Lynch fan, and I love that movie more than anything). I’ve been able to experience so many fantastic cultural experiences through the theatre, all because of this one little show that made me feel like a teenager again. So, for that, I say THANK YOU to the cast, crew, and creative team at Altar Boyz. Because of you, I’ve had one of the most exciting years of my life, and I can’t thank you enough for it.
I don’t expect any of you to have actually read all of that. In Word, that came out to over 9 and a half pages. It’s my manifesto, but I had to get it out there. It’s my way of celebrating all of my wonderful memories of this past year without having to go back through two journals worth of entries. It’s been a hell of a ride this year, and I hope that those of you who actually read this can see how amazing this year’s been for me.
April 17th, 2005. It was a Sunday afternoon. I was on the train, going into Manhattan to meet up with Bryan, Gina, and Cherie at Ars Nova for a question and answer session with some of the cast and creative team of Altar Boyz. My train ended up being about 20 minutes late…I remember sitting there, and as we finally pulled into Penn Station, the woman next to me turned to her daughter and her friend and said “We need to get to Ars Nova - we’re late.” Turned out to be Ashley and her mother…we talked a little and took the subway together down to the event, walking in late.
I had never seen the show before this. All I knew about it was what Heather Ticotin and Gina had told me. I knew it was about a Catholic boyband, I knew Tyler Maynard was a woman gay, and I knew Scott Porter took over for what Cheyenne did in the NYMF. Oh, and I knew Gina wanted to get in Porter’s pants. LOL. I wouldn’t know anything more about the show until I saw it that afternoon, as I had a ticket for the 3pm matinee after the Q & A.
The Q & A was incredibly interesting, having never seen the show. I remember sitting there and thinking that Scott was cute, but kind of boring. I remember thinking Stafford was boring. I remember thinking that Ryan Duncan talked too much (oh, Ryan. ♥). I remember thinking that Michael Patrick Walker was cuuuuuute, and VERY funny. I remember thinking that Andy Karl had REALLY nice hair (shut up), and more importantly, was incredibly charismatic and gave the most interesting interview (he and MPW).
Cut to a little before 3pm. I made my way, for the first time, downstairs in Dodger Stages, towards Theatre #4. I had a seat by myself, in A104. Those of you who’ve been in that theatre know how crazy that seat is. Ha.
I’ve seen a lot of shows. I consider myself pretty well versed in musical theatre. I know this show isn’t the best thing in the world. I know there are much deeper and more profound pieces of theatre out there. But for the first time in my life, at 3:06 (or whatever time the show began), I started smiling at the opening notes, and didn’t stop until the end of the show. It’s pure, unadulterated fun. The music is the type of music that I lived and breathed in my early to mid teenage years. I’ve always had a love and respect for high intensity dance routines. And the show had the absolute most perfect blend of lightheartedness and satire.
I distinctly remember the exact moment in the show where I knew that I fell in love with the show - directly after The Calling, David is standing in front of me, and he says “And since that divine moment, the group has evolved…” And Scott interrupts him and goes “OHH! Don’t say…evolved.” There was an awkward pause between the two, and the audience laughed….and I cracked up. That to me was the moment where I thought…this is my kind of show.
Everyone in the cast impressed me. Tyler is…well, Tyler. You all know how impressive and fantastic he is. Ryan’s sweat grossed me out a bit, but he is such a talented dancer and was just so. funny. Porter is a fantastic dancer, and has a really strong persona, perfect for being the leader of the band. David is one of the most talented comedic actors I’ve ever seen, and has one of the most fantastic voices I’ve ever heard. Andy…well Andy Karl, to me, was the best part of the show. I was so blown away by his dancing ability. Luke had the most phenomenal lines, and Andy’s delivery was perfect. And from what I could tell in “The Calling,” he had an absolutely beautiful voice (Luke isn’t the most vocally challenging role).
I’m not usually the type of person to get attached to an actor and follow them from show to show. The only people I’d specifically gone to see a show for were Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in The Producers, and Jane Krakowski in Nine. The only non-“celebrity” theatre actor who’d ever moved me and stayed in my head was Coleen Sexton, who I had seen as Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde - when the DVD of the final performance came out, I was ecstatic to learn that she was still with the cast, and therefore captured forever on my DVD. Walking out of Dodger Stages that day, though, I just had this feeling that I would be back. I wanted to go back that night and get to see those guys (and specifically, Andy) get up there and perform again.
That night, I went home and started looking up as much information on the show as I possibly could. I downloaded Tracee’s NYMF audio of the show. I read reviews, I looked up pictures, I registered for the old Altar Boyz groupee message board.
When I get into something, I seriously get into something. It’s always been the case, be it Nine Days or the world according to JJ Abrams or Idol or the Jossverse. I just jump in and am 150% all about it all the time. Not surprisingly, I was the same way about Altar Boyz. Two weeks after I saw it for the first time, I took my mother, along with Amy and Leon, to see it. Amy and I started talking about it nonstop. Heather Ticotin and I started making plans to hang out at the CD signing at the Virgin Megastore on May 17th. I started making really crappy LJ icons. I started talking to Monica on AIM. I started talking to Kait on AIM.
May 17th, Pam Sheridan and I got up early and went into the city for our day of Altar Boyz. We would be meeting up with Heather (aleapofaith), Heather (fullofstrength), and Kristen (aptlyinept) all at some point during the day. We watched them put the big Cheyenne’s on the doors outside the Palace (this was BEFORE the crazy ASU fan stole them off the door. lmao). We headed on down to the soundcheck of the CD signing and laughed and laughed…I met up with Gina and Cherie, finally met the infamous Braden (“The Virgin Mary” from all the Virgin CD signing pictures) WHO I ADORE AND MISS. I got to spend some time with Daniel. I got to meet Josie and Jenn for the first time ever. That in-store appearance was AMAZING. They were all adlibbing in character (which I later found out that night that Porter HATED, lol), and it was just so fun and silly and amazing. They had fake bodyguards, they had “challenged” the Backstreet Boys (who were coming out wit a CD the next month) to a “boyband-off.” It seriously felt like I was 14 years old again, feeling that adrenaline rush of being at a boyband concert. I remember standing on line after the performance with Kristen and Pam, meeting the person who’d end up being way too creepily similar to me - Miss Lori Mooney - by sharing more attributes than just a name, getting harassed by Noah with his video camera (I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but he would NOT leave me alone) a thousand times (mid conversation with Ken Davenport, I look over Ken’s shoulder and THERE HE IS AGAIN, wtf), I remember getting up to the line and telling Michael Patrick Walker how much I loved listening to him speak at the Q & A the month before, I remember being freaked by the fact that Andy knew who I was (damn those boys and their internets, checking that old message board).
The show that night was so high energy. Pam and I sat in A 2 and 4, and we just had such a blast. They had their first ever post show CD signing that night…Pam, Josie, Jenn and myself hung out for a really long time chatting with Scott, Andy, and Ryan. That was SUCH a blast, the first time I really talked to any of the guys just about anything and everything. Porter showed he had personality, which was something I didn’t expect - we talked about the CD signing, BSB, how they all expected the producers of the show to make them show up at the BSB signing (Porter - “I can just see us now, on the escalator…WE ARE THE ALTAR BOYZ!” and he proceeded to pretend to do the ABz dance moves while moving down an imaginary escalator), 2Gether (Porter reenacted Whoa’s “Rub One Out” music video for Andy…you have not lived until you’ve seen Scott Porter mock gyrate against an imaginary octopus tentacle), SNL (Andy Karl ♥’s 7 Degrees Celcius), Justin Timberlake on SNL (Ryan Duncan does a MEAN impression…BRING IT ON DOWN TO OMLETTEVILLLLLEEE). It was really, really fantastic.
From that point on, my summer revolved around that show. Heather had the idea of putting together a scrapbook for Daniel, who would be leaving the show in July, and asked me if I would want to help her with it. I jumped at the chance, since I knew I had Rachel, my scrapbooking queen. I don’t think Heather knew the types of things you could do with scrapbooks until that one afternoon at Rachel’s. :-) We spent so many nights in the city together working on that scrapbook, collecting pictures and letters and showing our progress to the various Boyz, getting them to help. It was such a really, really nice and fantastic bonding experience, for Heather and I, for us and everyone who contributed…it was a really, really great project and I am so proud of us for the final product.
One night, in June, I was at the show with Heather, and I was over by the merch booth. I turned around to see these two girls and a guy walking towards me. I looked at one of the girls and I thought, is that Heather Verron? I wasn’t completely sure though, but then I saw the OTHER girl. I thought to myself, okay, that is COMPLETELY Jamie, so that HAS to be Heather, because there is no way there is something who looks EXACTLY like Heather Verron who hangs out with a girl who looks EXACTLY like Jamie Lypka. Turns out that Heather, who I’ve known since I was 16 years old, and unfortunately hadn’t talked to in about 2 years, still read my livejournal! And she read all about ABz and being the boyband lover that she is, she decided that she and Jamie (and their friend David) should go see it. Thank god they did, because they fell in love with it, and continued to go back time and time again, and we started talking a lot and hanging out when we weren’t in the city, taking the train together…that’s one of the things I’m happiest for this year. :-)
I remember the day I heard Andy and David were leaving Altar Boyz. Heather T. called me on the phone and told me to go to Broadway.com…one of their main stories was that Andy and David were going to be in this new show opening in September called Slut, with Andy as the lead guy. At first I was pretty upset/sad, but then I realized that I was really looking forward to seeing him be something OTHER than Luke. We found out two months in advance that they were leaving, so it was a good deal of time to prepare (god, that sounds kind of creepy, haha).
The rest of that summer was a total whirlwind. I remember the first time I ever got the pleasure of seeing Daniel perform. It was in June, the day of the gay pride parade. I was talking to him on AIM prior to leaving, and he asked me what show I was going to. I said the matinee, and he said something along the lines of that meant I would see him. I became SO ecstatic and overjoyed. That day, he would be going on as Abraham for the matinee (and later he went on for the night show too). The minute he walked out on that stage in his Brooklyn sweatshirt…I could NOT stop giggling and smiling. I felt like a proud parent watching her child on stage - how dorky is that? It doesn’t matter though, because he was absolutely phenomenal. Not the best beat boxer, but ehh, I could forgive him for that. :-) At one point, early on in the show, he’s over on my side of the stage (I was in D101), and he broke character for a millisecond to wave to me and mouth “Hi baby!” That was such an adorable moment, and such a memorable performance. My tenth time seeing Altar Boyz, my first time seeing Daniel Torres perform. It was such a phenomenal time - his I Believe speech is better than David’s. :-X
Speaking of Daniel, the boys all contributed in one way, shape or form to the scrapbook (Scott made a page AND WAS SO CUTE ABOUT IT *squishes*, Tyler wrote Daniel a really lovely note, Ryan made a page *complete with chest hair. Um, ew*, David gave us the most hysterically disgusting picture of himself (I will never look at nipple rings and bunny ears the same way), Kevin made us the cutest photoshopped page ever (I believe my favorite quote would be the thing Kevin wrote above Megan’s head - “You can fuck my husband all you want, as long as he helps out with the kids!” or something along those lines), and Andy wrote and recorded a song for Daniel and Tyler, and gave us the CD and sheet music to put in the scrapbook.
A few days before 7/10, Cristen finally convinced Jen to come to the show. She used to scroll past my entries, totally not caring about any of this stuff, haha, and then Cristen finally managed to get her to come, and she completely and totally fell in love with it, and understood 100% why I gushed about it so much. :-P
Daniel and Tyler’s last was a really emotional day. Lots of tears, lots of laughing, lots of hugs. Everyone was so excited about Daniel finally getting the scrapbook. I’ll never forget the look on his face when we handed it to him…first confusion, and then overwhelming emotion when he started to flip through it and go page by page. That was such a defining moment for me…two months of nonstop work, pouring our hearts and souls into that book, and Heather and I were done. We almost didn’t want to give it to him - we were so proud of it that we wanted to keep it ourselves! :-)
I remember the next time I saw the show (with my darling livefortoday!), I thought to myself that Bar 39 seemed so EMPTY without Daniel around. It was really telling how much he affected the atmosphere. It was still a wonderful time, but the lack of Daniel was very much noticed.
Anyone who knows me even the slightest bit knows how amazing and wonderful my 21st birthday was, and how much everything that day meant to me, so I’m not even going to go into any of that. Let’s just say it’s probably going to go down as my favorite birthday ever.
Andy’s last was a weird weekend. Jen, Cristen, Cailin and I all went to see Trailer Park for the first time the Saturday matinee on Andy’s birthday (and decided that Duke = Luke). We were all a little weirded out by the fact that Orfeh knew who we all were without us introducing ourselves, but also thought it was sweet, since that meant we were talked about. Haha.
The night show that night was a really fantastic show. I remember sitting in G107 with Monica just laughing harder than I had in a long time…one of my favorite moments was during Something About You, when Monica had her head on my shoulder (she is a very touchy feely girl), and we both noticed that David was laughing at us. So….we lesbo-ed it up a bit more. Hahaha. David STILL brings that up.
Both shows on Sunday were really crazy. I sat in E106 for the matinee, and E101 (♥) for the night show. The people in E101-104 for the matinee were such ASSHOLES. Even David bitched about them to us afterwards, it was good times. The woman’s cell rang during SAY, and she didn’t return until La Vida…and she was just glaring at the stage the entire time.
The matinee was amazing though…that show was performed for me, Jen, Cristen, Heather Verron, and Jamie. Call that pompous, but everything done in that show was meant to make the five of us laugh. Heather, Jamie and Andy were developing this new rapper last summer called “Da Raptor,” and we’re watching Andy during 918 in the first verse…everyone gets blown backwards, and then they turn around to walk in slow motion again. All of a sudden, Andy is Da Raptor on stage, complete with claws and facial expressions. Tears of laughter for the rest of the show, you don’t even understand. It was quite possibly the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen that man do onstage. LOL.
The night show was so emotional. During the matinee, I had tried to sneak into E101 for BM&S, but the bitch who’s phone rang’s friend was all “PFFT SHE’S COMING BACK.” So I went back to my seat…David asked me between shows if I was going to “stay in one seat” that night, haha. When he saw that I managed to get E101 (thanks to the amazing people in E101-105 who were wonderful about shifting over a few seats) and got this huge grin on his face - it was really adorable. For as emotional as that show was, though…leave it to Scott Porter to fuck up. God, I love that man for this…now, his big song? Is called Something About You. He sings those three words like 80 times in the song. And what words does he forget? The chorus. First he sang “And I knew that you-I’d be making you my wife.” And then? “And I know that nah nah naaaaaaah *mumble mumble* YOU BABY.” The four boys on that stage, plus all of us in the audience, were fighting back tears of laughter SO much. Who forgets the name of the song? I mean come on, Scott Porter.
Body, Mind and Soul was probably the most energetic I’ve ever seen it done. Sitting in E101 during that was the absolute craziest experience for me. For those who don’t know, E101 was the seat that Andy would stop at during BM&S to “cleanse” the person after the dance break. He’d stop at D101 if he knew the person, but 95% of the time, E101 was the seat. I’d sat D101 before, but there was just something special about getting to say that you’d sat E101, you know? I’m sure this sounds insanely silly and dorky to those of you reading this, but it was a pretty big deal, and its really nice to be able to say that I was the last person to ever be sung to by him during that song.
Randomly, in retrospect, I realize that we were sitting directly behind Mary Faber and Amanda Watkins.
I took a bit of a break from Altar Boyz after that. I was kind of worn out on it (I saw the show 24 times in four months), and I also didn’t want to see the new Luke or Abraham right away - I felt I would unfairly judge their performances if I saw them too soon to their start dates. I wanted to give them time to fall into the role, get into their own flow with it.
My first time back into the city after Andy’s last was the first preview of Slut. That afternoon, I was meeting up with Tierney for dinner so we could spend time together before she moved to London. We made plans to meet up in the courtyard, and I got there relatively early, so I plopped myself down along one of the cement rails with my book, by Starbucks, and started reading. Cut to fifteen minutes later, when I’m sitting there with Andy, who was walking through the courtyard and saw me, and he is just SO giddy that a bunch of us were coming to the first preview.
The first preview of Slut…oh, what can I say about the first preview of Slut? That show was a mess. But such a FUN mess. I remember putting it akin to From Justin to Kelly, in that it was so horrible that it wrapped around to being THE BEST THING EVER again. The theatre was disgusting, though, as there was no AC, Mary Faber was put in some of the most unflattering costumes I’ve ever seen (thank GOD the Winterbottom’s became JANEY’S parents, as I don’t think I could stand seeing Mary as Janey’s mom the entire run. That poor girl). The dialogue was cheesy. The songs were amazing, but the entire show was just…one big "LOL!!!"
It had promise, though, which was the most important thing. It was the first preview! Changes were going to be made over the next two weeks, and it had the promise of being a really good, fun, silly show.
The one thing that sticks out in my head the most from the first preview of Slut was getting to meet Jim Stanek for the first time ever. We were talking to…I forget who, either Andy or David, and Jim came over and introduced himself. He started joking around and talking with us and that was the first experience any of us ever had with the man also known as “THE NICEST MAN. EVER. IN THE WHOLE WORLD.” ♥ Stanek ♥
A little bit before the first preview of Slut, it was announced that Ryan Duncan would be taking a two week leave of absence from the show to do something in the NYMF, and that Daniel would be returning in those two weeks to take over for him. Obviously, that shook me and screamed “GO BACK TO ABZ!!!!”
The weekend of the Flea Market, Heather Verron and I ushered both shows of Slut that Saturday. That was a FUN TIME. Ushering, with Shorey as the stage manager, was such a good time. Shorey is GOOD PEOPLE, and we had such a blast working with her. The matinee was odd, because they ran it without an intermission. It was really nice to see it again, though, after a week and a half, so see the changes they made to it. In those, what, eleven days? They managed to push it in the right direction. It went from being horrible but amazing to really funny and genuinely good. Heather and I had a really wonderful time together, though, getting to chat with the cast pre and post shows, getting to clean up and dance to the music they played in house. Why don’t we get drunk and screw? Haha. Plus, Ben Winters and Stephen Sislen were there both shows, and Ben totally loved/was really freaked out by Heather and my secret language that we’d use across the seats. lmao.
That Sunday was the Flea Market, and, well, what can I say about that? Heh. Heh. It was good times. I’ll leave it at that. :-P
After the Flea Market, Heather and I headed on over to ABz so I could see Daniel as Juan for the first time. Oh my word, it was worth the five month wait to see him. He is Juan. That’s really all I can say about that, you know? He’s got such a beautiful voice, and was such a pleasure to watch up there. I adore Daniel Torres - he is genuinely one of the most amazing human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and he deserves all of the success in the world.
A few weeks later, I ended up staying w/ Heather Verron yet again. We hit up Slut Saturday afternoon, Trailer Park that night, ABz Sunday afternoon, and Slut that night. It was post opening, so Slut was frozen. That was the weekend everyone and their mom was here in October, haha. The first time I sat in A107. OY. It wouldn’t have been that bad had y’all not been like OHHH LORIIIII LETS MAKE A BIG DEAL OF THE STRIP SCENE and made me want to slink down onto the floor. :-P
Sunday afternoon ended up being Daniel’s official final performance with Altar Boyz. After having been offered the role of Juan fulltime post Ryan and accepting it, Daniel was offered the chance to make his Broadway debut in The Woman in White. Heather V. and I ended up sitting in old school rush, but getting to move over to A5/7 because the people didn’t show, haha. That was such a wonderful seat…Daniel was so adorable during it, shoving his lambchop in my face and giggling at us non-stop during Epiphany. That was a wonderful show, and a really, really fantastic send off for Daniel.
After that, I spent all of my time in the city at either Slut or Trailer Park. I took about a three month break from Altar Boyz. It was nice…gave me time to cool off and made it so that the next time I saw the show (Danny’s last), I appreciated it more.
Those three months, though, like I said, were spent at Slut and Trailer Park. I ended up seeing Slut eleven times in total by its closing, and Trailer Park 7 times by its closing. Going to see Slut so often during those two months was fantastic, as I got to know bucklind!Joanne really well. We hit it off amazingly, and spent some really fantastic times together at those shows. Because of her, I got to usher the last matinee of Slut, which was such a blast. Me in Monica’s captain hat, looking like a total assjacket! LOL. Me in the captain hat, getting the shit scared out of me by Andy before the show! Me in my captain hat, hitting on Rich Affanato - “You wanna be captain? You can be captain.” That was GOOD times, my dears. Good times.
Poor Andy was so sick that last day of the show, but you couldn’t really tell in his performance. From what I could tell the little I saw of him preshow, and from what the other actors were saying, he was really sick though. Poor thing.
I remember talking to Mary Faber after the matinee, and having her squeal over getting cast as Stephanie D’Abruzzo’s replacement in Avenue Q. I freaked out for her, and she got all giddy and squealed “HUG ME!!!!!” and we bonded. Hahaha. I ♥ her.
The final show was so fun. I got to see Laine and Sami and meet Jessi for the first time!!! We had so much fun sitting in A108-110. David scratched his balls in my face during J-Dogg’s Lament. ♥ Hahaha. That was just such a memorable show, though. I’ve never been a part of a show where all of the actors were just so insanely appreciative of all of us. Not to say that I didn’t feel that at Altar Boyz, but it was just to such a larger extent at Slut. Jenn Colella would gush over how much she loved having us there every chance she got.
The best thing anyone could’ve done though to show how much they loved and appreciate us was what David did during the night show. During the first…probably week of the show, David’s character Buddy had this line about how if Delia wouldn’t sleep with him, it’d be drapes for her career. And then he stormed out, and snuck his head back in and muttered, “I meant curtains.” It was a hysterical line, and we were all so disappointed when it was cut. The pied piper line, which replaced it, was funny, but it was never as good as the drapes. Anyway, at the final show, David says his pied piper line, and he leaves the room….only to open the door and go “OR!!!!! It’ll be DRAPES for you…..” cut to me letting out the loudest, most high pitched squeal I have ever done. LOL. That was just so touching and amazing and wonderful, and to this day, it still puts the biggest smile on my face that David would do that for us. It was such a little thing, but it was so wonderful and meant so much.
The last few months since then have been nice and slow, but eventful nonetheless. I’ve seen Altar Boyz four times since October, and that’s totally fine. Every time I’ve gone, it’s been genuinely funny and genuinely entertaining, which is something I feel like it may have lost to me after having seen it so many times in such a short amount of time. The times I’ve seen it (1/9 - Danny’s last, 2/4 - Jim Daly Luke, 2/18 Jim Daly Matthew, and 3/26 - Corey Boardman Matthew) have all been SO wonderful and entertaining. They’ve got a really good blend of a cast right now from what I can tell. After seven months of James Royce Edwards (who is a nice guy, don’t get me wrong), Andrew Call is a breath of fresh air. Wonderfully talented guy, a really fantastic Luke. Tyler is in fine form as Mark - seeing him for the first time on 2/4 was a reminder of why this show is SO funny. The return of Ryan Duncan makes me incredibly happy - the original cast can do no wrong in my eyes, so his coming back is such a welcome change. I’ve thought from the first time I saw Dennis that he was a solid performer, and I still think so - his Abe is just as strong as it ever was. I haven’t seen the new Matthew, so I can’t comment on him yet. But with Kevin Kern’s exit in November and Jim Daly joining the cast, they made a perfect move. Jim Daly was MADE for Altar Boyz. He is absolutely perfect for this show - such a talent, such a nice guy, and perfect for the show.
In these past four months, I’ve seen Andy perform in Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Love (which was such a fun time. I still listen to my audio from that and it makes me smile and giggle. That was a good show!), I’ve seen Mary Faber perform in Avenue Q three times (she’s better than Stephanie D’Abruzzo :-X I mean, what? Plus, she’s a wonderful, sweet, lovely girl), I've played "Spot Daniel Torres!" at Woman in White (that man can lay on the stage like NOBODIES BUSINESS), I’ve seen David and Kevin in The Wedding Singer twice (I didn’t realize how much I missed David until I saw him at TWS), and I’ve seen Jim Stanek in Lestat. As a first preview present, we gave Jim Stanek a huge basket filled to the brim with kids meal toys for his children, and in turn, discovered that he’d gushed about us to all of his costars in Lestat. HE IS THE NICEST MAN TO HAVE EVER LIVED.
This year has been filled with excitement and growing experiences and amazing, fantastic, wonderful times. Had I not seen Altar Boyz on this day last year, I never would’ve had the chance to expose myself to so many talented performers and all around wonderful people. These performers, whether I met them through Altar Boyz or through other shows associated with Altar Boyz (TP/Slut/Lestat/TWS/whatever), have all gained a lifelong fan in me, no matter what. I will always be Andy Karl’s biggest fan. I will always be there to give Jim Stanek a new toy everytime I see him in a show. I will always giggle and cheer like crazy for Mary Faber in every show she does in the future. Daniel Torres will always be one of my absolute favorite people in the world, and forever my inspiration for this LJ name. :-) I will always be there to support David Josefsberg, listen to him sing ANYTHING and giggle over how silly he can be. I will ALWAYS support these performers because of the amazing performances I’ve seen them give over the past year.
Without this show, I also never would’ve had the opportunity to reconnect with so many friends, to meet so many new people. I never would’ve seen even half of the shows I’ve seen in the past year (well, I would’ve seen TWS no matter what, as I am a massively huge Stephen Lynch fan, and I love that movie more than anything). I’ve been able to experience so many fantastic cultural experiences through the theatre, all because of this one little show that made me feel like a teenager again. So, for that, I say THANK YOU to the cast, crew, and creative team at Altar Boyz. Because of you, I’ve had one of the most exciting years of my life, and I can’t thank you enough for it.
I don’t expect any of you to have actually read all of that. In Word, that came out to over 9 and a half pages. It’s my manifesto, but I had to get it out there. It’s my way of celebrating all of my wonderful memories of this past year without having to go back through two journals worth of entries. It’s been a hell of a ride this year, and I hope that those of you who actually read this can see how amazing this year’s been for me.