Sunday, Sept. 12, 2004
ahh...basking in after hugh glowiness...
Wow!
I had one hell of a damned weekend. It was chuck a block full of lots of laughing, good times, and amazing memories.
I saw the Boy From Oz yesterday and it was just...well...phenomenal. If in my life I never see a performance as charismatic, touching, and amazing as Hugh Jackman's was yesterday I, honestly, will not be at all disappointed. I really feel as though I saw one of the greatest performers of this time period dance, sing, and act his heart out yesterday. It was absolutely the most incredible theater experience I have ever had. Amazing. That Tony award was hard earned and Hugh is more than deserving of such an esteemed honor.
I thought that I would be all consumed by the fact that my ass was sitting in the same room as Hugh Jackman (Wolverine...gRRRRR!) and that I would be too distratcted too give a shit about the show itself, but that wasn't the case at all. From the moment Hugh walked out on stage he WAS Peter Allen and I felt a part of the man's life and shared in the enormity of his talent. My heart got warm and fuzzy when he and Liza fell in love and broke for him when his partner died of AIDS. I laughed myself silly with the crazy ad libs (Lenny Kravitz...serioulsy, you are INSANE for missing the second half of this show!) and was amazed by Hugh's ability to enthrall his audience so fully in the world of Peter Allen.
The other actors too were simply amazing, namely Stephanie Block, Isabel Keating, and Mitchell David Feradin. I turned to my cousin at one point when Isabel Keating was performing as Judy Garland and asked if the legend had gone all Lazarus on us and come back to life. Seriously, Keating was supberb...Judy Garland was alive and onstage in front of me.
Anyways, if the performances, the show, the seats (eight rows, baby!), and everything about the day weren't amazing enough already, I hardly knew what was to come...
I managed to, with some coaxing from my cousin Janine, record some of the show's finale. I figured, what the hell! It's ending tomorrow, I paid a shit ton to get here, and decided that I was going to get me some live action shots of an experience I knew I would remember for a long time to come. Laws be damned! So, I taped like twenty seconds of the finale and then decided a picture or two was in order. I managed to get a wonderful one of the cast, well just Hugh really, taking a curtain call as well as very clear video of Hugh dancing it up during "I Go to Rio!".
After that was done, Janine and I hauled ass out of the theater and made it to the stage door where there was already a shit ton of people waiting. My heart sort of sank a smidgen as I realized I probably wasn't going to get an autograph. I wasn't too disappointed by this though as the mere fact that I actually made it to the show was enough to thrill me to pieces.
Anyways, Janine and I sort of squished next to the opening the barricades set up had made to allow actors to come and go from the stage door. I asked the rather rude police officer there if Hugh normally came down this way to sign and he answered with a resoundingly crude "No." Whatever, I still had some hope. This was the last weekend afterall and I was hoping Hugh would sign as many autographs as he could.
Well, Hugh didn't disappoint and he soon came out. He signed all around the area near the actual door itself and then, in answer to my prayers, he came down our way. He stopped a foot in front of me, so I stuck out my program and he signed it almost immediately. Janine was trying to get her program signed and had the camera so I grabbed it from her, not an easy feat when one is being squashed from behind by numerous arduous fans, and started clicking away.
The whole thing happened very quickly and I was left shaking a bit from excitement...calm, but just so thrilled to have gotten an autograph. I really couldn't believe how lucky I'd gotten. Anyways, I then had the presence of mind to flip through the pictures and started jumping up and down when I saw the results of my hard earned photographs. I managed to get four shots of him when he was close and each of them came out beautifully. One in particular though was a lovely shot of him smiling at a fan. Wow!
Terrorists, bomb away, I could now die a very happy woman! HA!
It was seriously just an amazing afternoon of theater and to have a wonderful signature and pictures to captuer my memories added to the happy buzz I was feeling. But, those stories aren't even the tip of the iceberg. In fact, they're just the middle part of the day. There were also stories about naked cowboys, subway mishaps, and fun times at the Marriott to share, but are for another day. For now though, my amazing theater experience and encounter with the amazing Hugh Jackman will have to pacify those reading this...
Rest assured though, you'll piss your pants when you hear the rest of ruckas Janine and I got up to yesterday! :)
ted-ted at 8:25 p.m.