SOB's Theatrical Firsts Of The Noughties: My Broadway DebutOver the course of the last decade, I’ve been truly fortunate to enjoy a number of enlightening firsts in my personal theatergoing that have only served to increase my deep and abiding love for the art form known as live theatre. What follows is one of my ten favorite experiences of the last ten years.As
I’ve noted here previously, I’ve never had any designs on becoming an actor.
But that didn't stop me from earning my bragging rights earlier this year as I "appeared" being on a Broadway stage during a show in progress, and it was not as part of an onstage audience as shows like
Spring Awakening or
Xanadu employed.
It all began by catching more than a good buzz when my Love Of My Life (LOML) and I took our second row seats for
Diane Paulus' inspired revival of
Hair -- unequivocally Broadway's best musical revival last season.
If you’ve seen this show, you’ll know that the musical threatens to end on a very sobering note. However, at the curtain call, the cast joins together for a reprise of “Let The Sun Shine,” which concludes in an audience empowering moment when everyone in the house is invited onstage to join in the singing and dancing.
My participation in the show had begun even before the curtain call when Tony nominee
Gavin Creel bounded from the stage during the show’s eponymous tune. He perched himself on the armrest of the seat immediately in front of me, took his belt off and looped it around my neck, shimmying it back and forth, much to my amazement.
So when the audience began pouring onto the stage of the
Al Hirschfeld Theatre, how could we refuse the opportunity? My LOML and I leapt onto the stage, sang and danced as best we could. Like so many others, we were so swept up in the moment, we even snuck in a little smooch.
No, you won’t find us listed in any of the show’s credits, but we relished our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make our Broadway debut.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post. I paid my own way for all performances above.Labels: Al Hirschfeld Theatre, Broadway, Debut, Diane Paulus, Gavin Creel, Hair, Stage
SOB's Theatrical Firsts Of The Noughties: My First Time On A Broadway Stage
Over the course of the last decade, I’ve been truly fortunate to enjoy a number of enlightening firsts in my personal theatergoing that have only served to increase my deep and abiding love for the art form known as live theatre. What follows is one of my ten favorite experiences of the last ten years.Although I have never had any designs on being an actor, I always wondered what the theatre looked like from on stage. If you read
this previous post, you'll know that my first time on the
Gershwin stage was compliments of one of
Wicked’s cast members.
But my first time
ever to set foot on a Broadway stage came about in 2006. Two of my best friends in the entire world happen to be friends with lyricist
Chad Beguelin, whom I met when he was putting the finishing touches on the book and score for his first Rialto effort,
The Wedding Singer.
After the musical debuted on Broadway, we went to see the show at the
Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Chad offered to meet us immediately after the performance. Although the show received mixed reviews,
we all had a great time, which was a bit of a relief as I’m not particularly good at lying about whether I’ve enjoyed a show. Fortunately, I didn’t need to.
So when we met up with Chad, we gave him our thumbs-up. In turn, he gave us a backstage tour, introducing us to the show’s star:
Stephen Lynch, as well as taking us onto the stage itself.
I couldn’t get over how much smaller everything seemed up close and personal. I found myself thinking, “Ah, the magic of theatre.” Perhaps even more thrilling than being backstage was being greeted by the throngs of fans lined up at the stage door. They certainly had no clue who I was, but it was fun seeing them try to guess.
Since then, I’ve been invited backstage at three other Broadway venues.
As
noted earlier, I have been on
Wicked’s stage at the Gershwin.
Additionally, just one year ago as
Harvey Fierstein was reprising his turn as Edna Turnblad in
Hairspray at the
Neil Simon, he personally provided me a rare opportunity to join him backstage. When he escorted us through the stage door into the theatre, little did I know I would be stepping directly onto the Neil Simon stage.
Then, this past summer, one of
Billy Elliot’s Tony winning actors graciously invited us to join him for a wonderful backstage tour in which he divulged many of the shows design secrets. That tour was capped off with an introduction to the musical’s Tony-winning director,
Stephen Daldry.
How many other Broadway stages will I someday find myself on? To be honest, what’s more important to me is cherishing each of my once-in-a-lifetime experiences I've already enjoyed in “treading the boards” of Broadway. Speaking of which, I made an unanticipated return to that Al Hirschfeld stage earlier this year, but that return deserves a post all its own.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post. I paid my own way for all performances above.Labels: Al Hirschfeld Theatre, Billy Elliot The Musical, Broadway, Chad Beguelin, Gershwin Theatre, Hairspray, Harvey Fierstein, Imperial Theatre, Neil Simon Theatre, Stephen Daldry, The Wedding Singer, Wicked
