Captain Picard and Dr. George

Pinky and I were waiting for the cast of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (review to follow) to come out when I spotted Sir Patrick Stewart at the nearby Schoenfeld Theatre. David Mamet's A Life in the Theatre officially opens on 12 October.

Serial Stage-dooring

Bill Pullman


Julia Stiles. We saw her entering the theatre but she said she was running late and couldn't stop for photos or autographs. As I handed her the Playbill after the show, she did a double take and said she remembered me. She apologized again.



Daniel Craig

While Lynn went to see A Steady Rain, I saw Oleanna at the John Golden Theatre. It took the Oleanna stars an hour to exit the theatre, so in the interim, Lynn and I hung out at the Schoenfeld. Here are some photos I took.

Broadway Celebrity Sightings

Billy Elliot's Trent Kowalik
The Stage door gods were smiling upon us this past weekend. We all went to see different shows but converged upon 46th street. We managed to hit 3 stage doors on Saturday, and then Shrek the Musical the next day. Here's proof of our productive weekend.
Greg Jbara
Trevor Braun as Flounder in The Little Mermaid
Eric LaJuan Summers as Jetsam
Jon Rua from In the Heights
Doreen Montalvo
A real treat: Andrea Burns and her son
Robin de Jesus
Shrek's Jennifer Cody
Lord Farquaad himself, Christopher Sieber
John Tartaglia, a real class act
Reviews of Hedda Gabler, The Little Mermaid and Shrek the Musical to follow...

Big Ten

Today is the tenth anniversary of my first Stage Door experience. My sister Cecile and I watched Cabaret on 22 February 1999 and decided to lurk around the stage door of Studio 54 afterwards. Jennifer Jason Leigh was our Sally Bowles.
Ron Rifkin was still Herr Schultz.
Alan Cumming was still the Master of Ceremonies.
Lea Salonga had returned before Miss Saigon closed so we managed to get a glimpse of her at the Broadway Theatre stagedoor. Mommy Joy (Ligaya) was rushing, telling the crazy Filipino crowd that it was freezing cold and she didn't want Lea to get sick. (I just realized it's Lea's birthday so maybe that's why.)

Here's to many more decades of Stage Dooring! Happy Anniversary to ME!

All Aboard For The Highlands!

The 39 Steps........

Well, I first saw this on the 2008 Tonys and was very curious about it. I finally got to see it two Saturdays ago (9/13) with Mike and Katrina. I know, I know my review is a bit late. Anyway, if you're an Anglophile like me, then you'll love this play. It's clever and witty and superbly inventive. With a cast of four (two of which also act as stagecrew), plus a few props, the show takes you through a dizzying sequence of events that leave you in stitches!

These four insanely talented people (Arnie Burton, Jennifer Ferrin, Sam Robards and Cameron Folmar) play almost 150 different characters......how they don't get them mixed up is a wonder to me! I was really impressed with the staging of this play (Bravo to director Maria Aitken)........just watch the clip above and see how a sparse stage plus just a few props and an actor's commitment to the scene ignites the audience's imagination and takes you far, far away......it's pure brilliance! Definitely a jolly good time at the theatre!

Here are some pics from that night......

the marquee:

the playbill:

a sign on one of the doors in the ladies room.......I wonder where the tunnel leads to?

After the show we walked around the theatre district to kill time since we were meeting Lani and her sisters at the Broadhurst theatre where they saw Equus that night. This was Virgin Records at Time Square.....I just found it odd that the Curtains ad was still up but the show is already closed. Maybe it's to sell more CDs?! But look closely....who's missing from the marquee?

The posters at Shubert Alley:

The Xana-doors:

Well, the show (Equus) wasn't out yet but check out the crowd gathering outside the Broadhurst Theatre:

This was the crowd gathering across the street:

Here, again the crowd for Equus (still before the show even ended).......well, I didn't get pics of Daniel Radcliffe because it was a madhouse at the stagedoor! We didn't even get a glimpse of him really, just people's heads. But still, it was a fun night to be out and about!

Back In The Backyard Dancing

It is a sad day for a theatre geek to find out that a show that spoke to you personally is closing. The producers of [Title of Show] have just announced that the show will soon close on Oct. 12. A few days before, Xanadu, another show that I thoroughly enjoyed also announced it's closing on the same day. What can you say about the state of theatre when two inventive shows that have critical acclaim and have a following among those who love the theatre are closing while mediocre shows (Grease!) are still running?

I first heard about the show when it was Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre and bought the CD when it came out. I've followed their online episodes on youtube - THE [Title of Show] SHOW - but didn't get to see it until this past Sunday (9/14). As I said earlier in this post, the theatre gods blessed me that day.

As Lani posted in her earlier [review of show], it is an irreverent inside look into the making of a musical. It's clever and funny and self-referential but amidst all of these, the show is about having a dream and making it come true. Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell, as they say in their own words......two nobodies in NY.......started writing the show 4 years ago and who knew it would someday be on Broadway. Their story unfolds right before your eyes culminating to their opening night on Broadway. The song above, A Way Back To Then sung by Heidi Blickenstaff (what a voice!) has always been my favorite and has always spoken to me personally. It talks about finding what's important and reconnecting to what you love and finding yourself. What an inspiring piece of writing! So make sure you catch it before it closes. Maybe it will inspire you......however big or small it may be..........to be creative.....go climb a mountain.....run a 5k..... pursue singing or what not........I know for me, it's about taking up dance again. And since then I've found the 5 year old girl that was somehow lost before.

So here are some photos I took of the theatre and at the stagedoor........

the marquee:

the poster outside the theatre:

Hunter Bell (book writer and lead actor):

here he is again:

Larry!!!! The music director:

Heidi Blickenstaff coming out of the stagedoor:

Susan Blackwell signing autographs:

Susan Blackwell:


Heidi Blickenstaff and Jeff Bowen:

Jeff Bowen (Composer and Lyricist and Lead Actor):

Heidi Blickenstaff taking to TOSSERS (fans of Title of Show):

Heidi Blickenstaff:

and last but not the least my signed playbill: