I had SUCH a great day today

I had the BEST time in New York City today. We (me, Melis, Brian, Jackie, Kristen, and her friend) drove in to see Rent now that the original actors (Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp) for the two main characters are back for a limited run. The show was amazing, just amazing. These guys have such wonderful chemistry and such a great rapport on stage. They also appear to not have aged in the last decade. I don’t know if they’re sleeping in Tupperware or bathing in the blood of children, but they looked great. We were among the last to leave the theatre and Jackie (who had never seen the show before today) looked over and said, “Um, isn’t that the guy? Isn’t that one of the originals?” Sure enough, Anthony Rapp was standing ten feet away, waiting to step outside the see the mob of screaming fans waiting on the sidewalk. Nice catch, Jacks. We were happy to catch a glimpse of him because the mob outside was so huge, there was no seeing anything out there.

That evening Kris and her friend were seeing an off-Broadway play and Jackie and Brian scored standing room tickets for Jersey Boys, so Melis and I were on our own. We tried to get lottery tickets for the evening show of Rent, but failed. We headed to TKTS and, after much deliberation, settled on Xanadu. We were very unsure of our choice and even tried to trade them in at one point. What a foolish mistake that would have been! The show was awesome. Hilarious, clever, great music, great cast (including Cheyenne Jackson! Anyone who has seen All Shook Up knows exactly what I’m talking about.) This show is great! Go see it! But the best part was after the show. We went to the stage door and met Cheyenne. What a lovely, gracious (completely freakin’ adorable) guy he is. He signed our Playbills, took a photo with me and Melis, and was all enthusiastic when she told him that she directed All Shook Up for her high school. Melis and I walked down the street giggling like the 12 year-old girls that we secretly inwardly are. It was pretty awesome.

Then Melis had the bright idea to head down to the Rent stage door to see if Anthony and Adam would come out and sign our Playbills. Xanadu is a short show and we were out way before the others, so we had some time to kill and thought that we could beat the crazy mob to good spots for seeing the Rent guys. On the way down to Rent we stopped at a newspaper stand for a drink and I had an incredible stroke of luck. My favorite gum (cinnamon flavored Freshen Up) is impossible to find in Pennsylvania but there, lo and behold, sat 8 packs of it. My eyes widened, my heart raced, I pounced. I gathered up all 8 packs and the little old Chinese lady behind the counter gasped in shock. Then she pulled out her stash from below the counter and asked if I wanted more. I said, “Yes, I’ll take two more. So that will be 1 bottle of water and 10 packs of gum, please.” The guy behind me said, “Is that the gum with the liquid center? Man, that stuff is hard to find.” Seriously dude. I look for it everywhere. I was even hoping to stumble upon it in London. Now I am so stocked up, and I walked down 7^th Avenue, giddy with my good fortune.

Then it was on to Rent. We got there in plenty of time to get a front row spot on the barricades they set up to handle the crazy crowds by the stage door. About 20 minutes later, the show let out and the people who had rushed like madmen from their seats were horrified to find there was already a crowd, three people deep, at the barricades. More and more people swarmed in and started shoving us against the barricades like it was a Who concert in Cincinnati. Let me take a moment to explain, in case you’re not familiar with this show, that Rent fans are the most fanatical, semi-psycho fans on Broadway. It is a huge deal that Anthony and Adam came back, and it’s really tough to get tickets right now and people go crazy to see them. The crowd pours into the streets, the NYPD has officers there, it’s pandemonium. And Melis and I were at the front of it all.

Anthony came out first. He was very polite and reserved and kept thanking people for their enthusiasm. The crowd went so crazy and I thought we were going to flip the barricade over and end up, face down, on the ground at his feet. He signed our Playbills and spent a lot of time with the crowd and was very gracious. I told him I have liked him since Adventures in Babysitting (“Oh Thor, mighty god of thunder!”) and he, somewhat disappointingly, did not respond with “Ya think?” I guess you can’t have everything. Then Adam came out and the crowd went wild. Girls were screaming, “Adam, marry me!” He had to stop signing autographs to ask people to calm down and take a step back so those of us at the front didn’t get crushed. He also spent lots of time with the crowd and was completely adorable. Then the NYPD had to step in and push the barriers back and do some crowd control, which basically consisted of screaming at people to stop pushing. It was pretty fabulous.