by AgeOfAquarius

читать дальшеI've been directed to this thread so I'm going to start posting my fan encounters here. There have been several so it's going to take a while, lol.

As I mentioned in another thread, I only started watching QAF in summer of 2006. I didn't go online or anything until after I'd watched the series the first time through so I had no idea that Randy was primarily a stage actor or what any of the other actors were doing after the show ended. I quickly learned that Gale was going to be doing Vanished, and we all know how that turned out. :p When I heard he was going to be doing SLS in NYC, I considered going and then ultimately decided against it. After reading the fan reports I kind of regretted it. I'd made the decision to not miss out on Randy's next project after reading all about Amadeus which he'd just finished just as I was going online to learn about the QAF cast. So, The Glass Menagerie was my first chance to see Randy onstage and I wasn't going to miss out. The play was fantastic, btw, and I'm SO glad I decided to go. I actually made two separate trips out (I lived in L.A. at the time), once during previews and the other during the first weekend in March.

Note: I didn't realize my one and only time seeing him during my first trip would be the last I would see of Randy in person (except for one very, quick glimpse of him running in through the stage door) until BTF in the summer.

The Glass Menagerie - 1/25/07 (these are excerpts from an email I sent at the time. I'm just including the encoutner parts - keep in mind this is my first ever look at Randy in person, I hadn't even been to see the play yet):

...I decide I should go down to the theatre to check things out before the play tomorrow night. See what the crowd is like by the stage door (which, thankfully is inside), etc. Well, I got there right when the play let out. Once everybody cleared out there weren't that many people in the lobby. The stage door is actually glass so you can see inside and after waiting maybe 15 mins. who should I see? Randy was standing there on the other side of the door talking with some of the other actors. There were just a few other girls standing around and then just a few groups of other people chatting. So, finally Randy comes out and the girls didn't say anything and I didn't say anything. There was another group (they were clearly theatre people) and they waved at Randy and he stopped to talk with them for a minute. He was standing like 3 ft away from me. First off, he looks BEAUTIFUL in person. He was dressed in jeans and sneakers and he had his ever present backpack, lol . So, I really wanted to say something except he was talking to the other people and then he just looked REALLY tired so he just talked to them briefly (one of them asked if he wanted to go out with them and he said "I at least need one night off" LOL) and walked out the front door and I didn't say anything. The other girls followed him out but I'm not sure if they actually stopped him or not. I hope not. Anyway, my last sight of him was walking down the sidewalk all by himself.


The Glass Menagerie #2 - March 2007

The second time I went to Minneapolis was the first weekend in March. Unfortunately, I didn't see Randy (well, I did catch a very brief glimpse of him, described below) that time either. One of the Guthrie people told me the last day I was there the reason was that Randy had had a stalker while he was there. I'm guessing they'd followed him to where he was staying or something. Security was keeping a close eye on him, I guess.

So that was very disappointing until in my sad, last-ditch effort to get a glimpse of Randy, I was sitting in the Caribou Coffee near my hotel. It was the only coffee place in the neighborhood and, hey, I was desperate, lol. Well, Randy never came to the Caribou Coffee while I was there but after I'd been sitting there for about 45 minutes or so, Gale walked in the door, lol. Talk about a surprise. I had seen him at the play the night before so I knew he was there but I totally wasn't expecting him to walk in the door of the coffeeshop on Sunday morning, lol. So, Gale was actually the very first QAF actor I ever met, lol.

So, Sunday morning I went over to Caribou Coffee which was literally a block from my hotel, frankly, in the hopes of seeing Randy. I KNOW that's a little stalkerish but I was really desperate at the point - pathetic I know. I'd never met Randy before, I'd actually been to see the play in January during preview week and the one time he came out the stage door I couldn't work up the nerve to say anything to him and then by the time I went back in March he wasn't coming to the stage door at all because of the stalker problem he had. So, I was just hoping to get a glimpse of him or something. Anyway, what follows is my account of what happened.

I went over to the Caribou Coffee in the hopes Randy would come in. I got my coffee and sat down at a back corner table with a straight on view of the front door. I was just sitting there, drinking my coffee and eating my muffin and going through the guidebook I bought about the Berkshires (that's where Stockbridge is, where Randy's going to be during the summer). I was there maybe 45 mins or so and who comes walking in? Gale. He scanned the room. Didn't see any crazy fans (although he did look right at me and I was looking right back at him, lol) and he ordered a coffee, bagel and water. While he was waiting he grabbed some sections of the newspaper that were on one of the tables. He got his stuff and put it down at a table by the front door. However, he wanted his bagel toasted. And the toaster is by the back door where I was sitting. So he comes over and I'm just drinking my coffee (I was on my second cup by then) and sitting there. Finally I get up and go over to get some half & half for my coffee and I said, "So what did you think of the play last night?" And he leaned down into my personal space, looked at me very intensely and said, "Huh?" I said, "Randy's play, what did you think of it?" He looked at me for a moment, then I see him visibly relax, and he said, "I thought it was good." I said, "Yeah, the matinee was REALLY great." He said "Oh really?" I think at that point he realized I wasn't not a total freak so he didn't really mind talking to me. He was actually very nice. Anyway, I said, "Yeah it was was. I saw the preview in Jan. and the matinee performance yesterday was just went really well. The actors even commented on it at the Q&A. But last night's performance was really good too." And then I think he just said something like "Yeah". And then this was the cutest part. I said, "I'm sorry I didn't see you in New York (referring to SLS) and he says in the cutest voice EVER, "Aww, that's okay." And then my brain turned to mush and I sat back down. OMG, he is so quiet. And it's really funny b/c he's so tall and I'm like 5'0" tall so he bent down to talk with me, like into my personal space. And he's SO intense. Like, he just looks you right in the eye. In different circumstances it would have been really intimidating. So that's the first part of my meeting with Gale.

After I talked with him I sat back down. And I was shaking so bad, it's not even funny. Anyway, I just went back to my book and I watched him eat his breakfast and read the newspaper. I realized I didn't thank him for making my trip b/c I can always see Randy in Stockbridge but I'll be lucky if I ever see Gale again. So, anyway, I watched him and he finished his breakfast and stopped reading the paper and was just looking out the window, thinking about stuff, I suppose (maybe, "I hope that person doesn't bother me anymore", lol) anyway, I finally worked up the nerve to go over to him and I said, "Thank you. You really made my trip. I've been trying to get Randy to sign my tickets since Thursday, but he hasn't come to the stage door." (UM, MOST DORKTASTIC MOMENT EVER) And Gale's just looking at me with his really intense eyes and since he's sitting at a high top table so we're kind of almost face to face. He was leaning down like in that scene in 206 where Debbie's talking to him in the bar, telling him he loves Justin. O.O Anyway he was probably thinking "I wish she'd leave me alone" but he just said something like "Oh okay" (I actually don't exactly remember) and kind of smirked and I just said "Thank you" and went back to my table. He stayed for a little bit after that and it was getting to be around noon, which is when I wanted to go back in the theatre to try to catch Randy going in so he got up and left and I gave him a few seconds, picked up my stuff and left. My last view of Gale was walking down the street toward Nicollette Mall, wrapping his scarf around his neck, lol.

I did head over to the theatre one last time and was rewarded by seeing Randy running late, making a mad dash for the stage door. Equity rules require them to sign in 30 mins. before curtains up and Randy didn't have a moment to spare, lol. He looked very adorable in that knit hat with the earflaps. :-)

Haha. No, meeting Gale was not bad. In fact, it was a great way to start because, honestly, I had no idea if I was EVER going to meet him. So, to have him be the first QAF actor I met was pretty awesome.

I made a spur of the moment judgment call about Gale. I decided there was no way I could let that moment pass without saying something and the fact that he was literally standing two feet away from me, sealed the deal. I'd made the conscious decision to not talk about QAF or Gale directly (though as I mentioned I did apologize for not seeing SLS), and I'm glad I did. Though had I mentioned the Scott Walker film I'm sure he would have been cool with it. He was tense when I first said something to him, I'm sure because he couldn't hear me very well and then because it was obvious that I recognized him and he was probably momentarily terrified that I was going to 1) start screaming or faint, and/or 2) gush about how much I loved QAF and Brian or whatever. The MOMENT I started talking about Randy's play, the tension just rolled off of him. It was that visible of a change.

Btw, the one thing I didn't mention was that I am absolutely terrible with making eye contact. I have to make a conscious effort to do it most of the time. Anyway, Gale was so tall, even leaning over I had to look up at him and I kept getting stuck on his lips (they're so nice and distracting, lol), so I never made a lot of eye contact with him. This time I will do better! Oh, and this was only a couple of weeks after the Berlinale, so he pretty much looked the same, had the beard, the same coat, lol. And he was wearing Levis, brown boots, that olive/khaki combo again (I think it was an olive colored t-shirt with with a khaki colored button down over top. He was wearing layers), which he must really like. It suits him so well.

OH! One thing I forgot to mention about Randy. There was a talkback after the TGM matinee the day before I met Gale. I unfortunately don't remember the questions. Randy didn't say much as per usual with him at the Q&As but some man asked a question about the father in the play and Williams. I don't remember the specifics but Randy was all.over.that.question. He started talking about it and it was really interesting what he had to say and it was clear he had a very good understanding of Williams and so, then, it was like he realized he'd been talking for a bit and he looked all embarrassed and said, "But you don't want to hear me going on about it" and then sat back in his chair and tried to melt into the scenery which is what he usually does. And the like 15 people that were were like, "Um...yeah, we'd like to hear more!" So that was my first experience with how Randy is at Q&A/Talkbacks, lol.

Friday night we went to the opening of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'.
It was wonderful. I'd read a couple of audience reviews from the first night of previews and I was a little concerned but I really thought it was great. I've never seen the movie, read the book or seen any other production of this play. I'd meant to get the sсript beforehand but didn't so I was going in totally cold. I'm not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing but I didn't have any preconceived notions so at least for me I think it was a good decision. I thought all the actors did a fantastic job, especially since a lot of the acting involved being in the background, not speaking any lines and portraying their various manifestations of their mental illnesses. Randy, for example, spent a lot of the play pulling threads from his clothes, acting nervously, chewing on his shirt, etc. I'm not going to give a full review because I think a lot of other people could do a much better job than I but just know I thoroughly enjoyed this play and encourage everybody who is able to go see it. I do have to pick out Randy for special mention (and not just because I'm a fan). He had a difficult part in that he doesn't actually have a lot of speaking lines but he's onstage for most of the play. I found his performance absolutely riveting (and NOT just because it was Randy, lol). He's a wonderful stage actor and proves it again in this role. I'm going to see it again on Mon. night and am looking forward to it.

OMG, I had the most awesome time! The play is amazing. And not just Randy (although his performance is riveting). I met him at the afterparty. My friend introduced me as, "This is Stacey. She came all the way from Pasadena." At that Randy seemed surprised and said, "Oh wow" or something. Then he asked me how my trip out was at which point I told him that it was fine up to the point where I had to take a bus from JFK to Albany because my flight was cancelled due to weather. Then he said, "Ooh" and cringed. Then he signed my program after asking for a pen. I'm sure somewhere in there I thanked him but it kind of blurred. And I don't remember at all what he was wearing other than the ubiquitious green hoodie. Luckily there were lots of pictures taken. There wasn't too much to report from the Q&A. The audience that night consisted of a bunch of 90 year olds without too much of a sense of humor. The audience was pretty dead, especially for the first half. Randy was even better, I thought, Monday night. It was funny, I'm not sure if it's the continuing evolution of his character or the audience Monday night or what but Billy, Randy's character, seems to be getting more disturbed as the play goes on, lol. Actually during the Q&A the guy who plays the doctor (Ron Bagden) basically mentioned the same thing, specifically about Randy and I think the guy who plays Martini, that they seem to be getting more disturbed as the play goes on. Randy does this whole thing where he pulls out the threads on his socks and chews on the threads or wraps them around his fingers and whatnot. He also chews on the collar of his shirt. By Friday night he'd chewed a hole in it. My friend said that by Sat. night it was so bad that they ended up replacing it after that show. He definitely had a new shirt by Mon. The best part of the Q&A was when my friend asked the actors (not specifically Randy) if they did research or how they came to display the physical manifestations of their mental illnesses. Randy said, "I don't know. I just made it up." Eric Hill (the director) then chimed in and said that Randy started doing the stuff during a table read and he said, "I don't know what you're doing but keep doing that." LOL

So, I found a gift for Randy when I was in Lenox on Saturday. It's a blank journal I purchased at the Lenox Library gift shop. I figured that even if he doesn't use it, he could repurpose it or something. Randy ran off the stage so fast on Mon. after the Q&A I didn't even try to catch him at the stage door so I hung out by the stage door (how I found out Linda Hamilton comes out to smoke every time she's not onstage, lol) on Tues. I met this nice elderly couple who it turned out were waiting for Jon Epstein. Randy finally came out and he walks rather briskly so I just sort of made a move toward him and held the gift bag and said, "This is for you." He seemed surprised [In hindsight, I'm sure I probably freaked him out for a second...] and said, "Oh, thanks." Or something like that. Then I said, "I met you on Friday but didn't have it then. I'm the one who came out from Pasadena." And he seemed surprised again (seriously, you would think nothing would surprise him at this point, lol), smiled a little and said, "You're still here? When are you leaving?" NOT like he was trying to get rid of me, just like he couldn't figure out why I was still in town. I said, "Tomorrow." He said, "I hope you have a good trip." And I said, "I hope it will be better than my trip out here." He said, "Yeah." I'm positive he didn't remember me from Friday, let alone my mention of the bus ride from JFK to Albany. He was really nice and tolerant of me though. I think I'm now to the point where I could actually carry on a conversation with him, which hopefully I'll get a chance to do at 'Mrs. Warren's Profession.'[Um, no. Turns out I wasn't ready yet, lol. ]
And here's a Randy and me OFOTCN picspam. This first picture is the only picture I took at the party. He has very weird demon eyes, lol. I actually cropped it so it's just Randy but he's talking with Ron Bagden (who played the psychiatrist in OFOTCN). Randy spent a large part of the evening talking with him, lol.

The next one is the one that appeared on the BTF website. OFOTCN is the only play that season that had pictures of the afterparty on the BTF site. There are only 8 pictures and of those, one of them captures the very first time I met Randy. I was more than surprised when I was checking for party pictures and saw that. I was just hoping to get some nice Randy pictures, lol.

I had no idea anybody was even taking pictures of us but not only did the BTF photographer get us, so did galedreamer who gave me these pictures. I think they're pretty funny. Randy chowing down on carrots, me being a total dork, lol. Btw, that first picture looks more serious than it is. I think I was in the middle of saying something and Randy was in the middle of chewing.

I love Randy's eyelashes in this picture.

I could listen to Randy talk all day. His voice has a richness and timbre that I really like.

That was the first time I met him so it was all kind of a blur, lol. I'm glad somebody at least took some pictures. He was SO good as Billy. Even though it was a large ensemble, he was riveting and very much a part of the play. And Billy's such a tragic character. I cried.

You may love his outfits but I'm glad he's stopped wearing the button down, grandpa shirts. I don't mind the green hoodie so much. As for the mustache, I heard from somebody that he shaved it off before the final curtain closing night. In the movie Billy doesn't have a mustache (not sure if it says anything in the book) so I'm not sure if that was just something Randy decided to do, but by the time the play was over I guess he was more than ready to be done with it. It's really not a good look for him. His facial hair is so light. He does look good with scruff, though, and pretty much whenever I see him and he's not actually working on a play - if he's in rehearsals or just doing something like OHP - he usually has a day or two's growth going, lol. It's a good look for him, I think.

Vered - Yes, I gave him a bottle of wine as a gift one time. And I'd do it again, if I could be guaranteed I'd actually see him, lol. I meant to give him a bottle during the POP! run but it never happened. But, yeah, Randy can be very nosy and grabby when he feels like it. He caught me out writing notes one time and he was all, "What were you writing? I saw you writing." I was like, "Um, just taking notes so I'd have an idea of the changes when I see the play later..." O.O (I was just writing notes about the rehearsal I was sitting in, nothing scandalous. Ha!)

Mrs. Warren's Profession:

I LOVE THIS PLAY. The actors are all great. Randy looks absolutely beautiful. The colors of his costumes are off white/cream colored and his skin practically glows. The play itself has a lot of funny moments. I mean, laugh out loud funny. The audience was great and laughed a lot. The actor who plays Praed was commenting about it at the afterparty, how the audience was really great.

Now, for the after party. I'm somewhat disappointed in my wallflowerness. I did speak with Randy VERY briefly. I was actually with shadownyc fand she asked him a question that I would have liked to have asked but probably would have totally zoned out on and not asked him, lol. Luckily she did. She wanted to know what he was going to be doing after the summer and he said that he was going to be auditioning, working on some stuff with friends and then working on a short film that was going to be done in December (turned out to be thinking...). Anyway, he sounds busy, lol. I really hope that his good reviews here at BTF lead to a lot of work for him. He really is SO good.

And can I just say right now, I can't get over how tiny he is. Not short, because to me, he's not SO short, lol. But, delicate, small boned. And he's still skinny. I have the urge to feed him, lol. Seriously. When my friends and I came into the theatre last night we did catch Randy walking in. We were driving by as he was walking down from the upper parking lot. He was carrying something in a tupperware type container. I assume it was his dinner or something. It looked like a salad. So I know he eats! I didn't really see him eating at the after party last night although he was drinking. Oh, and he wasn't wearing his favorite plaid shirt yesterday. Haha.

Anyway, going into the theatre he was wearing a blue t-shirt. At the after party he had on his blue shirt but was wearing blue jeans and he had on a brown jacket. It was freezing at the after party. They had it outside under the tent and it rained while the play was going on and turned windy. So, it was windy and cold. But it was okay with all the people under the tent.

So, I was pretty disappointed with my lack of conversational skills with Randy, lol. He didn't remember me at all, I'm sure. I didn't remind him that I saw him in July and I was the one who came from Pasadena. I did ask Randy if he would take his picture with me and he said "Sure!" and shadownyc took my pic with him. Later on during the party I tracked him down and asked him if he would sign the insert to my program and he did. I said, "Thank you. The play was really great." He said, "Thank you." He was really sweet last night. The after party was substantially smaller than the 'Cuckoo's Nest' party and Randy really seemed to be having a good time. As a matter of fact, he was still there when we left. A lot of the people that were there were BTF people and actors. There were some Randy fans but not nearly as many as for 'Cuckoo's Nest'. I also think that since the role was a lot less emotionally intense that might have helped his mood some too. That's just a guess, though. Anyway, for whatever reason, Randy did really seem to have a good time and he smiled and laughed a lot and was really laid back.

I also met Randy after the Q&A performance with a couple of friends of mine. I don't really remember much about it except that we were the only ones there waiting for Randy except for his aunt and her friend. He came out and recognized my friends and was very sweet. He talked with us and my friend talked asked him about the gifts she gave him when she saw him at OFOTCN. Then, my friend said that she wanted to ask Randy a question since she was too shy to ask during the Q&A (I'd encouraged her to ask the question). He said, "Okay." She asked, "With doing 'Cuckoo's Nest' and Mrs. Warren's back to back how do you go about preparing? I mean, Mrs. Warren's has such dense dialogue, how do you do it?" Randy, in typical Randy fashion, thinks about it for a few seconds (and it because readily apparent that it's not a question he'd EVER thought of before), and says somewhat perplexed, "The same way I always do", like it was the most obvious (and I'm sure it him it was) thing in the world. Then my friend says, "That's because you're a genius. A theatre genius!" At which point I blurted out a laugh (much like Justin in the scene where he's figured out that Brian slept with Ben and Michael says, "He's never slept with any of my boyfriends"). I embarrassed myself by asking Randy about his cats! I'm sure he thought I was a freak. :p

Here are a couple of pics. The first one was really blown out so I adjusted it as best I could. The second one, I snapped before my autofocus was set so it's not really in focus.

The weekend of 4/24/08-4/28/08 my friends and I went to New York City to, among other things, see Randy in Antony & Cleopatra. This is my account of seeing Randy:

We had tickets for the matinee and evening performances of A&C on Sat. 4/26. My friends, in addition to seeing Randy, were here for an As the World Turns fan luncheon thing (they're big Luke and Noah fans). My one friend was planning on meeting me at the theatre and my other friend decided to take a pass on the matinee so she could spend more time meeting with the ATWT actors. I got to the theatre around 1:30 and waited around for my friend for about 15 mins. before deciding to go in. I'd given her her ticket so I figured she'd just show up when she could. For the matinee I had seats in Row F, the very last row. The seats were on house right of center, at the top of the steps. They were actually pretty nice because, for the most part the view of the actors wasn't obstructed much and I was far enough back to see a lot of the action. The lights go down and my friend still isn't there. At intermission I go out to look for her and it turns out that she'd left the ATWT event (which was only a few blocks away) on time but in her hurry turned the wrong way down 42nd. So, had she turned the correct way to begin with she would have gotten to the theatre on time but she ended up being a couple of minutes late. The theatre people were really sweet and when it came to an appropriate moment they were going to take her upstairs to the tech loft/balcony so she could watch the first half. In the meantime she had to wait in the hallway. While she was waiting, Marton Csokas (Antony) had to make an entrance from the back so she got to watch him walk in, shortly after followed by Randy. Neither of my friends had met Randy before or purposefully seen him in a play (they did see him in 'Wicked' but didn't realize he was in it until after they had their tickets) so my friend's first closeup view of Randy was seeing him make his entrance. After intermission we sat together. My friend mentioned that she actually liked sitting upstairs because she could see everything and there weren't any obstructions. So, the performance ends and we go downstairs to wait for Randy. I decided to wait just inside the doors since it was pretty busy and noisy on the sidewalk and the weather wasn't the greatest. Turns out we were the only ones waiting. There might have been a few other fans there but none of them waited. After about 10 minutes or so, after seeing several of the other actors walk out, Randy appeared. He was wearing the green hoody (you know, the one from the 'Cuckoo's Nest' after party). I called his name (my friend was really nervous and just standing in the corner, lol) and he turned and walked over sort of looking at me, waiting for me to say something. I held out my hand and said, "I'm Stacey and this is Kat", turning to her. He shook my hand and her hand. Then I said, "I didn't want to keep you but I just wanted to let you know we enjoyed the play and we'll be seeing the play again tonight." Randy smiled and said, "Thank you" and I think "See you later" (my recollection of my conversations with Randy are terrible, lol). And then he left, quickly, heading off toward 7th Ave. We actually were catching the subway to go back to our hotel to get our other friend and go to dinner so we followed behind him (the bright green hoody really helped to keep track of him, lol) but he might have turned the corner at 7th or something. Eventually we couldn't see him anymore.

So we had a nice dinner and then headed out for the evening performance. Something that's important to the story is that my one friend tends to suffer panic attacks in highly emotional situations. For her one of those things is live theatre. She can see plays and be fine but sometimes she gets really nervous. Well, I'd gotten us tickets for the front row, seats 101, 102, 103 (that's the left aisle). Actually Kat was even a bit nervous about the seats I got, lol. I took the aisle seat because neither one of them wanted to be on the aisle. So, before the play started my friend seemed a bit nervous but she did okay. And as I suspected would happen, once the play started and she got into it she was fine. Apparently rather than being overwhelmed by Randy, she was actually comforted by seeing him so he actually ended up helping her through the play. So, she didn't have a panic attack and all was well. After the play ended we headed downstairs. There was some big line for something outside so again I decided to just stand inside. And again, we were the only fans that waited. This time we actually spoke to some of the other actors as they were coming out. We told the actor who played Enobarbus that we enjoyed the play and his performance. He was very nice and came over for a second and thanked us. Kat was really interested in meeting Jeffrey Carlson (Octavius) as well as Randy. So when we saw him we called out his name and he stopped and came over and we started talking with him. He was very nice and signed all our Playbills. Kat wanted to get her picture with him so, of course, as I'm trying to take their picture, Randy takes that moment to make his appearance, lol. I think talking with Jeffrey actually helped both Kat and my other friend relax a bit before Randy showed up, which was good.

Now, the next series of events occur in about 45 seconds:

1. Randy appears while I'm still trying to take Kat and Jeffrey's picture.
2. I call out Randy's name and say, "Do you have a second?" He says, "One second". Not in a mean way, he just apparently had plans. I'm sure he was in a hurry but I also think that was his wit making an appearance.
3. He's walking toward the door. I'm finally done taking Kat and Jeffrey's picture, lol. I say to Randy, "Oh. Well, I just wanted to say thank you. We really enjoyed the play."
4. Randy turns and smiles and says, "Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it." Or something like that. As I said my recollection of my Randy conversations is horrible, lol. Oh, and I was trying to put my camera away in my bag as this is going on, lol.
5. Randy literally has his hand on the door, one foot out the door when my friend tells him how he saved her from having a panic attack. Now, by this time there are several other actors in a line behind Randy. Randy stops dead in his tracks, turns with this look of concern and surprise and says, loudly, "Why would you have a panic attack?" Usually at least when I've talked with him he's kind of quiet so I was kind of surprised when he spoke as loudly as he did. I just happened to look up at him right when he said it and the look on his face was priceless, lol. She quickly explained to him (with Kat's help) how she gets overwhelmed in highly emotional situations, such as live theatre. So Randy, sweetheart that he is, says "I'm glad you didn't have a panic attack." To which April said, "Seeing your face actually comforted me." And he smiled and said, "Thank you" and left. Jeffrey was trying not to crack up during this whole thing.

So, we had a really nice encounter and even though Randy was in a hurry he was very sweet to stop and he didn't seem put out or anything. He actually seemed in a very good mood. He'd obviously recognized me and Kat from earlier so I don't know if that's why he stopped or if he would have stopped anyway but regardless it was very nice. I'm especially glad that my friend got up the nerve and spoke with Randy. And now I'm sure she'll stick in his mind as the "girl who didn't have a panic attack", lol. Because Randy was in a hurry we weren't able to get him to sign our Playbills but he did get in the background of the picture I took with Jeffrey and my friend. I've included the cropped version with just Randy.

Notice, same green hoodie as 'Cuckoo's Nest' (though a different t-shirt from earlier in the day), lol.

So that was Saturday. Sunday we planned on going to a movie in Times Square, if there was something we wanted to see since the weather was pretty nasty and Kat was sick and we were really kind of just wanting to do something low-key. Anyway, by the time we got done with brunch and made our way up to Times' Square, Randy's play was close to being done. I wanted to get my Playbill signed (I was going to give it to one of my friends) so we went back over to the theatre. Again, I waited just inside the front door. Randy came out pretty quickly. I had my Playbill and pen out waiting for him and when he appeared I said his name. At the same time I registered he was in a trenchcoat and suit...I was a bit mortified to have called out to him when I realized he was dressed up. He actually stopped, recognized me, took the pen and playbill. I'm not exactly sure what I said. I think I said something like, "If you're in a hurry..." or "I'm sorry" and he was really sweet. He didn't sound upset at all. He said, "No, it's fine. I have a wedding." Then I said, "Thank you so much for stopping last night. I know you were in a hurry." He said "I didn't mind." Even though he was in a hurry he didn't seem put off at all, more frazzled than anything. Had I registered that he was all dressed up before I blurted out his name I wouldn't have said anything but he didn't even hesitate. He just came right over and signed my Playbill and then he ran out the door. The wrong way, lol. We saw him running down 42nd toward 7th (which is the way he usually goes after the matinee, I'm guessing) and then shortly thereafter, running back past us the other way, lol. I hope he made it to the church on time, lol. He looked VERY nice. He'd gotten a hair cut. Nothing drastic, just trimmed up, shorter on the sides. His suit was gray. Kat actually saw more of his suit because he didn't have the trenchcoat buttoned and it flapped open.

A couple of things surprised me. The fact that he stopped when he was clearly in a hurry and really didn't have to. I was literally the only person standing there (my friends were waiting outside on the sidewalk) so he could have just said "I'm sorry. I can't stop right now." But he saw me and came right over. Then, the fact that he just volunteered out of the blue that he was going to a wedding. I'm not sure if in his frazzled state he wasn't filtering like he normally does or what but I was pretty surprised that he said that to me. I'm very happy with myself that I did so much better at talking with Randy this time. I'm looking forward to seeing him at BTF and maybe getting a chance to actually talk with him a little bit. I'd wanted to ask him about 'thinking..." and when he was planning on getting to Stockbridge but I never had a chance, lol.

Randy was great in Wicked.

I had a season subscription to Main Stage for BTF 2008. Unfortunately, Randy was doing Godot on the smaller stagee, lol. It was fine because I really wanted to experience BTF and see all the plays so I'm glad I got a Main Stage subscription. I had tickets for opening night for each play, which meant I got to attend all the afterparties. In addition, I'd purchased tickets for a cocktail reception that I was unable to use, so the nice people at BTF let me use that money as credit with the theatre. And that is WHY I got to see 'Godot' as many times as I did (7!) and ended up seeing most of the plays on the smaller stage. It was a crazy summer but I loved it. Here are some highlights:

Pageant Play Afterparty (Pageant Play was the play before 'Godot' on the Unicorn stage, therefore Randy was already there starting rehearsals for 'Godot'):

I looked for Randy at the play because I thought he might be there but I didn't see him in the theater. During the afterparty I was at the snack table getting some cheese and crackers when I heard somebody next to me introduce Randy to somebody else. I looked up and he was basically standing right in front of me, lol. I was standing at one end of the snack table and he was kind of standing to the side of it, against the wall. I'd already told Laura (the house manager) I'd meet her out on the porch at that point so when I saw Randy I looked at him (with a bit of a surprised look), waved and said, "Hi." He looked at me and said, "Oh, hey." I think he might have actually recognized me. He acted like he did, anyway. Um, well, he still has the beard (this report was done just after the some pictures from the (tAB) feature film shoot came out, with Randy in the beard). That picture did not really convey the current state of the beard, lol. He looks like those guys that have been lost out hiking for weeks or something. Anyway, I asked him if it was for a role (or specifically 'Godot' - I can't quite remember) and he said, "Um, no, it's just for me." LOL So, I'm not sure what the beard thing is about but there you have it. I've come to the conclusion that he just doesn't like to shave much (does that sound like Gale??) when he's not working, lol.

Here's the report from the Book Club Play afterparty (7/11/08). This was a week after the Pageant Play afterparty:

He looked good. Hermit mountain man look has been replaced with heavily stubbled look. Quite sexy, actually. :-) And he got a haircut too. It's very short in the back, kind of S1 Justin short. I didn't really talk to him, except briefly. We were both navigating through the tent at the same time and I saw him and waved, smiled and said "Hi." He smiled back and said, "Hi. How are you?" I said "Good. How are you?" and he said "I'm good." All of his BTF friends were there so he spent a lot of time talking with them, from what I could see. And because I know there are those of you who want to know, he was wearing - wait for it - light blue pants (yes, we've seen them before, lol), a yellow sweater (which we've also seen before), and the same multicolored Vans he had on last week, lol. Here is a pic I took.

I saw him at one other afterparty before Godot but we didn't speak with each other. He had a good time with his friends, though. And the funniest part, there was pizza at the afterparty and the play was REALLY long (A Man for All Seasons). Randy and I were like the first ones out there and he made a mad dash for the table furthest away and grabbed some pizza like he was a starving man! He doesn't shy away from food for sure!

@темы: Интересная информация, QAF