HAIRSPRAY post!
Yesterday didn't begin as expected... but it turned out to be BETTER than expected.
So yesterday my grandma took my sister and I to Escape Salon so she could get her hair done and I could get my nails done. We stroll in the door to my house at 1:45 after getting some food from Saca's. When I open the door, I'm greeted by my mother with our "Hairspray" tickets in her hand and she looks all panicky and says "Johana, our tickets are for the 2:00 show - NOT the 8:00 show." It was TEN MINUTES TILL TWO. I just stood there in shock. How could we be so stupid as to not check our tickets at some point since we bought them 3 months ago??
My mom can't get anyone on the phone at the Pantages, so finally she just hangs up the phone and says "Let's go. We'll see what we can do when we get there." By then I was crying... I mean, last time ever in Los Angeles AND Marissa Jaret Winokur's last time doing the show ever as well (she played the lead - Tracy). Basically, this was the only opportunity to ever see "Hairspray". So we grabbed some food, our cell phones, and my mom's wallet and just LEFT.
We arrived at the Pantages around 2:40 ish. There was no parking anywhere around the theatre, so finally my mom just pulled up to the front and told me to go inside and she'd go park the car and meet me at our seats. So I run up to the door and an usher takes me inside to show me to my seat. We walked through the doors to the actual theatre, and I look around to find a completely packed house. Then I look up on the stage and there is the Corny Collins show set with Velma singing the reprise of "Miss Baltimore Crabs". It totally took my breath away that I was really there.
So the usher walks me all the way down to the 3rd row and I sat down and basically looked crazy because I was crying to myself. But, if you know me, you know how much I love this show. It was just surreal to finally be seeing it after being in love with it for like 2 1/2 years. So when Marissa entered for the first time since I got there, I was like... holy. shit. It was just incredible. As my mom came in and sat down next to me, the song "Welcome To The 60s" started which is a total show stopping number. The two of us were just so thrilled that we actually got there and only missed like a half of the first act.
At intermission, my mom said "Let's go to the ticket window outside to see about tickets for tonight's show - you gotta see the whole thing!" So we went and turns out we could still get seats for the evening performance... the very very last show! The tickets we got were actually pretty good - about 20 rows back and off to the right a bit.
After that, we went back in and watched the second half. Of course, it was just freakin incredible. At the very end, after all of the bows and repeats of "You Can't Stop The Beat" my mom and I remembered that we could go wait by the stage door and see who comes out. So we go out there and waited around with a bunch of other people. I was thinking that nobody was really going to come out since they had another show in just a few hours, but...
The incredibly hot incredibly talented guy who played Link, Austin Miller, came right out!! He was so way nice and stopped to sign everyone's programs (all of them did actually!). Then Troy Britton Johnson (Corny Collins) came out, and Natalie Hill (Shelly), Kianna Underwood (Little Inez - she's only 10 and SO adorable!), Susan Cella (Velma), and Terron Brooks (Seaweed). They were all soooo incredibly nice. So we waited around a bit longer to see if Marissa Jaret Winokur (Tracy) or Bruce Vilanch (Edna) would come out. Someone asked one of the cast members about Marissa, and they said that she stays at the theatre between shows to rest so she wouldn't be coming out. But THEN, Bruce Vilanch came out!! He's so freakin hilarious. Everybody loved him!
So by then it's about 5:00. My mom and I have 3 hours till the next show... so we called my Aunt Sandy who lives pretty close to the Pantages and she gave us directions to her house from where we were. We got there in only like 15 minutes. We had an awesome dinner at her place, and then headed back around 7:00. Waiting for the show to start seemed to take forever - I was so excited to see the numbers we missed!
I basically sang along the entire time because I was sooo happy to be seeing it again, for a total of 1 2/3 times! :) By the closing number, a lot of the cast members were crying, espcially Marissa. It was really awesome to be able to see her very last show as Tracy. After an awesome closing number and a huuuugely long standing ovation for Marissa, my mom and I decided to be nerds and go to the stage door again. :) We basically got to meet everyone again, but this time we had a camera (borrowed one from my Aunt). The flash wasn't working so we're hoping they'll still come out, but I think they will! So I took a picture (I'll post them when I get them developed!!) with Austin Miller (Link), Troy Britton Johnson (Corny), Joran Ballard (Amber), and Todd Sussman (Wilbur). You could see who the really hard core "Hairspray" fans were, because there were like 10 or 15 of us left, still waiting to see if Marissa would come out. And finally... she did! She's so unbelievably nice (and really pretty too!). So I talked to her for a minute, and told her that I really admire everything she's been through (she had cancer, but still continued doing the show) and that she just did such an incredible job. She was just sooo nice and signed my program and we took a couple pictures. That made everything from the day worth it. :)
So as I sit here in my pajama shorts and new "Hairspray" shirt with both of my signed programs on the table next to me, I just can't help but think how incredible it is that after listening to the CD since it first opened in 2002, I finally got to see it (1 2/3 times!) and meet this incredible cast, especially Marissa. On her last night ever.
*JO*
So yesterday my grandma took my sister and I to Escape Salon so she could get her hair done and I could get my nails done. We stroll in the door to my house at 1:45 after getting some food from Saca's. When I open the door, I'm greeted by my mother with our "Hairspray" tickets in her hand and she looks all panicky and says "Johana, our tickets are for the 2:00 show - NOT the 8:00 show." It was TEN MINUTES TILL TWO. I just stood there in shock. How could we be so stupid as to not check our tickets at some point since we bought them 3 months ago??
My mom can't get anyone on the phone at the Pantages, so finally she just hangs up the phone and says "Let's go. We'll see what we can do when we get there." By then I was crying... I mean, last time ever in Los Angeles AND Marissa Jaret Winokur's last time doing the show ever as well (she played the lead - Tracy). Basically, this was the only opportunity to ever see "Hairspray". So we grabbed some food, our cell phones, and my mom's wallet and just LEFT.
We arrived at the Pantages around 2:40 ish. There was no parking anywhere around the theatre, so finally my mom just pulled up to the front and told me to go inside and she'd go park the car and meet me at our seats. So I run up to the door and an usher takes me inside to show me to my seat. We walked through the doors to the actual theatre, and I look around to find a completely packed house. Then I look up on the stage and there is the Corny Collins show set with Velma singing the reprise of "Miss Baltimore Crabs". It totally took my breath away that I was really there.
So the usher walks me all the way down to the 3rd row and I sat down and basically looked crazy because I was crying to myself. But, if you know me, you know how much I love this show. It was just surreal to finally be seeing it after being in love with it for like 2 1/2 years. So when Marissa entered for the first time since I got there, I was like... holy. shit. It was just incredible. As my mom came in and sat down next to me, the song "Welcome To The 60s" started which is a total show stopping number. The two of us were just so thrilled that we actually got there and only missed like a half of the first act.
At intermission, my mom said "Let's go to the ticket window outside to see about tickets for tonight's show - you gotta see the whole thing!" So we went and turns out we could still get seats for the evening performance... the very very last show! The tickets we got were actually pretty good - about 20 rows back and off to the right a bit.
After that, we went back in and watched the second half. Of course, it was just freakin incredible. At the very end, after all of the bows and repeats of "You Can't Stop The Beat" my mom and I remembered that we could go wait by the stage door and see who comes out. So we go out there and waited around with a bunch of other people. I was thinking that nobody was really going to come out since they had another show in just a few hours, but...
The incredibly hot incredibly talented guy who played Link, Austin Miller, came right out!! He was so way nice and stopped to sign everyone's programs (all of them did actually!). Then Troy Britton Johnson (Corny Collins) came out, and Natalie Hill (Shelly), Kianna Underwood (Little Inez - she's only 10 and SO adorable!), Susan Cella (Velma), and Terron Brooks (Seaweed). They were all soooo incredibly nice. So we waited around a bit longer to see if Marissa Jaret Winokur (Tracy) or Bruce Vilanch (Edna) would come out. Someone asked one of the cast members about Marissa, and they said that she stays at the theatre between shows to rest so she wouldn't be coming out. But THEN, Bruce Vilanch came out!! He's so freakin hilarious. Everybody loved him!
So by then it's about 5:00. My mom and I have 3 hours till the next show... so we called my Aunt Sandy who lives pretty close to the Pantages and she gave us directions to her house from where we were. We got there in only like 15 minutes. We had an awesome dinner at her place, and then headed back around 7:00. Waiting for the show to start seemed to take forever - I was so excited to see the numbers we missed!
I basically sang along the entire time because I was sooo happy to be seeing it again, for a total of 1 2/3 times! :) By the closing number, a lot of the cast members were crying, espcially Marissa. It was really awesome to be able to see her very last show as Tracy. After an awesome closing number and a huuuugely long standing ovation for Marissa, my mom and I decided to be nerds and go to the stage door again. :) We basically got to meet everyone again, but this time we had a camera (borrowed one from my Aunt). The flash wasn't working so we're hoping they'll still come out, but I think they will! So I took a picture (I'll post them when I get them developed!!) with Austin Miller (Link), Troy Britton Johnson (Corny), Joran Ballard (Amber), and Todd Sussman (Wilbur). You could see who the really hard core "Hairspray" fans were, because there were like 10 or 15 of us left, still waiting to see if Marissa would come out. And finally... she did! She's so unbelievably nice (and really pretty too!). So I talked to her for a minute, and told her that I really admire everything she's been through (she had cancer, but still continued doing the show) and that she just did such an incredible job. She was just sooo nice and signed my program and we took a couple pictures. That made everything from the day worth it. :)
So as I sit here in my pajama shorts and new "Hairspray" shirt with both of my signed programs on the table next to me, I just can't help but think how incredible it is that after listening to the CD since it first opened in 2002, I finally got to see it (1 2/3 times!) and meet this incredible cast, especially Marissa. On her last night ever.
*JO*