Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have some of the sweetest, most talented friends around? When I come to New York, it reminds me of high school – theater, theater, theater all the time!
Tonight, I had the pleasure of seeing my friend James in Memphis. I went into the show basically knowing nothing about it.
It rocked! Adam Pascal was very different from anything I’d seen him in before (which was pretty much Rent and Rent. (onstage and on-screen). So what did I know? He was believable, sweet, charming, and lovely as Huey.
Montego Glover is crazy talented. I’m pretty sure that goes without saying. This cast also had Derrick Baskin, y’all! (Original cast member in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee!) I’m gonna have to stop listing talented people. We’d be here all day. Suffice it to say, they have a stellar cast.
When James came onstage in the first big song and dance number, he gave me a little wink. Ah! How special and cool, right? In the second act, he has a big number of his own, and he BROUGHT THE HOUSE DOWN! You should see this boy dancing and jumping (basically flying, the way he jumps). Everybody (including me, for sure) went nuts.
[Edited to add: The world found his awesomeness. In 2014, he won a Tony for his performance as the Genie in Aladdin.]
What a fun show! At the end, the audience was up, out of their seats, dancing.
After the show, I met James at the stage door. After he was finished signing autographs for all the lovely, excited fans, he said, “Come on,” and he brought me backstage. What, what? I know. Celebrity treatment, right?
We went and hung out on the stage and talked. (Yep. That’s right. Just chillin’ on a Broadway stage. No big.) He is such a sweetheart! It felt as though we hadn’t talked in forever. But he’d kept tabs on me a little through social media.
In my dream world we’d all have time for everyone all the time. But since that’s not how it is, I thought it was nice that he cared about what I was up to, and sort of kept a little pulse on my life. He asked me a bunch of great questions, and is an amazing listener.
Within 3 minutes, he made me feel amazing about myself. He’s inspiring, and full of compliments. I want to carry him around in my pocket so I can always be dreaming, and always thinking I’m great and capable of everything.
Eventually, the time came when it was time for him to meet his family. I sadly said goodbye and went out the stage door.
As I opened the stage door, a large group of people waiting there cheered loudly. I think that before they saw me, they may have thought that I was Adam Pascal. I had a small desire to try to pretend that I was in the chorus, grab some sharpies, and get to signing those Playbills. Instead, I came clean that I wasn’t in the show, but that I really appreciated the applause, nonetheless.
The fun crowd and I were just beginning to laugh and talk and be friends when an actual actor in Memphis came out, so I quickly exited the area and let them have their moment.
I don’t know if you remember, but when Memphis won the Tony, there was all this complaining about it from random places (you know…mainly the internet). I heard often that Memphis wasn’t all that special. Going by other people’s attitudes and such, if James weren’t in it, I probably wouldn’t have checked it out. And I would’ve missed out on something great. I’m pretty sure it was my favorite thing I saw all week (and I saw 5 other shows (which you will hear all about soon)).
I guess what I’m saying is, Memphis is awesome. Go see it. And people don’t always know what they’re talking about. Except me. I do know that it’s awesome. So, go see it.
Coming up tomorrow, it’s time to get back in race mode with the NC Half Marathon Expo.