Picking up from yesterday,
All show long, Eric was painting us these really vivid pictures of himself dressing up in tights and elaborate costumes. Finally, for the final song, he came out dressed as Freddie Mercury. And it was awesome!
He slinked all around the stage, and walked down stairs into the audience. He said, “I’ve been warning you all night!”
He elaborated on that thought, stopping literally right in front of my chair when he said the old stage adage, “Don’t pull out a gun onstage if you’re not willing to use it.”
Then he said “pow,” as he did this thing with his microphone stand.
In fact, I posted a gif of that on tumblr.
When the show was over, the applause was thunderous. He got a seemingly never-ending standing ovation. The crowd was shouting for another song. He delivered, giving us an encore.
He ended the show on a really sweet note. He said Stand Up 2 Cancer (where the proceeds from the show were going) wasn’t an arbitrary charity for him.
He told us he’d lost both of his parents to cancer. He’d talked earlier in the show about how thankful he’d been that his parents were so supportive of him and his career choice. He even threw in a funny story about his dad.
By the end of the night, I felt like I practically knew his parents. Then, in a sentence they were gone. He really took us on a ride, and made us care so much about the characters in his life.
Then he did a final beautiful song (which I have lamely forgotten the name of). But he dedicated it to his parents for allowing him to become who he wanted to be, and to his wife and son for making him the man he is today. It was very sweet.
Again, thunderous applause. I think we were ready to watch him perform for another hour. Some people can just perform. They are just captivating. He’s one of those people.
After the show, as I was milling about waiting for him to greet his fans in the lobby, I overheard a bunch of people talking who all seemed to work with him in one way or another.
What was lovely to hear was that people who’d known him forever spoke very highly and lovingly of him, even when he wasn’t in the room. In a town full of people who never say the same thing behind your back as they do to your face, that’s really saying something.
And soon, I’ll talk about meeting him!