#waitress broadway

I saw Waitress 3 times when it was originally on Broadway. So when I heard it was coming back for a limited run, I knew I had to see it at some point. This is the first Broadway show I’ve sat in the front row for, and it was awesome seeing the show unobstructed by other people’s heads. I’ve seen several casts, and this one was probably my favorite. It was nice to see Joshua Henry return to Broadway in this. And Ciara Renée is just incredible. Watching someone from my hometown being so successful in her own career really inspired me. I laughed, I cried, I ate some pie. The diner’s closing on January 9th. If you can, I’d highly recommend going to see this incredible cast.

“MY SKIRTTTT”
“YOU PROBABLY TOUCHED MY BUM”
Omfg I’m dying at this when Drew picked Betsy up and her skirt went flying

So there’s all this promo stuff and parade with Jason and I can help but be sad about it all because of course it all happens when Drew is gone… :((( it’s his last week and I’m just super sad. Can anyone ask him at stage door, if he’ll be back in 10 weeks, if not what he’ll be doing next? I need answerrrrs

So I saw Betsy and Drew last night, they were of course fantastic. My third round and I’m glad it was these two, they were bloody amazing together. There’s just something magical that Betsy and Drew bring on stage and I just love th e little things too like their long pauses, their UST is crazyy, the way he rubs her back during dear baby, their make outs are so passionate lol (you just see it so much more intense in the third row) and just about everything..when theres a genuine connection on stage it just translates. (Omg when they did Bad Idea last night…holy shit I almost died, I thought he was gonna rip her dress open when he spreaded her legs)

So yeah I’m really glad I caught the act again, I hope Drew comes back in ten weeks, perhaps to close with Betsy next year. Would give anything to see them perform again.

We need to talk about social media friendships with performers and what is appropriate.

This is not about the Alice Ripley situation, nor is it about any performer that fans feel has messed up either in regards to a serious attitude problem, a careless comment, or an advocacy issue. This isn’t even about how fans react to those situations (that’s a conversation for another time).

Some actors are friendlier than others and will engage more with fans, and that’s truly wonderful as long as everyone is appropriate. This means that unless the actor knows the fan personally (they went to camp/school together, they are a family friend, the actor met them through Big Brother/Big Sister, etc.) the actor is not taking them out for solo meals or bringing them back to their dressing room or being physically affectionate. This means that the fan, while supporting the actor in as much of their career as they can afford (coming to see their shows, taking classes with them online or at BDC, buying their books if they write them), isn’t filling up the actor’s DMs using them as free therapy or following them home or contacting everyone the actor follows on Instagram and asking for contact information for the actor.

I am friends with a small handful of Broadway/tour actors, and at one point or another was FB friends with all of them (some have deactivated their accounts).

Of these:

Three Broadway actors are friends of mine from high school
One tour actor is a friend of mine from summer camp
Six or so tour actors are friends of mine from my comedy community
One Broadway actor is a friend of mine from my comedy community

Of these:

All my high school friends who are Broadway actors are either currently performing in a show, or will begin in a few days (their show has been open for some time, but they are replacing a lead who is going to do something else)

My summer camp friend is not currently employed in the theater industry (he seems at peace with it, but it’s bumming me out because he’s incredible and I miss him)

One of my tour actor comedy friends is currently touring, the others are not (some have left performing, others are looking for the next gig)

My Broadway comedy friend has two shows in the next week (both of which I am seeing), but he is not currently in a Broadway show or a tour

My Broadway comedy friend is one of the nicest people I know. Because I have an extremely limited income, I have not actually been able to see him in anything on Broadway, and this goes for basically all the other professionals I met through this comedy community (although, in their cases, it was more that they had their tours before I met them and their tours did not come through where I was living before I returned to NY, or they went on tour AFTER I met them through our comedy community). He was in a beloved (by fans, at least) Broadway show a few years ago, involved with it at most of if not all the early incarnations of it, and performed in it for its entire run. When it was turned into a film, he was not cast, but he was not alone in that (also, the director is a dick). The show is now going on tour, and again he was not cast. While his casting would be a loss for our comedy community, we love him as a person and wish him all the success in the world, and getting cast in a tour is a huge success we all would have celebrated.

“Why is she talking so much about him?” you ask. Well, because since he is one of those kind and giving people who wants fans to feel connected to Broadway and his work, he often will accept fans’ friend requests on social media. I have not heard any horror stories yet, so I firmly believe he is one of the people who is keeping it all above board. That being said, news about his career or the shows he has been involved in is regularly available by a Google Alert or through following Playbill or BroadwayWorld or, you know, he will announce it.

Despite it being very public knowledge that he would not be appearing in the film version of his latest Broadway show, he has a handful of fans who post about the film every time they watch it (especially now that it has become available on streaming services) and tag him EVERY TIME. Despite the official social media accounts for the show announcing the tour cast, he still has people publicly posting on his page telling him to “PLEASE TELL ME YOU’RE INVOLVED.” As someone who was literally there the day he found out (I wasn’t there the moment he found out, but I saw him later that day) he wasn’t involved, I can’t imagine it feels too good opening up your browser to see a reminder from someone who didn’t want to do ten seconds of research on Twitter about something you won’t be doing or were not asked to do in the past.

TL;DR– if an actor does not announce something, it is for one of two reasons: either they are involved in something but are not at liberty to say yet (and so they almost certainly will not be announcing this news in a Facebook comment to someone they’ve met twice and could not pick out of a crowd), or they are not involved in the thing.

is amazing anyway is there a bootleg with her as Jenna because I feel like I & the world need to see it :)

I have a few things to trade