Visits to you

I met Anthony Rapp today!

*hops up and down with as much energy as she can muster while dead tired with a full shift ahead of her*

It was really cool ... I got a front-row seat (what is it about me getting front-row seats to see celebrities all of a sudden?), and he took questions from the audience and answered two of mine (and looked me right in the eye the whole time ... and he has really nice eyes, btw). Things I learned:

-- His favorite parts of "Rent" are "La Vie Boheme" and the second act between "Without You" and the end.
-- His favorite Mark besides himself was Neil Patrick Harris.
-- His pre-show ritual consists of vocal warmups, stretches and a cup of tea.
-- Cameras are banned at shows for a reason: it's not just the flash that's distracting, it's also the little orange light on the front of the camera when you push the button down.
-- He doesn't have plans for a new album of regular pop music, but he's working on adapting his book into a show and that will have a soundtrack (which will also include "Always" and "Visits to You").

Overall, he was really cool, very nice and funny and personable, and when I got up to meet with him, he graciously signed both the book and his CD for me, and we chatted for a moment about the last time I'd seen the show (he'd mentioned during the Q&A that he'd done the show in London and it had mid-week matinees where nobody showed up, and I told him that I was at one of them -- "oh, neat, I don't think I've met anyone over here who's been to one of those," he said, "I guess you can back up my story, then").

I'm totally dead tired now, but it was worth it -- and I even got a few pictures, including some with me in them thanks to the nice people who had been sitting next to me, yay.