Sir Patrick

What an amazing day!

Started the day with a play date that ND has asked for for ages.

Then at 1 I headed into the city alone for an extra special adventure. I went to see the second Broadway anything that I've ever seen, Life In The Theater. It's a Mamet play about two actors in the theater, one old and one young. As you see if you click on the link, the older actor starts as a mentor and then eventually becomes unhelpful and loses his skills as the younger starts to make a place for himself in the theater.

I didn't go because of Mamet. I went because it starred Patrick Stewart(sigh).

The play was fantastic. It was funny in parts. It was heartbreakingly sad too. And knowing that Patrick Stewart is now 70, I wondered and worried if this meant this is one of his last productions. There were a few moments when Sir Patrick was alone on stage and I just lost myself listening to him speak.

It was a closing night (day) performance, so the end was extra special. After the applause and bowing, Stewart and T. R. Knight (yeah, he's famous too, but he's not why I came) went out on stage and said they always get the applause, but they wanted to introduce everyone else worked on the production too to give them the recognition they deserved. They brought everyone out and Knight named each one of them including props people, dressers etc. The dressers got extra special applause because the play was filled with lightning fast and thorough costume changes as the actors pretended to act in all different plays. (Someone please help me out by identifying what the different plays were supposed to be. I'm sure there were in-jokes that I missed.)

Watching the two actors speaking for themselves so sincerely about being sad to end the production was so touching. Sir Patrick began to say one last thing, then became silently, and handed it over to Knight instead. He must have been too choked up. Oh! So beautiful!

I left the theater satisfied and thrilled to have given myself this treat, and glad that U. was perfectly happy to hang out with ND since he's never loved theater much and we didn't want to pay for a sitter. As I walked out, I started to soak in NY including the bicycle taxis waiting right outside.

Then I paid more attention when I suddenly realized I was about to walk around a barricade that hadn't been there before. I put the pieces together to realize that people were standing behind them to wait for the actors to come out.

I didn't have to think twice. No stress over getting back to get work down. No worry about it getting dark. No rush. I waited a full hour.

Spent the hour listening to theater lovers and a few trekkies one-upping all their star encounters. I waited and waited. It paid off.

I got both their autographs. The clip below of Sir Patrick includes a woman talking to him about... I'm not sure what. She's trying to endear herself to him by talking about England, I think. He's just got his mind on going home. It's my voice you hear thanking for the autograph. And when he looked up, he looked me right in the eye.

I wasn't the only person crying after such a ridiculous brush with fame. It was so sweet.

I stuck around to watch him get into his limo and I felt sad when I thought he looked very tired. It took me an hour to get home between walking the long blocks to my car and getting out of several traffic jams. The whole way I imagined what it must be like to be surrounded by people who think they know and love you and wondering who really goes home to.

When I got home I was so happy to see my own ND, felt lucky that that is my life.