Harry Potter Take 2

Today is going to be a busy day so I will make this quick, and then post more details when I get back to Washington in a week. Tomorrow we leave for Louisiana where the only internet access I'll have will be via my cell phone. It has a full keyboard but its still annoying to type on so I doubt I'll update this much, if at all.

Soooo...Yesterday we went back to New York, back to the TKTS booth, and purchased half price tickets to see Equus again. We knew the routine with the autograph session this time around, so the second the play ended, we bolted out the door to be one of the first people allowed into the baricade outside. This time around was a little annoying because it seemed like every high school girl in the world was there last night. I guess on Thursday night we saw a more adult crowd, but this time around, on a Saturday night, all the children were out. So we made it to the baricade, showed our tickets, had them signed off by the security guard and then planted ourselves right at the front of the baricade. I was impressed with my own ability to push back on the people who were trying to push to get to the front of the crowd. Even with ice on the ground, I managed to plant my feet steadily and ignore every screaming high school girl around me, while holding onto the baricade for dear life.

First out of the stage door was Richard Griffiths who played the psychologist in Equus. He may also be known to you as Uncle Vernon from the Harry Potter movies. We were able to get his autograph on Thursday night but I didn't realize who he was until we looked him up once getting home. His bio in the Equus playbill says that he was also in all of the Harry Potter movies, and now that I know he was Uncle Vernon, I feel stupid for not realizing that in the first place since he looks just like him! Anyway, we got his autograph again and took some pictures and then he was whisked away into his waiting car.

Next out of the stage door - Daniel Radcliffe!!! The security guards outside kept yelling warnings to the crowd at the baricade. They told us that the second people start pushing hard, the baricade will be removed, Daniel will be thrown into the waiting car, and no one would get autographs. Based on the insanity of the people at the show last night, I am surprised that we managed to get autographs because no one seemed to want to listen to the "no pushing" rule. Thanks to myself and a few others at the front of the baricade, we managed to steady it each time it lurched forward. No one was trampled, and I got my Daniel Radcliffe autograph, plus a short conversation consisting of:
me: "Thank you so much!" (after he signed my Playbill)
him: "Oh you're welcome!"

Yes, I may not be a screaming insane high school girl, but I do still manage to get starstruck and lose the ability to speak whenever I meet someone famous.

Mr. V did better with the conversation part. His conversation went something like:
Mr. V: "We really love the play."
D.R. "Oh thank you so much!"
Mr. V: "Yeah this is the second time we've seen it."
D.R. "Oh? Wow thats great! Thanks!"
Mr. "Yep we were here 2 nights ago and you did an amazing job."
D.R. "Well thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!"

Then he went off to the screaming girls next to us who proceded to converse with him in what I find to be the most annoying way: "Oh. My. Gawd. I like, LOVE you! OH MY GOD, can I give you a high 5?" (Daniel gives her a high 5) and she shrieks "EEEEEE You're awesome!"

I give him major props for walking out of that stage door with a smile on his face every night. We were able to see him and take pictures the first time we were there, but since we were at the front of the crowd this time, I was very surprised and happy to see that he does talk to everyone out there and he seems genuinely happy that people want to see him. He didn't say a whole lot (mainly a bunch of "thank yous"), but he did respond to everything people said to him and I think thats pretty nice of him, considering the attitude of some famous actors out there.

I really want to post pictures, but once again, I'm at my dad's house and I'm trying to not be irritated about the fact that his computer is ancient and I can't plug my memory card into it, and I forgot the camera connection wire in Washington. I promise that when I get back to Washington in a week, I'll post pictures. I'll also post the 2 second video that we accidently took of him. Mr. V pressed the wrong button on the camera, and the result was a short video. After seeing that, I wished we had taken more video because you can really see him interacting with people in it. At least we have 2 seconds though :-).

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season!! I'll post more in a little over a week!