Long Awaited Daniel Radcliffe Pictures

I'm really bad about writing things in order as they happen, and about remembering to write about things in general. If you remember reading a few weeks ago that I was able to meet Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) and get his autograph,after seeing him on Broadway in Equus, then you also remember that I promised pictures! So for your viewing pleasure, here are a few of the best pictures that I have:

(walking out of the stage door of the Broadhurst Theatre)


(that's my hair in the right side of the picture)

(This is actually him signing my Playbill. Not the best picture, but it was hard with so many people and so much security. You can see his hat though, as he was looking down and signing it for me :-).)

(high fiving one of the super obnoxious high school girls next to us)

(Richard Griffiths - aka Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter movies)

So I have to admit that I'm still a little starstruck about meeting him. Is it ok to be starstruck about a guy who's about 9 years younger than me?

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!

Harry Potter, Horses, and Snow

Yesterday was a very exciting day. I grew up going to Broadway shows all the time. I used to see at least one show every 2 months or so. Since leaving New Jersey, my Broadway trips have been few and far between, so when I do come back home I always make a point of going to see a show in New York City.

A little over a year ago (or maybe more) I heard that Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter, was starring in the London revival of Equus. Equus is a strange play. I encourage you to click on the link to find out more about it, but in short, the play is about a disturbed 17 year old boy, who has sexual fantasies about horses (and acts some of them out), which leads him to blind 7 horses with a pick, which causes him to end up in a mental hospital. Disturbing? Yes. Good? Amazing! I took a Contemporary Theatre class during my first year of college and we had read Equus in the class. So I was pretty darn excited when I found out over the summer that Equus would be leaving London, and opening on Broadway here in New York. Daniel Radcliffe would be coming here with the production to continue his role as Alan Strang.

When Mr. V and I heard that Daniel Radcliffe would be on Broadway in New York, we decided to see the show if we had a chance to. So yesterday we headed off to NYC, stopped at the TKTS booth where we bought half price tickets to the show, then sat in the 10th row (amazing seats!) and watched the play.

Both of us are huge Harry Potter fans, and while I understand that Daniel was preforming in this role to show that he can be someone other than Harry Potter, it still excited me to see "Harry Potter" live on stage. He is an amazing actor and even though I love the way he acts in the Harry Potter movies, I was still surprised to see how well he portrayed this disturbed young man in the play. The show has gotten very good reviews in both London and New York, and I have to agree with those reviews.

This play is definitely NOT for people looking to see Harry Potter. There is nothing cute about the play. Its a deeply disturbing story, which ends with a 10 minute scene of a naked Daniel Radcliffe. And yes, I have to admit I was very excited to see that part of the play. I realize I'm 27 years old and he is 19 (or is he 20 now?), but I still think he's pretty hot, so disturbing or not, seeing "Harry Potter" naked on stage was something not many people can say they have seen :-).

After the show we went outside to see if we could get an autograph and a picture. Thankfully, I insisted on racing out of the theatre to be at the stage door before the large crowd appeared. I have never in my life seen so much security for an actor on Broadway. I've stood at many stage doors and gotten many autographs and nothing even comes close to the security for the young Harry Potter star. A security guard outside checked ticket stubs to make sure we had seen the play on that very day and time. Then he checked off the stubs, and ushered us into a small barricaded area. Unfortunately, the area was small, so not everyone was able to get into it, and a small force of security guards and police officers ordered everyone else off of the street. We managed to get into the barricaded area, so we were there when he came outside to sign autographs. We got a few decent pictures of him, but were unable to get an autograph. He was ushered through the crowd into a car that was conveniently blocking any access to the stage door within minutes. He did sign autographs for the people he could reach, before his security team whisked him away.If we had been standing at the front of the barricade we would have easily gotten an autograph but we were blocked by a few people and couldn't reach through. However, the pictures we got make up for that. (Don't even get me started on the people who came to watch the play, then had Harry Potter books and pictures for him to sign. I personally found that rude since he was trying to break out of the Harry Potter role. I know a lot of people saw him because of Harry Potter, but to me it seemed insulting to have him autograph something for a show that he wasn't currently in. I would think he would want praise and excitement about Equus right now, not Harry Potter.)

Since I am clearly a pathetic obsessed fan, Mr. V and I are going to go back to New York tomorrow to buy cheap tickets for the show again. Now that we know how the barricade/autograph session works, we are convinced that we can get outside in time to get to the front of the barricade, and I think the price is worth it.

I am currently at my dad's house in New Jersey and his computer doesn't have a spot where I can plug in my camera's memory card, and we didn't bring the connection wire with us to do it, so pictures are going to have to wait until we get back to Washington in a little over a week.

Meanwhile, I keep getting emails and phone calls from friends that are still in Washington about all the snow that is there! I can't believe I'm home in a state where it does snow, and all I am seeing is rain. Yet in Oak Harbor, where it rarely snows, the street leading to my house is closed off, 8 inches of snow is in the yard and my petsitter took a bus to my house, then got stranded at my house overnight when the Whidbey busses stopped running.

I have to admit that I am pretty disappointed that I'm missing all of that snow. Mr. V is even more upset and has been following the Oak Harbor news since we've left. He's pretty upset to know that even more snow is supposed to be coming in the next few days, but by the time we get back it should all be melted.

In my opinion, seeing Daniel Radcliffe naked is 10 times better than seeing snow, but I do hope that some people who are still in Oak Harbor are taking pictures so I can see what it looks like! Apparently, the small amount of snow that I was excited about a few days before we left is nothing compared to whats there now.

On a completely random side note, while watching Equus last night it occurred to me that Mr. V will be deployed when the new Harry Potter movie comes out. Anyone feel like seeing it with me? :-)