Catawba on Broadway

Shortly after learning that I would be moving to Washington, I got a message from an old college classmate of mine. It turns out that she lives in Anacortes, which is just north of where I live in Oak Harbor. In fact, its so close that Navy people stationed here live in both towns. I was quite excited about this information because 1. It was totally random - a girl from Virginia who went to college in North Carolina, somehow ended up in the random town of Anacortes, Washington with no connection to the Navy. 2. I didn't know a single person up here and I was not happy about moving here so knowing that an old college friend was here made me feel a little better about the move. After arriving here I saw her within the first 2 weeks that I was here. We went to dinner at a great restaurant in Anacortes (I would post the name but I can't remember it offhand) and then watched Michael Phelps take another gold medal in the Olympics. We've kept in touch but both of our schedules have been busy so we hadn't seen each other again until last night.

To make things even more random, we found out that another college friend of ours was performing in the Broadway touring production of Hairspray , which was going to be coming to Vancouver, British Columbia. Catawba may have been a small college, but we had an amazing, large, successful Theatre program which has sent several graduates onto Broadway, TV and movies over the years. Anthony Johnson, a 2005 Catawba graduate was playing the role of IQ in Hairspray. My friend in Anacortes asked me to go see the show with her, so last night we were on the road to Vancouver, British Columbia to support and cheer for a fellow alumni :-).

I am someone who has been a huge Broadway fan for many, many years. I grew up very close to New York City and my mom has taken me to see over 25 shows over the years. I was always a person you could find standing outside of the stage door, collecting autographs and pictures of the cast. I always read the cast bios inside of the Playbill because I like to see where everyone has come from and how they ended up on Broadway in the first place. Imagine our excitment when my friend and I read Anthony's biography and saw that he wrote that he was a graduate of Catawba College. The school is so small, so I imagine that anyone reading that will either glance over it without a second thought, or they will wonder "where in the world is Catawba College?" However, for my friend and I, it was exciting to both of us to see our alma mater mentioned in a Broadway playbill.

Its hard to describe the excitement of seeing someone that I actually know, performing on a stage that to me always seemed so intangible. Granted, the stage was in Vancouver, not New York City, but a Broadway touring cast is still Broadway, even if its been taken out of NYC. My friend and I were both so excited and proud of Anthony. All night she kept saying "I am sooo proud of him" with a huge smile on her face. I shared that excitement with her. When the show was over, we went to the stage door to say "hi" to Anthony. It was the first time that I ever stood at that door, knowing that I was friends with the person who was about to walk out the door. While we waited for him to come out, we watched a crowd of people gathering autographs and it made my friend and I both giddy and excited that we weren't just fans. We were actually friends. It was an odd feeling to be somewhat starstruck with a person that we knew, but we were. When he came out, we were greeted with huge hugs and a kiss on the cheek and a grateful "thank you so much for coming!" He told us that it was exciting to be on the stage knowing that friends of his were out in the audience watching him. He also told us that we were his first friends to see him in this particular production. Between our excitement, giddyness, and being stupidly starstruck, we were equally happy to know that we were the first to see him in this role, and that he seemed genuinely happy to see us there.

Unfortunately, we didn't get much time with him, since we had to get back on the road to Washington, and he had to head off with the rest of the cast. The show is moving onto several other places in Canada, and many cities across the United States. I strongly urge anyone who has even a slight interest in musical theatre to go out and support Anthony, and say hi to him at the end of the show at the stage door. His role in the show may be small, but he is a talented, down to earth young man who I truly believe will go far in his acting career. When he's big and famous one day, I will be able to say "I went to college with him. I knew him back then."

So to close, I just wanted to say to Anthony, "Congratulations! You were amazing!" once again. I'm sad to say that today is the last day of the show in Vancouver, because I would have loved to have seen it again. Meanwhile, please check out the tour website and Anthony's YouTube page and please show your support and encouragement to this talented person!
Anthony Johnson - You Tube
Hairspray on Tour