Hi Everyone,
I gotta warn that this is a rather long post! But I've no doubt that y'all would like to know what happened on a VERY eventful night. Please do try to read it all, because I promise you there's stuff you don't want to miss out on - fully reported by me below.
Yeah so, just as I had promised myself - Yesterday(Sat. 29 May '04) at 8pm, I was sat once again in the beautiful Theatre Royal Haymarket waiting for the curtains to go up on what was to be Alyson Hannigan's last stage performance of 'When Harry Met Sally' - i.e before the new cast takes over on 2nd June....
(Um, BTW... I made sure not to sit beneath the infamous chandelier - which thank goodness did not succumb to gravity this time!)
This was my 4th time to see the show and I was reduced to tears of both laughter and sadness. Laughter because well Hello! It's a comedy & it was graced with wonderful, hilarious, sexy, comedic Aly talent
- and sadness because it was the last time I'll see Aly on that particular stage.
I was so thrilled by the wonderful improvements, though minor ones, they had made to the show - I watched the 1st ever 'preview' show and then the 'official' opening night followed by another on 4th March - and now almost 3 months later(i.e. yesterday) I was even more entertained!! The experience held an added edge for me because to my delight, last week, Channel 4 here in the UK showed the film version of 'When Harry Met Sally' and I could do a compare and contrast thingy... no surprises that I loved the stage version more!!
Aly was awesome!! So was Luke and the entire cast. There was a fantastic moment when one of the props (A James Brown doll, singing 'I feel good' and dancing) - did the unexpected... it was supposed to stop singing and dancing when a button was pushed... but instead it only stopped singing and continued a silent dance!!
God it was SOOO funny - Aly and the rest of the cast started laughing - as did 'we' the audience - but the guy playing Harry's friend did a cool 'ad lib' and then he(& others) just moved on seamlessly without fluffing any of their real lines which followed. They got thunderous applause from the audience for that!
In fact it was a particularly great audience, which added to my enjoyment of the night - and which is also nothing short of what Aly and all the actors deserve for all their hard work day in day out. I was particularly pleased 'cos it was Aly's last night and the house was packed with a fun participating audience - an audience that laughed unabashedly through all the funny bits AND applauded thunderously when necessary e.g. when Aly gave me goosebumps & shivers yet again doing THAT scene in the diner - OMG!!! that woman has mega talent and is SOOO hot to boot!!
Ahem, moving on... At the end of the show I'm not ashamed to say I was reduced to happy/emotional tears of... of.. erm, I don't know - ya know? I mean it's Aly! I'm going to miss seeing her on stage and miss just knowing she is here in the UK sorta breathing the same air I breathe LOL
(What a pity Alexis had to cancel his attendance of the SFX Sci-Fi show due next weekend 4-6 June ALSO in London - Aly coulda maybe made an appearance just as Alexis has done for her stage show. If anyone is interested SFX is organised by London Expo i.e. the Event Amber couldn't attend... if you're interested the SFX info can be got from links at the same London Expo website....)
NOW back to Alyson - the encore at the end of the night was the best I've ever witnessed - even before the cast started arriving back on stage to take their bows, the applause was deafening AND CONSTANT. I mean it! - I think we all musta blistered our palms from all that intense clapping - and there were loud whistles and enthusiatic screams of appreciation particularly when the stars of the show (Aly & Luke) were taking there bows and waving to us. It was super!! Also, it being Aly/Luke's last night - after several encores the director(I'm guessing he comes close even if not actually THE director) also joined on stage to take a bow with all the cast AND THEN he presented Aly with a totally beautiful and huge bouquet of red flowers, then he presented Luke with what looked like a box of some kind of expensive whisky probably.... then the immediate supporting cast members that played the best friends(i.e. Sharon Small & Jack Broeder) got a bouquet of flowers and a box of whisky respectively. Sharon's bouquet was equally lovely, though a wee bit smaller than Aly's and the flowers were mostly pink ones... Jack got the same as Luke. (A little comic moment occurred when Luke almost reached out for Sharon's flowers thinking they were heading his way also, seeing as Sharon was on his other side...)
It was when Aly got her flowers that I think I started to well up with emotional tears stinging my eyes, particularly because she looked so happy at the love she was getting from us!! All of them on the stage just oozed joy and camaraderie and she and Luke even hugged and shared a peck which of course made the screams and applause even louder! - it was just a happy time and lots more hugs were shared amongst the cast and the director when he arrived. *Sigh* Great times, great times and best of all great Aly moment to add to those I will cherish always.
BUT there is more!! - As soon as the lights came on, what do you think I did? - I high-tailed it to the stage door of course!!(thank God I had the presence of mind to book an aisle seat - it made for a faster getaway. Heh!) Anyway, you shoulda seen the crowd already at the stage door when I arrived there - it was something indeed, I even saw some guy - maybe the theatre's press photographer? - hanging out one of the upstairs windows to snap a picture of the crowd.
Anyway - seeing as I had already met Aly twice before and gotten her autograph(s) and pictures taken with her - I was only there to deliver a copy of a letter I had written to her. I say copy because I had posted same letter to her c/o the theatre way back in March. But since I had no way of confirming she had received it - I decided to give it to her personally this time....
Wrongly or rightly I was feeling a bit smug with myself because I felt totally unflustered in my knowledge that I wouldn't need to join the crush of people wanting autographs. Yay! So instead I planted myself next to Aly's car
and waited.
Before Aly and Luke came out, one of the body guards asked for all under-16's to come closer to the stage door - apparently Aly in her 'wonderfulness' was going to make special effort for the younger fans.
Unfortunately - there was this weirdo of a person in the crowd - an immaturely behaved young woman(I estimate her age as mid-20s) who was at intervals shouting out stupidly - things like 'Aly please...', 'Aly I swear I love you...', 'Aly please I love you...' and then when the guy said about under-16s getting special treatment the freaky weirdo started up with more LOUD stuff like 'Aly please, I swear I'm 10...' or 'I've just turned 16...'
God what a moron!! No one found it funny at all, except the equally silly guy she was with who had this moronic laugh that frankly grated on my nerves... Normally I would have just blanked her out of my mind - but to my annoyance when Luke and Aly eventually came out(to very enthusiastic applause and friendly calls of 'well done') she did not stop, but instead became louder saying the exact same things she had been saying before Aly appeared - then she increased her tempo about being 16 and such when she saw Aly was indeed only concentrating on the young fans at that time.
Luke was also signing for some other fans and I tried ignoring the loud weirdo and was content to take nice pictures of both Luke and Aly signing. Aly looked really beautiful and she was so sweet with the young ones and took pics with them too. I was reasonably close to Aly's group where I was stationed next to her car. Yay!
Then guess what happened? The bodyguards suddenly ushered Aly & Luke back inside! At this point a man in the crowd got really angry and said to the loud weirdo 'Excuse me could you please just shut up because you're spoiling it for everyone else!' - Then loud weirdo made some rude comments which I didn't quite catch... and the man kept a dignified silence(No point wasting time with a moron - I guess!).
Mind you, by this time(i.e. when Aly & Luke were hustled back inside) it was about 11p.m. and a very light drizzle had started to fall. Luckily the drizzle stopped as we waited and waited and waited.... Some people left but there was still quite a crowd remaining AND most important I'm happy to say that that prat of a woman and her friend also left at some point - she had quietened down a bit after her exchange with the angry chap and probably after she noticed she was getting some killer glares when Aly went back in!!
Anyhow - almost an hour later Luke Perry was rushed out and straight into his car, not looking too happy he mumbled a 'sorry guys' or something as he entered. But once in the car he sorta responded to his fans who were blowing kisses etc. and saying funny affectionate stuff like 'take me with you' - eventually within minutes the crowd was asked to part(like the red sea) to allow his car through as he was driven off into the night - but not before his disgruntled driver had to come out to remove some traffic cones he'd trampled because he couldn't see them with the crush of people surrounding the car.... Um, and also as he was bending down to search for the cones - the angry driver growled a loudly muttered 'will you all get out of the bloody way!' in true British cursing style....
***Can you guys tell that I'm having fun reporting this amazing night to y'all? Well - I am you know? - What? - Yours... er, I mean Your friendly neighbourhood reporter on all things Aly-goodness induced!!***
MOVING ON - so, we diehard lovers of Aly, waited and then waited some more for Aly. By this time I and some other nice folk were right next to Aly's car standing and chatting with her own driver who in contrast was a very nice friendly unflappable chap. He even took some flowers some fans had for Aly and put them in the car, promising to make sure he told her it was from her fans and he even asked for their names and smiled when they said they'd attached a message with the flowers. Seeing that happen - well Duh! I'm not stupid, I wasted no time in politely asking for my letter to be included and I had the pleasure of watching the nice driver man place my letter on top of the flowers in the middle of the back seat right next to where Aly was gonna soon be.
Soon after that CAME THE BIGGIE of a SHOCK - the driver in a quiet voice told me and the 5 or 6 others standing with him next to Aly's car that Aly's Stalker was in the crowd!!! OMG!!! I was speechless. Now, what I don't know is if this is the same guy we read about some time ago that made his way into Aly's dressing room when she wasn't there... I'm saying this because the information the driver gave us was that about 2 weeks ago a stalker had entered Aly's dressing room and that Aly had luckily called security in time and that thankfully nothing had happened though Aly had received a terrible fright. Damn that stalker!
NATURALLY at this point one of 'us' few(I think it was one of the ladies who had flowers for Aly which the driver put in the car) he had told this to just had to ask the following question - if the stalker had been recognised in the crowd why hadn't security bundled him away?!! But the driver explained that they couldn't take the law into their own hands so to speak - seeing as the stalker guy was just standing in the crowd doing nothing but waiting like the rest of us... Yeah right - he was doing nothing this time...! To that I say
!! I mean damn that a**hole for daring to do that to sweet Aly - the poor girl. On about two occasions the driver commented that Aly was scared for her life and that he won't blame Aly if she did as Luke did and made a fast getaway...
I had been wondering what was going on when I noticed one or two of the bodyguard types taking phone calls on there mobile phones - even the driver took calls on a few occasions and each time he would make sure he stood out of earshot of anyone in the area. It was obviously a lot of communication to do with Aly's safety.
SO anyway - finally at about 10 mins past midnight one of the bodyguards came out and said something about he won't let Aly sign stuff if for whatever reason a certain female individual was around (those were his words and I guess he meant Miss Weirdo of the shouting nonsense fame!) - I think maybe some of the fans closest to him told him she had left(and not a moment too soon I have to add!). I also noticed he was scrutinizing the crowd in the direction the driver had told 'us few' that the stalker had been standing. Eventually seeming satisfied he went back inside and came out again about 5-ish minutes later to tell us that Aly was gonna sign stuff but that folks needed to behave in orderly manner(get there stuff signed and move away to allow the next person a chance etc.) or he would call a halt to things - luckily all that waiting had knocked sense into all those who might have thought to misbehave - and I'm happy to report that indeed people behaved fantastically well for the rest of the night and followed instructions...
About 5 minutes before Aly finally came back out the driver told 'us few' who were still standing by the car, that the stalker had left. It's good to know that even stalker a**holes who have a twisted and probably overrated sense of their own importance - know when they are not wanted!!!
At about 20 mins past midnight Aly came out looking totally beautiful - she was full of smiles and was chatting and signing and taken photos with her true fans. I heard her say lots of thank yous to all the compliments she was getting in that sweet soft spoken way she has about her. I was taking pictures the whole time as she edged through the throng signing, talking and smiling the whole time.
As Aly got closer to her car - guess what? - well, I happened to glance up - and who did I see? It was Alexis!! I couldn't believe my eyes!! Hehe, thank God my camera has a zoom lens - I was thus still able to take close-up pictures of him signing for a spill-over of fans, even though he was quite a good distance away from where Aly was doing her own signing - NO WAY in hell was I gonna leave my position by Aly's car when she was edging closer to it and me
So anyway, my dream came true and Aly called a very polite halt to the proceedings by calling out sweetly a 'thank you guys' and walking to her car still surrounded by adoring fans - I got a last cool pic of her (very close-up this time) and surprised myself by NOT feeling an iota of nerves as I said 'Hi Aly - this last show was awesome and we're gonna miss you!' then she said a cute 'Aw - thank you' and got in her car. Oh be still my heart! I got to speak to Aly again one last time! - I can't wait for other opportunities to meet her again now.... She is such a sweetie & hottie & I could go on and on singing her praises - as I'm sure you can understand.
I had hoped I'd be able to ask if she'd gotten the letter I posted to her c/o the theatre - but I figured she deserved to just be allowed to get in her car and go home with her hubby. Besides before I posted the letter I had phoned the theatre and they assured me she would receive the letter - I remember the guy I had spoken to had even chatted with me a while and said how nice Aly and Luke were and that he was quite sure they were the type to read all their fan mail! Yay!
PLUS - I had the added satisfaction of seeing Aly place her hand atop my letter and the flowers as she settled herself into the car. Also seeing as I'm quite the planning-ahead type, I had included a paper print of the photos Aly had snapped with me in both letters such that she'll hopefully remember me when she read my letter, and in the 2nd letter I made mention of how I had brought it along just in case she hadn't received the 1st one.
Oh! another thing - it was quite funny how one fan who had been concentrating on Aly the whole time screeched a loud & girly 'Oh my God!' when he (Yep - I said 'he') saw Alexis for the first time as he(Alexis) got in the car with his wife. It was SOOO funny that it made me and another chap(who had also been standing by the car while videotaping Aly!) burst into chuckles when we watched how the chap gaped at Alexis - and the clincher was the fact that Alexis didn't appear to notice. Um, BTW Alexis was all smiley and friendly with the fans and took pictures with them as well as signed stuff.
I'm thinking that maybe Alexis had been summoned over during our long wait - I mean considering the stalker issue and the fact that he was no where to be seen before... It's possible that could have been the case - i.e. him turning up to keep his honey feeling as safe as possible... Awww. Yep, I freely admit I'm a romantic softie - so sue me, or not....
BTW - Aly had been talking to one of her bodyguard types(I think) through the glass of her closed window, when Alexis walked up to enter the car. And rather than Alexis go round to the other side in which case he would have needed to navigate through yet more fans.... he got in on Aly's side - it was damn cute to watch Aly scoot over the middle arm rest(where the flowers and my letter lay) to make room for her husband. It was even cuter and touching to watch them share a quick kiss the moment he settled in and closed the car door. Aly looked so happy and I am so damned please for our lovable redhead - with the care and consideration she shows to others e.g. last night, she truly deserves the happiness she obviously seems to have found with Alexis.
As the throng of fans parted again like the red sea - this time very slowly I might add. I had time to take a few more photos while the couple were being chauffeured down the street. It was a very very touching scene. The car was practically being escorted down the street by all of us - and Aly, bless her looked kinda emotional too. The whole time she was turned round in her seat waving and smiling and saying bye to us as we all waved and said bye back.
I have never heard so many 'byes' and 'we love yous' shouted out in such manner - you could feel genuine love radiating out towards Aly(& Alexis) from everyone - and the icing on the cake for me was the genuine joy and response from Aly. She's just so wonderful - she wasn't just waving aimlessly but was making eye contact and really WAS moved to turn round and wave and call out to us for the longest time. The scene kinda reminded me of Olivia Newton-John at the ending of 'Grease' when she and John Travolta 'took off' in their car and she(Olivia) was slightly turned smiling/waving... of course in Aly's case her own car wasn't open-topped BUT she WAS also with her honey!
SO people - here almost endeth the ramble! Sorry this is extremely long - it's just that I was so moved - enough to want to share as much detail as possible and I found my fingers practically flew across my keyboard in my enthusiasm. I really hope you enjoyed my account of a VERY exciting and eventful night. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.....
Barring the less desirable aspects - it was definitely a night to remember. I'll surely remember and treasure the memory always. It was totally worth my getting home at 1.45am for - and that's a fact! Besides Monday is a holiday here - so my weekend is a long one. Yay!!
Here's to many more Aly and Amber memories for us to treasure always - they're queens of so many hearts and I love them both dearly.
That's all folks.
Take care all.
WFB
It´s good to hear that so many people appreciated this show. When I was there the entire crowd was very enthusiastic as well and they can´t all have been biased WT fans like me. The play was a hit and deservedly so. Up yours, snotty critics.
and 
Rulz 4 Ever