Day 2 – Can You Feel My Heart Saying Hi?
Day 2 was a blissful day of Autograph and Photobooth sessions, also known as ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE OUTSIDE! Ok, I might be over dramatic on that last one. Snowstorm Jonas hit us right in the face, leaving mountains of snow on the sidewalk. Seriously, we tried to go get food and it took us 20 minutes to reach a store two streets away from the Hilton Hotel entrance.
I started the day by a photo booth session with the lovely Jonathan Groff – I may have died of joy a little. He’s such a sweet person! He hugged everyone, and what really made me laugh is that he introduces himself to each person that goes up to him. So sweet!
And then I met the funny man, Rob McClure. I knew his work – the cast album of Chaplin is amazing by the way – but I didn’t really know much more about him. Well, I fell in love, you guys! Much like Groffsauce, he is the sweetest man.
I made little drawings for each people I was supposed to get an autograph from, cause it’s nicer than just have a playbill or a piece of blank paper for them to sign. He loved what I did so much that he took a picture of me with the drawing. It’s one of those moments when you’re like “IS THIS REAL LIFE?” He even tried to speak french! In love, I tell you!
After that hour of feeling all the feels, I got to the main stage just in time to catch the Fun Home panel. I had seen the show the 2 days prior, so I was very happy to have them all in front of me once again. They couldn’t all make it because of the snow, but it was nice of them to brave the elements and be here for us. The highlight being Joel Perez arriving late, dressed as Small Alison!
What was particularly interesting with this panel was Lisa Kron. She talked about diversity in theater writing, and the need for more women to write and compose musicals. I really look up to those women, like her and Jeanine Tesori, they are shaking things up on Broadway.
I got to meet a bunch of other Broadway performers that evening! I meet the Keenan-Bolger siblings, Celia, Andrew, and Maggie, who all were adorable human beings. I also got to take a picture with the queen herself, Lesli Margherita, former Mrs. Wormwood in Matilda. She’s such a funny lady!
Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of people were unable to come and had to cancel, which was a little disappointing. It was no one’s fault but the weather. But cancellation called for opportunity and impromptu panels and singalongs.
At one point, they just put random videos from Youtube, like Bigger, the 2013 Opening number from the Tony Awards, and everyone was just hopping on stage and singing. I’ve never felt like I belonged in a room more than at that moment. Those were my people, and our host Ben Cameron was our King!
We also had one “out of this world” hour, where the founders of BroadwayCon and some hosts, were calling legends for us. So we had Patti LuPone, Darren Criss, Betty Buckley, Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti, Stephen Trask, Ana Gasteyer, Idina Menzel, Norm Lewis, Joel Grey, and Jeremy Jordan on the phone and over skype. Yep, like it’s no big deal. We were all hysterical!
For the evening show, the amazing Krysta Rodriguez did a little concert, full of Smash, Joe Iconis, and various musicals songs. She did Safer from First Date, the first musical I saw on Broadway, and I might have been a crying mess at that point. It was a great night, and we even got free pizza. Thank you America, you and your enormous pizza that a family of four cannot finish! (Editor’s Note: You’re welcome, Margaux.)
Read all about my 3rd and final day on the next page!
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