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I talked about how I got a last-minute discount through Playbill.com on another page of mine. It was for the Saturday show, at 10 pm, on March 8, 2003.
The evening started off auspiciously enough. I went downstairs to the green room before the show, my nose guiding me. You see, I had smelt food that the cast members had probably ordered between the 8 pm show, and before they started their 10 pm show. Sure enough, there was a big spread on their table. The cast was crowded in front of their TV, busy watching something and eating their dinner at the same time. I asked for Charles Busch, and he came over. He thanked me for the letter I had given him the last time. That had been an unashamedly hero-worshipping fan letter. I had mentioned several pre-Code ladies in that letter, including some obscure ones like Helen Mack, who, by the way, I remember quite well from a film I saw at the Film Forum. Charles was probably surprised that I brought up someone as obscure as her in my letter, for he mentioned her by name yesterday evening. I had to laugh when he mentioned Helen Mack whom I had mentioned in my letter. He also said that I didn't miss any classic film references in the play. He was right about that one! Anyway, I was glad to know that he had liked my letter(s). He also promised to check out this website. We'll see when that happens. I enjoyed the show tremendously. I was scribbling furiously during the show, writing down the lines, so that I didn't forget them or misquote them. I'll probably be living with the lines for the next few weeks. The old man sitting next to me looked at me suspiciously through the corner of his eye, when he saw me taking notes throughout the play. Perhaps he thought I was a critic. I bet the audience behind me must have been wondering why my shoulders were shaking constantly and I kept looking down at my lap. That's because I was writing furiously, as the lines came one after the other, extremely quickly, and my little notebook was on my lap! Several funny things happened during this production. When you've seen a play six times, you notice how things change from production to production. The first thing that happened was when B D Wong made his entrance as General Gong Fei. His whip refused to crack. The audience laughed, and he feigned an annoyed expression, and tried to crack it at least three more times, but the whip remained stubborn. The audience was amused to see how he kept trying to make it crack. The second funny thing that happened was when somebody in the audience started talking loudly, making a row. I could see both Lady Sylvia and General Gong Fei look in that direction just for a split second because they were distracted. The third thing that amused the audience highly was when Lady Sylvia and Gong Fei had a particularly passionate moment, and some (or perhaps the correct expression is "quite a bit") of the kohl under Gong Fei's chin rubbed off on Lady Sylvia's lips. She had a black spot on her red lipstick, which was quite visible to even the back rows. That caused some giggling in the audience. Ah, what classic moments! What reason were I to see a show six times for, if not for moments like this! (And also if I got discounts...) After the show, I headed straight to the dressing room to meet up with Charles, for, perhaps what would be the last time in a while. I thanked him for all the fun moments he gave me through his portrayal of Lady Sylvia. I didn't need to tell him he was a genius; I had already gushed about that in my "fan letter", and also the other three times that I had met him. In the meantime, who should come and see him backstage but Bette Midler. I couldn't recognize her at first. A man came into the dressing room, and told Charles that there was someone to see him. I didn't guess it would be Ms. Midler. She seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight, and her hair was done differently from the way we usually get to see it. It was longer. She also didn't have much makeup on. It took me a while to realize that it was Bette Midler. She told Charles she hurried to see the show when she realized that it was closing Sunday, the next day. Bette, where have you been ? After saying my goodbyes to Charles, I headed back home. Bette and her friends were at the traffic light waiting for a cab. I walked up to her since I had to cross at the same point, and told her, "You're Bette Midler, aren't you ?" to which she replied in the affirmative. Of course I knew she was Ms. Midler, but what other opening line could I use ? I asked her how many times she had seen the show, and she said only once. I then told her that I had seen it SIX times, because I loved Charles in it, and I loved how it lampooned our classic films so lovingly. She was amazed. All in all, a fun evening.
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