2002-01-21 - 01:01
all the strange rock n' rollers (ii)

"When I think of all the people I have come upon in my travels, I have to think of all the people who have come upon me."
--Hedwig (John Cameron Mitchell)

Very Rocky, that. You just go up and ask people, and they ask people, and somewhere along the line someone makes it happen. It's why I knew when I booked my flight on Wednesday that by Friday I would have a place to stay, and I was right.

Anyway, as it turned out, we didn't need those people's help, as Julie got her stuff worked out and got a nice seat closer to the stage. Around then--well, actually, he must have shown up before then while I was backstage or something, but around then was when it registered that John Cameron Mitchell had shown up and was sitting with his peeps in a row flanked by cool-looking security guys in dark suits with earpieces and everything. It took me a second to spot him, which was something I observed happening to several people, because he's very unassuming, and he's also damn short.

But boy, is he a cutie.

I realized as Julie showed me her autographed CD that I had forgotten to bring any Hedwig memorabilia for John to sign. Damn. Then I remembered that in my backpack, as a change of clothes for the next day, I had one of my favorite t-shirts: White with a red outline picture of a fifties-style smiling male in a tie and in large, friendly red letters, the words "Sorry Girls, I'm Gay."

Yeah, I thought, it might be appropriate to have Hedwig sign that.

So I went and put it on over what I was wearing and located a sharpie and got in the geek line. The people in front of me departed and there was this mildly awful fangirl moment where I was standing basically in front of the guy but he hadn't noticed me, so I finally just said "Hi" or something, and once I had his attention, I explained that I forgot to bring any Hedwig-related memorabilia, so would he sign my t-shirt. He said sure, and then paused a second to look at it, clearly amused. "That's a great t-shirt." (That really made me disproportionately happy.) A couple people snapped pictures of him signing it, especially when he was done signing his name and was drawing a pair of lips above it, prompting the quote at the top of the previous entry. I gave my email address to one of the people taking pictures, who may actually have been one of the important behind-the-camera people from the movie, now that I think back on it, but hey.

Anyway. I went off backstage and showed off my souvenir a little. Then it was time for the costume contest, judged by John and a bunch of other people from the movie including the costume designer. Throughout all this, you could really tell that the people from the movie were flattered and a little amazed by the kind of dedication and love that people were putting into this. They ended up giving out a "creative" award (to two girls who dolled themselves up in liquid latex to look like scenes from the "Origin of Love" animation) and a "screen accurate" award (to a Hedwig and a Hansel who, the costume designer said, "put us to shame"). The organizer of the event gave John one of those fake Golden-Globe-looking awards ("John Cameron Mitchell, Internationally Ignored Song Stylist") in anticipation of the real one that we all hoped vainly he would win tonight. He was thrilled and deeply flattered and amused, and said he should carry it as he walked down the red carpet. (Did he? I didn't watch the show.)

I'm not certain, but counting now, I think John got at least three separate standing ovations from the crowd that night. Which adds up to basically every time he did anything. ^_^

Anyway. The movie did eventually start, after some nifty previews. All of the actors absolutely rocked. I was loving the Hedwigs, of whom there were only two and not the five estimated by Tracy last week (which was why several scenes weren't being performed, I imagine--to get the costume changes, you'd need about six Hedwigs). Special nod to Liz, our pitch-perfect Yitzhak, who was strutting around backstage in costume going, "God, I love this! I wish I had a fuckin' penis!"

I realized late in the game that I had no idea where I was supposed to stand for my brief appearance. I figured it should be stage right, but when the time came, I didn't think I'd be able to get around backstage in time, so I just dashed up onto stage left, which turned out to be wrong.[1] I caused mild inconvenience to the Hedwig for his next scene, but those observing in the audience said they couldn't tell there was any problem. I made myself slightly more useful by being backstage to help people change their clothes.

Hedwig is fascinating as an audience-participation show; it's a show that both does and doesn't lend itself to being done Rocky-style. The problem with just treating it like Rocky and shouting incessant lewd commentary is that Hedwig is actually a really good movie, with both humorous and serious elements, and it lends itself to some unexpectedly moving audience participation moments, as when "Origin of Love" started up and all 400-plus people started singing along. (It must have felt pretty good to be Mr. Mitchell right about then.)

Most people got that this movie was not Rocky, but some didn't. I'm hoping that if this becomes a regular thing, it'll work itself out. The more pessimistic scenario is that people won't let up with the inappropriately placed AP and the value of the movie will start to be lost. Of course, if the creator continues to make himself an occasional presence at these showings, that will probably help prod people in the right direction.

Hmm. You know, I think I've pretty much covered what I wanted to cover about the show itself. At the end, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself counted among the actors who got to get back up on stage at the end (and called up first, of course, since my part was the tiniest). That was a nice feeling. I really, really, really, really, really want to do this again, and get in on the ground floor this time so I can get at least a scene as Hedwig or Yitzhak. Although, of course, I would have been scared as fuck to do Hedwig on this particular night, with the original in the audience. (Technically speaking, as far as I know [and not counting misc. Rocky preshows], the people who played Hedwig on Friday were the first people ever to play that part other than John himself, since he originated it in the stage play.[2])

I think it's time for me to go to bed. Other things happened that weekend, but only the Hedwig show really wanted me to write an entry about it while it was clear-ish in my mind. I hope it was mildly interesting, and forgive my little fixation on a certain eminently approachable, witty, internationally ignored adorable little gay song stylist. See, while I was quite fond of Mr. Mitchell's work before, I only actually developed a schoolgirl crush on him *after* I met him. Usually it's the other way around with celebrities. Go figure. (Anyway, sorry girls, he's gay, and sorry boys, he's seeing someone.)

This entry had a really limited audience. Oh well. In all honesty, I've been remiss in writing here over the break because I've been writing fiction a lot instead, most of which has been fairly blah, but it has the advantage that I'm making it up as it goes along, not trying to recount something that actually happened in the rapidly-fading past. Maybe I'll share some of it here.[3]

[2] Edited on 1/21: I was mistaken about this; several others played Hedwig during the show's New York run alone, and the show has played in quite a few other places since.

[3] And maybe bats will fly out of my ass.

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