9/17/17 Show Notes (Closing Night)
okay… one last time, here we go! (again, apologies for the delay.)
-The line to get into the theatre was longer than ever. I guess that’s what closing night will do for you (it just frustrated me because that’s how the line should have been for the whole run, but I could go on about that forever so).
-My mother and I ended up sitting directly behind the Cotts (Corey’s parents, Carly, and Meg) and it was so fun to be able to see them watch the show. Nathan Johnson was also a couple seats away.
Act I:
-It was the first time I noticed Donny’s hand tremor (see: the scene before Right This Way, etc.) in the opening battle scene with Michael, meaning that it even precipitated Michael’s death. So that was a great realization which was totally fine and not at all painful.
-There were a ton of little moments that got applause, and it was absolutely clear that the cast appreciated it.
-Geoff always looks on the verge of actual tears right at the beginning of Breathe and it’s so incredible that I just have to finally mention it.
-I don’t know if it was an attempt to lighten the closing-night mood or what, but Corey was joking around onstage more than ever, and it was amazing.
-During the poem scene with Julia (“You’ll make fun of them!”/“I won’t. Trust me.”) which is normally super serious, he said “I won’t!” and then, before “Trust me,” grinned and jokingly went “Eh, maybe a little bit” with hand motions and everything.
-After the line “This song will get us to New York. Everything hangs on New York,” while Donny and Julia are discussing the possibility of changing the contest song, Corey put the sheet music in front of his face and began swaying his head around, which was adorable and made Laura grin.
-Love Will Come and Find Me Again got a standing ovation.
-Right This Way was just on another level. The guys onstage were crying, my mother and I were crying, all the Cotts were crying, you get the picture. Needless to say, it also got a standing ovation.
Intermission:
So during intermission, the woman sitting next to my mother struck up a conversation… it turns out that she was actively serving in the Navy, and basically every member of her family was either actively serving or was a veteran going back several generations. Additionally, a number of those family members apparently struggled with PTSD, so the show hit incredibly close to home for her. It was her third time seeing it, but nobody involved with the show knew about her, so even though it was closing night my mother went to go see if anybody was still at the box office that could make something happen. On her way, she ran into Andy Blankenbuehler (he had been watching from the audience with his wife and kids), and since he wasn’t mobbed she thanked him for the show and asked if he would like to meet the woman.
{Sidebar: As someone training to dance on Broadway, I have always had the utmost professional respect for Andy- I think he’s an absolutely brilliant choreographer and I love everything he’s ever done. Based on what I’ve seen of him I assumed he was kind, but I’d never witnessed him interact with anyone in person, so I couldn’t be sure. Now I can say with absolute confidence that Andy is one of the most genuine, caring people I have ever met in the industry, and I have complete respect for him as a person as well.}
He came over to talk to her, and, despite the fact that it was closing night and he was probably one of the most popular people in the room, he intently listened to her story and was moved to the brink of tears before pulling her in for a hug. It was clear how much the moment meant to him, and as he left he wholeheartedly thanked my mother for bringing him over.
It’s been almost a week, and I’m still struck by his compassion and sincerity.
Act II:
-Laura was audibly choked up on “Sing because you just need to sing” which was heartbreaking on so many levels.
-Corey and Laura were both so emotional during This Is Life.
-Oh my God the pen thing. So a couple people have already mentioned this, but it’s worth repeating… when Julia and Donny were signing the NBC forms Laura dropped the pen, so she and Mary did an “Oh! Sorry!/Excuse me!” thing, then Corey smiled and went “She’s nervous!” and Mary said something like “We all are!” It was hilarious.
-Welcome Home… yeah. They all made it through the song, and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. I know for a fact there wasn’t a dry eye on stage. Also, when Corey went over to hug Laura he triumphantly raised his fist in the air, and the applause got even louder.
-It got the longest standing ovation by far. Like, it went on for so long that instead of the curtain coming down and the broadcast music beginning before the showgirls run onstage, Jonathan and the girls slowly crept onstage and then the curtain began to fall so that the show could continue, because the audience would not stop applauding.
-I cried most of the way through the finale (‘Epilogue’). It was just a lot.
-After the whole cast (including swings and understudies) had their bows, a couple more people involved with the show came onstage- the reason I’m mentioning this is because Alex was one of those people!!! I was so so happy because I had initially heard he was going to be there, but then that morning he was posting Instagram stories in Pennsylvania so I figured he wouldn’t be, and then he appeared! (and they included him in their pictures so my day was made and everything was right with the world.)
-ANDY’S SPEECH. It was the most amazingly perfect statement about the show that I’ve ever heard. I’m so glad that people recorded it so that everyone can hear it, because it was just phenomenal.
-After the speech, the cast stayed onstage for a long time.
-Joey immediately went across the stage to hug Alex, and I can imagine that their dynamic could have been complicated so I thought that that was heartwarming.
-Mark proposed to Jaime!!! Jaime was beyond excited and it was SO cute.
So… here we are! I’m not going to make an emotional heartfelt speech- I’ll save that for another post- but I’m so glad that people have enjoyed reading these, since I don’t really contribute to the fandom in any artistic/creative way. (And even though there won’t be any more show notes, I’ll still be active on here for the foreseeable future.)
-S ❤️
