Feb 3, 2007

"I have to admit I had a truly amazing day, I'm still buzzing from it and even though I didn't get to bed till gone 3 (thanks Jason ) I hardly slept a wink.

I arrived about an hour before the matinee started and hung around a little way down from the stage door on the off chance Jason might arrive that way. ( He didn't, at least not while I was there.)

The play itself was truly brilliant, better than I expected and I expected a great deal. To walk into the small intimate theatre and have to walk within 10 feet or so of Jason while he is reclining on a bed to reach your seat is a weird and thrilling experience.
My seat was great, I was only about 20 feet from Jason and Lee and twice Jason seemed to look straight at me and hold my gaze.( He probably felt my eyes burning into him like lasers, I couldn't take my eyes off him.)
He has a strong physical presence on stage and his eyes are more piercing than you can imagine.
The show ended ( too soon) and as I left my set I asked the couple ( great people named Sharon and Alan I was later to find out) who I was sitting next to if they were going to the stage door to see if Jason would come out and sign, they said they would.
We walked around to the stage door and there were, including us 12 people there, sadly half appeared to be autograph dealers.

We all waited for quite a while and myself and Sharon and Alan struck up a friendship with two great Jason fans Frances and Amanda.
After about an hour or so we were worrying Jason and Lee had either left via the front or weren't coming out as there were only 3 hours till the evening performance. We asked several theatre workers if they knew what was happening and sadly although they tried their best they were unable to tell us if Jason was still around.
A short while later a man came out and we explained the situation and he explained that Lee and Jason would not in all probability be coming out before the evening show as because it is preview week they were using the time to work on the play.
A few of us had already toyed with the idea of staying in London until after the evening show and after an inspired enquiry from Amanda ( you're a star!) he introduced himself as Harry Burton, the Director! Well of course we all got him to sign our programs and he was lovely.
We explained that the 5 of us had come from all over the place and really wanted to meet Jason and he generously offered to put in a good word for us if we could come back later, of course we were all thrilled!
Myself, Amanda and Frances went off to the Wetherspoons next door for a sit down and a coffee and a darn good chat about Jason and went back to the stage door about 15 minutes before the play was due to end, were were the first there and met up again with Sharon and Alan, the dealers came back too

Harry Burton come down again and said he had told Jason about us and how long we'd been there and that he would come and see us.
Lo and behold a short while later Lee Evans appeared and was bright and chatty and signed for us all followed by Jason a couple of minutes later.
Now I have to say that we all agreed that he is much better looking in the flesh, you warm to him straight away and he puts you at ease.
I took some photos, had a couple taken with him ,he signed my 2 programs and my Peter Pan dvd sleeve for me.
I did a quick video then asked him to say a quick hello to everyone here which he was happy to do, in that clip he also apologizes for keeping me waiting all afternoon but as I told him he is worth every second!)
To my delight a couple of minutes later he came back to me and asked if he could re-shoot the message to do a better job.
I don't think I could have been more thrilled if I'd won the lottery!
In the clip you hear him say 'Are we on? Shit I thought I'd blown it.'
He was so generous, a true professional and a beautiful person.
He said that the Director had just told him about how long we'd been there and he said he wished someone had come and told him earlier while we were there and he would have come to see us!

I would like to say here a huge and heartfelt thank you to Jason, Lee Evans and Harry Burton but especially my warmest thanks to Jason for making us feel so special and appreciated, for being so generous with his time and making the day one to cherish forever.

Oh and thanks for the kiss, I hardly slept last night remembering that! "

I really can't wait to go again.
If I could afford it and didn't live half-way across the country I would be going to every performance.

March 3, 2007

Mandy was able to catch 2 more shows on Sat March 3rd. Here are more pictures she wants to share with everyone.

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Check out Mandy's videos at YouTube