Monday, June 21, 2010

I dreamt I met Kate Walsh. No wait. It was freaking REAL!



June 20th, 2010 dawned hot, muggy and sometimes cloudy, but mostly sunny. It was about 32C and 90F. I met my friend Adrienne in Times Square at 1pm and we took the subway to 330, 16th Street West, where the Atlantic Stage 2 theatre was. We went to 14th Street and then walked up to 16th. Then very confidently we walked in the opposite direction, before realising that the numbers were reducing!!! Then we marched up the other way, a long walk, to the theatre. We went inside to sit in the lobby because it was hot outside to wait for my aunt, who had my ticket. We took a couple of pictures and I went up outside to ask where the stage door would be, so that I could go early in case there was a rush. The theatre attendant said that they don't tell people where the stage door was!!!! What was that? Getting a little angry, I marched back in and vented a little to Adrienne. We chatted for a while and suddenly, she nudged me. I looked up to see KATE WALSH walk past us and go to the lift! She pressed the button and waited. It literally took five minutes for the lift to come up! I would love to know what was going on in her mind, because everyone was talking and then we all shut up when she walked in. I wonder if it was awkward for her or if she is used to it or if she just doesn't care. Anyway, she was wearing a blue lacy top and denim shorts. she drummed her fingers on the wall while she waited. It was a total I do that too moment. Now while I was looking at her, with my jaw on the floor, I was also FLIPPING out! I kept saying oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! And I may have been audible! I hope I wasn't though!

Then the lift finally came and she got in. The door wouldn't close. She was running a little late and you could her her mutter in frustration as she pressed the buttons repeatedly. The door closed and everyone at in the lobby was going "Oh my God! That was so cool" or something like it. Even the 60 something old ladies. Just saying. Kate has that effect on everyone!!!

I flipped out cause Kate was five feet away from me!! Adrienne had to calm me down and then my aunt came. We all went inside the lift and I told her about what happened, willing myself not to jump up and down like a freaking lunatic. it was already bad enough that a girl tweeted about me flipping out in the lobby. The usher at the entrance warned us to switch off our cell phones and referred to the incident that Kate tweeted about - an old dude's hearing aid. Adrienne and I laughed at that story and we all took our seats. At 2:30pm, the theatre grew dark and suddenly the light came on and there was Kate! Holy crow, I was seeing her act up close! It was THE best play I've ever been to. I'm not gonna say too much, because if a person reading this hasn't seen it, I don't want to give it away. I just want to say that she is incredibly articulate for a person who puts Lorelai Gilmore to shame and has an unbelievable memory! Also, she has the ability to cry on cue! WOW!

The lady in front of me - her cell phone rang!!!! Everyone looked at her, Kate and Paul paused the play for about 30 seconds, but there was no outburst. I cannot imagine how distracting it was for Kate, who had so much dialogue!!! She managed to stay on track and continued the play.

The play got over, we all applauded. My hands were numb. I'd like to say thank you Amanda for prepping me. I did not wear a skirt like I had planned and I carried a jacket. It was cold in the theatre if you're from a tropical country!

I raced out of the theatre and opted to use the stairs, because the lift obviously took forever and I think there were about 12 of us in the whole theatre under the age of 60! Seriously. So I raced up thinking it was only one floor, to realise that the theatre is actually a good way down. About four flights of stairs down!!! I ran up the stairs, thinking, I will definitely have Kate Walsh legs after this and finally reached the door where I came out. I stood directly in front of the door, prepared to shove anyone who got in my way. Not really, but anyway. Adrienne also came out and all the old people went away, so it was just about 12 of us waiting for Kate.

Paul Sparks came out first and was walking away when we kind of ambushed him for autographs and pictures. He was pretty sweet and took pictures with us. He is a really good actor! His performance was understated and a perfect match for Kate. he's cute too.

After about 10 minutes, KATE FREAKING WALSH came out. My heart stopped! She looked at me and totally recognised me!!!!!!! She walked up and said "You're from India! thanks for coming!" I stood there like an idiot for a few seconds before my brain kicked into action. being dumbstruck never had happened to me, but it's happened now. I handed her my playbill and postcards. I got her to sign two postcards for Sabine and Summer and then asked if she could personalise mine. She said "Sure! do you spell Romy R-o-m-i?" I think I almost fell down. She knew my name. SHE FREAKING KNEW MY NAME! I belatedly said "With a 'Y'" and she grinned and said "Oh yeah I remember" I handed her the present I got and asked if I could get a picture. She said "Oh sure!" and took one with me. While the entire exchange was going on, she rubbed my back and said "I didn't have to" when I handed her my present. Then she went on to sign other autographs and I hung around, wanting to just be around her till the last possible minute. She looked at me and said "I like your jites!" I flipped out again. a person who wears such incredible clothes, complemented me on mine! OMG! A person gave her some four pictures to sign and she joked "Guys, I have a life! My brother's in town" We all laughed. She finished signing, shook my hand and thanked me again for coming (though I should be the one thanking her for simply existing and being who she is and just for everything. There is so much that I have learned from her!) and went. I said bye and skipped the whole way back to the subway station. I don't know how my heart lasted.

Oh I would like to apologise to the boy who made me take his picture with Kate cause I'm so sure it's blurry! I was shaking so much!!! I made it back to my aunt's house in NJ and saw two texts from Adrienne. She said Kate had personally tweeted to me! I went online to see the tweets she left me. It was the sweetest thing ever! She is an absolute sweetheart. there are no words. A writer like me and a person who talks a LOT has officially run out of words!

Kate, if you ever read this, thank you so much for everything. Thank you for making my dream come true. Thanks for reading my letter. I meant every word and I apologise for the handwriting!

June 20th, 2010 is going to be the best day of my freaking life. The end.

11 comments:

  1. no autograph for me :(

    Now you have to come to Germany! Or.... get me an autograph from Paget *nods*

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  2. I couldn't. I really wanted to get one for Sabine and Summer's bday was on the 20th. Sorry!!! I'll def come to Germany and will totally try for Paget's! :)

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  3. Hey there! It's Laurie (aka willwrite4food from Twitter) :) So awesome to read about your experience!!! She is seriously such an amazing person. I know exactly how you are feeling right now, and it's an incredible feeling!!! I nearly died when she tweeted to me after I met her, too. I seriously thought I was dreaming ha. I am so happy you were able to come to NY to see the show!!! I am glad your dream came true :)

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  4. Loving the name part! Thanx for the detail so us Europe folk can relive it, hehe :) And girl!, thanks for asking the autograph!, it hadn't even crossed my mind to ask someone that and I usually don't really know what to do with them anyways, but I kinda love you for thinking about it :) So sweet! xoxo

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  5. that's amazing, Romy! I second Sabine, the name thing was the sweetest thing ever. I was freaking out for you! Thanks for sharing this! Enjoy the rest of your trip! :D

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  6. wow sounds like you had an awesome time!!!
    So cool that she remembered your name :D
    Really liked your blog.

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  7. Awesome story! Love the bit about the elevator :D

    Had the same experience with the stairs, it was a bit like OK how far under ground are we? Also same with the over 60 crowd, seems that is the norm. Well OK maybe 40 and over crowd.

    And see it was an ice box! Which row were you in?

    Oh and what are jites? Scuse' my ignorance on that one.

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  8. AHhh, Romy. This is definitely the best blog you have written! ;)

    Incredible! It's pretty amazing how you're in so much shock at first, that all you can do is stand there.
    But I think it's incredibly awesome that she knew who you were. Just goes to show she takes notice.

    So I am assuming that the actual play was good yes?

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  9. Romy!!!! this is an amazing post! you replayed the day all over again for me! this is a day i will never forget! I'm so glad i got to experience it with you! i still can't get over the elevator incident and i couldn't stop laughing reading about when she walked in! i have a clear image in my head of your dropped mouth from when she walked in.

    BTW, i was waiting for Kate to freak out on that girl whose cell phone went off! it woulda been a sight!

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  10. Crazychica, it took me a while to figure it out too. It's those leggings that looks like jeans, I used to call them jeggings, but now I say jites too (I wonder why :P) it's apparently jeans + tights :) I was in row B which wasn't bad at all. Alina, the play was the best ever! We laughed, we felt sad, there were some touching moments and the chemistry between the actors was amazing. They were so freaking good!

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