I am not sure why I have neglected to write this post…maybe because it still seems like it’s too good to be true? I don’t know… but please read on, because it is the coolest thing that has happened since I moved to New York.
As you all know…I am a huge RENT fan (who somehow overlooked the fact that tickets to the final show would be nearly impossible to get…unless you’re Blake Lively). I was definitely NOT over the fact that RENT was closing on Sunday and I wanted to be at the final show more than anything. I mean, think of who would be there! Original cast, other casts, movie cast- perhaps? I don’t know…all I know is that I went to that lottery feeling really good about it and didn’t win anything! So of course, I just went to church, went home, made dinner, took a nap…and was STILL not over it.
So… I got on the train and went down to the Nederlander and I got there during intermission. For the second act, I just stood outside… not really sure why I was even there or what I expected to see. I started talking to this girl Ashley and we decided to go across the street in order to get our Playbills signed and get pictures with whoever might come out. The whole time, I heard people saying something about the party afterwards, but paid very little attention to it because I had to go to work the next morning; so naturally, parties were out of the question.
But then Ashley started talking about the party and how she had heard someone say it was at Chelsea Piers…which is not entirely helpful because neither of us knew where that was… Anyway, as the crowds started coming out of the theater, many hopped on shuttles to the party, and we decided we REALLY wanted to go…but we still didn’t know where it was (and no one would tell us)… so we were okay with just getting our Playbills and pictures.
At some point, a guy who had been in RENT like 5 years ago came over to sign our Playbills and we just let him…even though we had NO idea who he was. We asked him if he knew where the party was and he said “Pier 60.” So we got our answer….but we still weren’t sure about going, because seriously…. How were we going to get in? Right as we were talking to “2003 Roger” this Italian guy, Eric, who I remembered from the lottery came over to our little group to get his autograph… “2003 Roger” then got on the bus and took off…. Right then, Ashley and I said “OK…It’s now or never. We need to get in a cab and get to that party”—even though we didn’t have passes. We asked Eric if he wanted to come down to the party and he said yes… As we were leaving, we ran into two other girls who wanted to come with us, Meredith and Allison.
So we walked to Port Authority, talked a cabbie into taking all 5 of us, and he agreed under the condition that we did the whole thing “Mexican style,” meaning that he turned off his meter and we paid him what we thought was fair for the favor he was doing for us… It wasn’t a long drive, so I think we gave him like $30, which was more than enough…
Anyway, when we got to Pier 60, we went towards the front doors and the guy at the door said “Have your tickets ready.” We said okay, but I was not sure how in the world we were going to pull it off. We went to the guy who had the “list” and Eric gave him his name. The list guy told him he was NOT on the list, so what does Eric do? He pulls out a business card of someone who works for ABC who he had been talking to earlier that day and gives the doorman his name AND… WE GOT IN! Just like that. I couldn’t even believe it!
We spent the night at the RENT after party having the time of our lives! There was dancing and plenty of famous people to meet and chat with. While I was on the dance floor, I turned around for a second, and who was dancing RIGHT next to me? Blake Lively from Gossip Girl/Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! I got a picture with her and her co-star/bf Penn Badgley.
We basically made rounds and talked to people. We got to chat with Daphne Rubin Vega who was the original Mimi Marquez… She was so funny (and probably a little drunk). We also got to chat with Tracie Thoms, Aaron Tveit (who plays Fiyero in Wicked right now), Justin Johnston (who was Angel in the final RENT cast)…to name a few.
I also got to meet (and talked to for like ½ hour) Jesse L. Martin (who played Tom Collins in the Original RENT cast and Detective Green in Law and Order). He was probably my favorite person I met that night… He was talking to me about ballroom and how he had tried to learn tango (because of Tango Maureen) but was not very good at it… I told him to do Dancing With the Stars…haha…
Other people who were at the party: The entire Larson family (Jonathan Larson is the creator of RENT, and he died the night before the show opened, so his family has remained very involved), Nicholette Heart (Legally Blonde), Drew Lachey (98 Degrees, Dancing with the Stars, Spamalot), Hunter Parish, Wilson Jermine Heredia (Original and movie cast Angel), Anthony Rapp (Original Cast Mark, A Beautiful Mind) and ROSARIO DAWSON (who is freakishly tall).
We stayed at the party until it ended and had so much fun! The horrible exhaustion that followed due to a night of missed sleep was TOTALLY worth it… We all left in agreement that this had been the BEST night ever… And my favorite part about it all???
Five total strangers (okay, 4 because Meredith and Allison are sisters)
None of us won the lottery, but we all decided to go to the final stage door
We all had bits and pieces of information that eventually got us in when we pieced them together….
Brought together by RENT… LOVE IT-- the perfect way to say goodbye to the show.
It was all very serendipitous. Now… the only problem is… how are we ever going to top that?
I don’t know…but I am working on it.
See previous post for PICTURES
