How Did Actors Behave at the Stage Doors of Last Year's Musicals?

Last year, I spent a lot of time at stage doors. I wanted to write about what it was like. I wrote about my experience at the stage doors of straight plays and the installment about musicals was supposed to follow quickly thereafter but kept getting bumped. I could not let it slip too far into 2024 however, so here it is.

The Sweeney Todd, including stars Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, will usually sign and take pictures. The night I was there, no one asked Groban for a photo until about twenty people in, and then I heard earlier people upset they didn’t have the courage. (When I was there, Gaten Matarazzo, or “G Man,” as a security guard referred to him, was still there, and security announced he would only sign Playbills, but they made no similar announcement for anyone else.) I was most struck by the interaction between Ruthie Ann Miles and a Southern tourist named Beth. Miles is one our very best performers—on break from Sweeney, she turned in a performance in The Light in the Piazza that was so powerful it left half the audience in tears. (Her performances The King and I and Here Lies Love are still tops for me too.) Miles is also one of Broadway’s best humans. Beth stopped Miles on the line because of how much Miles’ performance meant to her. Beth had lost her daughter to cancer and she explained she “went a little nuts” after that; she saw herself in Miles’ performance. Miles has gone through her own heartbreaking loss, but Beth wasn’t stopping Miles because of that. This was all about Miles’ Begger Woman performance. Miles' performance, in a relatively small role, meant that much to this woman. Miles took down her mask to talk to Beth. She hugged her. It was a moment that helped me remember the importance of theater. I couldn’t hear everything Miles said, but I spoke to Beth afterward and the brief conversation moved her. That’s a benefit of the stage door experience.

Likewise, I was outside the How to Dance in Ohio stage door, when a 19-year-old autistic woman named Sarah Jane waited for the cast. She mumbled to herself her own name and a pre-planned introduction to the cast members. I interrupted briefly and she explained to me how much it meant to her to see autistic performers onstage; she too wanted to be a performer. That day, only a few of the young adult cast members signed, but one of them was Ashley Wool, the cast member this young woman most identified with. Sarah Jane delivered her pre-planned speech and was so touched by Wool’s excited reaction.

Nothing as emotional happened at the other musicals. Merrily We Roll Along has thankfully managed to stop non-attendees from autograph-seeking. When I was there, security checked tickets before allowing people to enter the autograph area. That night, if you got in the area, you got a signature and a photograph with Daniel Radcliffe. About half the folks left after meeting Radcliffe. Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez came out about 30 minutes later and individually greeted most of the remaining folks. At Back to the Future: The Musical, Roger Bart did not sign, but the rest of the cast did, and Casey Likes spent a long time talking to fans. I heard an older fan chat with Kimberly Akimbo’s Victoria Clark about every single thing she’s ever done (a lot!), while a few young fans waited for their signatures and photos. At the MJ stage door, one eager fan tried to get each cast member to sing, which was awkward, though some complied. At Gutenberg! The Musical!, neither Josh Gad nor Andrew Rannells sign, but they do tend to wave and say something to the fans before they get into their respective cars.

I’m not going to go through all the rest because there was nothing remarkable enough to report from an impartial observer's perspective, but it’s different for the fans. Actors aren’t required to stage door; when they do it means something to the waiting crowd.  

Industry Trends Weekly is a short column that runs in the weekly Industry Pro Newsletter. To read past columns and subscribe Click Here. If you have an idea for the column, you can reach the author at cara@broadwayworld.com.