OK, the real fascination is of course not with Evita itself, but rather its stars...or one of them. Just came back from the signing event at the Dress Circle. I bought the CD yesterday (afraid I would not be able to do so before the event today) and listened to it the minute I got home after work. It is absolutely fabulous, even though I feel like I'm running through the whole musical, because it is a highlights album. Still, definitely better than nothing at all (I can name numerous musicals of which I would have wished to have a recording, but that would only make me sad). And of course The PQ Guide has started a petition to get a complete recording of the musical.

Anyway, I started out being nervous about actually getting to Dress Circle in time today, so it didn't even hit me that I was going to see Philip Quast up close for the first time in three and a half years until I was actually there, in the queue. Did we see him come cycling down the road half an hour before the event started? Some of us think so. I'm pretty sure, as I saw some evidence of it as he signed my programme. And yes, the signing itself should probably be mentioned. We were ushered in there, down to the basement of this teeny weeny shop (I hadn't even been there before, the last time I was there they were doing refurbishments), and the three stars (Matt Rawle, Elena Roger, Philip Quast) were sitting at a table, frantically signing whatever people threw at them. OK, I'm lying. I was among the first ones in, though, so this could have changed during the course, but when I was there there was no panic, only a couple of fans that were more stressed than the rest of us. Presumably because they needed to have a few more items than just the CD signed, and also wanted to take a photo or two. This latter part came to my benefit, as it meant I had to wait for them to finish also (PQ was keeping my programme for a long time because he stopped for the photo and a quick chat). This gave me plenty of time to take in the...uhmm...view. Ahem.


Proof. And no, none of this is for sale.

Well, after a "thank you so much" or two, I left the premises and it suddenly dawned on me that this was the first time I had actually got PQ's autograph. After A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the NT in September 2004 I thought I'd go to the stage door the next day (I was going to see two performances), but of course that day PQ didn't perform. In May 2003 I was the only bugger outside the stage door of the Royal Albert Hall who didn't get his autograph, simply because I hadn't planned ahead and brought a pen. Silly sod. It still didn't feel like I had wasted my time there for the past two hours, though. After all, I had lasted the whole run and ended up standing next to my idol for a while. God, how pathetic. But hey, even our idols have idols, so I'm going to wallow in these stories even if some people think it's stupid.

In other news, I am going to see Thank You for Smoking tonight. Just thought I'd let you know.

Labels: evita, film, musicals, name-dropping, philip quast, theatre