Oh, wow.

I'm about to spend a pleasent rest of the evening with my bead kit and and as-of-yet-undecided movie, but first I must rant about this weekend.

In a good way.

I saw the national tour of Rent at the Fox in St. Louis with some of my best friends; recipe for fun to begin with.  It was me, my mom and Janna, Aviva and Erin, Mer, and Paul.  (All of us sat in row K, except for Mer, who through a strange twist of serendipity, had her ticket ordered separately and therefore got a better seat.  Lucky bitch.  XD)

I honestly don't have too much to say about the show itself other than the fact that it was the best version I've seen so far (this was the third time I'd seen it).  Only part of that had to do with the fact that Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp were two of the principals; there wasn't a single actor that I had any complaint about, which never happens.  I think the performers made some really fun and interesting choices that added a lot to the depth of the characters, Joanne and Angel in particular.  One of the other actors I was looking forward to seeing (Gwen Stewart, another original cast member who didn't have a major role but still had a solo that I was hoping to hear) turned out to be understudied during that performance, but even the understudy did a great job.

The high point of the performance was "What You Own", during the second act, since that was the only song in which Adam and Anthony had a song all to themselves, and I had been waiting to hear it through the entire show.  Let's just say I had a slight nerdgasm.

Afterward we all traipsed out to the stage door.  The first performer to come out was Nicolette Hart, who played Maureen.  Everyone was very happy to see her, and she signed every scrap of paper that was thrust at her (illegibly, but still).  Anthony Rapp was the next - and only - one to come out.  Of course, the cheering was uproarious.  He was very brief and did not stop to pose for photographs, but did sign anything anyone gave him, and thanked everyone for coming to the show.  (Not so Adam Pascal; we heard later that he routinely sneaks out alternate entrances to avoid his fans.  Jerk.  But I have also heard that he's been pretty sick lately, so...)

Our funny story of the day - one that has forever turned an unfunny phrase funny - involved Janna's quest for an autograph.  Boo Boo had mentioned the day before that at concert-type events she's been to, people who brought weird things to be signed got more attention from the performers.  So Janna pulled out a giant rubber duck from her collection and brought that to the show.

When Nicolette Hart saw the duck, she said, "I assume there's a story behind this?"  There wasn't; Janna just likes ducks a lot.

When Anthony Rapp, saw it, however, his face looked like this:

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His exact words were, "...What is that?"

Janna replied, "It's a duck."  She refrained from adding "Duh."

She then spent the rest of the evening repeating her "conversation" with Anthony Rapp, and the rest of us have been popping up with "What is that?"  at random intervals throughout the past two days.

As for me. I had both actors sign my giant Rent book, and then proceeded to get entirely giddy and fangirly, in the sense of "AHHHH OH MY GOD ANTHONY RAPP WAS JUST WITHIN SIX INCHES OF ME AHHHH!"

I am not ashamed.