(Post to rentheads.com)
Forewarning you all: this will probably be long and whiny, but I need to vent/rejoice, so please bear with me :)
*deep cleansing breaths* Okay. I had these directions to the Des Moines Civic Center printed off from Streets & Maps software, and it calculated that it should take about 5 hours to get there. Sadly, I got lost, and it ended up taking more like 6. When I finally found the theatre, it was HUGE, and I had no idea what I was going to do because I was supposed to meet Megan so she could give me my ticket. Then I finally found the main lobby, and noticed the understudy board... I know it's a cliche, but you literally could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw:
Maureen: Haven Burton
Mimi: Dana Dawson
Mark's mom: Stefanie Roth
Gordon: Pierre Bayuga
Mark: CURTIS!
So I'm tired and really upset at the amazing show that I'm missing, and then I see Megan's dad flailing around outside, so I go and get my ticket for row NN. Yay. Then I tangle with some ushers, get horribly horribly lost INSIDE the theatre (there are like 20 doors, and the ushers are evil and won't let you in unless you have *exactly* the right door... *hiss*.) Anyway. And then I fell down the stairs about 3 times, tangled with a few more ushers, and finally managed to make my way down to the curiously empty rush seat next to Megan. (It was soooo weird, let me tell you, almost half of the second row was empty. For a Friday evening show.) So. I finally end up getting seated right before Tango:Maureen, and I'm SO tired/stressed/ecstatic that I start crying. I ended up sobbing the entire way through T:M. I'm such a loser. Anyway, it was suuuuch an amazing show, and I'm so thankful that I at least got to see most of it.

(Continued in an email)

Okay... so where did the last one leave off? Oh yes, Tango: Maureen. Okay. Rest of the show is great, I find myself hating Pierre as Gordon much less than I hate Pierre as Steve. Stefanie's growing on me too. Curtis is adorable as Mark, not as good as Scott, but still good. There were parts of his Mark that I didn't like as much as Matt's Mark. But not too many. And I'd take Curtis over any day, yo.
Okay. Stage door is great, Curtis comes up to Megan and I and is all excited, and there's this huge crowd of people (about 1/2 acutal Curtis fans and about 1/2 "must stalk person who played Mark" fans) watching us talk to him. It was weird. I was all whining like "Waah, and I got lost, and I fell down the stairs, and I got lost again, and the ushers were meeaaaan to me" and he was like "Aw, there there" and then, I fell down the stairs. So I went off to stalk Jeremy, but he wasn't too stalkable, I was flailing around trying to find my camera and he escaped. Smite him. Anyway. And Dana is soooo adorable, we were like "Ah! We saw you as Mimi in St. Paul!" and we flailed, and gave her a picture of the u/s board, and took some random pictures. Much randomness.* thinks* that's about all.
The rush line is sooooo awesome, a ton of cool people are there. I get up to try to find a bathroom earlyish in the morning, after randomly falling asleep (somehow) a little bit before. However, the skywalks connect like... ALL of Des Moines, and I kept going further and further into them to try to find a damn bathroom. Damn bathroom. I was afraid I'd get trapped in the skywalks forever, and be like the Phantom of the Opera, except not.
When I finally come back, I find that the line has moved further inside. (We were out in this random lobbyish thing, and we moved right in front of the ticket office.) The new line nazi is evil and all "If you leaave for 10 minutes, you're ouuuut of the line.) But then he gave us all Rent temporary tattoos, so it was ok. Plus, he had a really cool tie. Oh, and on my way to the bathroom I took a few pictures of last nights u/s board (*sigh* SUCH a great cast) and discover that the evening line has couches! And they made forts! I'm jealous. There is tension between the evening and matinee lines, and I fear it will lead to war.... what am I talking about? Oh, and we talked to this really cool woman namd Julie, she was an oldschool Angel cast Renthead, and a huge Trey fan. But it's okay, she was fun. And she had a really cool photo album.
So okay. The show. Matt is back, but we all expected that *sigh* Karmine is on as Mimi, Stefanie is Mark's mom, and Haven is Maureen. (Woo!) Her OTM is so flailing, I love it. It's like a squid.) *flails some more*
And Bart told us about this really cool AIDS benefit in San Francisco, and Megan and I will actually be there!! And it sounds so cool, there's going to be an auction or something, and all the former Bennies are invited. I hope Scott comes. And Racquel, I miss Racquel. And PMS. And Enrico. And Erin. And Cristina. And Sandra. Hmm, and Yaz was with the Bennies for like 2 weeks, plus Karmine will be there... so maybe Yaz will come. That would be awesome.