I GOT TO SEE HUGH! And had a bizarre problem with another audience member (Long)
Pics are from Masquerade, with a pic included of what I look like when I’m not sweating to death because I thought a ball gown was a good choice in the summer. Pics after that are from when I met Hugh at 54 Below.
Quick aside - if you do the standby line, it’s almost certain that you won’t be able to do the ADA track, but the front of house will still do anything they can for you. For that pulse, they gave me a fanny pack with a bottle of water because I was sweating a lot. It was a godsend. However, if you really should be on the ADA track, probably don’t do standby line twice without it. I paid for that mistake the following days.
As some of you know, I missed Hugh on the 31st after getting on the wrong train and the front of house manager was kind enough to get us into the 8:00 pulse. We saw Nick and Alexa and they were phenomenal! Absolutely amazing. I’d love to see their pulse again. Our butler even put us in a spot where we could hear Hugh and Francesca singing for a bit, for which I am incredibly grateful.
I absolutely adore Hugh Panaro. He’s my absolute favorite singer and performer. He could be cast as Cinderella and I’m still going to go. He’s also quite possibly one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, which makes me feel a little bit braver about trying to sing again. The music and theater worlds can be pretty cutthroat and I’m just not. As I told Hugh when I was lucky enough to meet him at 54 Below, I just want to get my joy back. He replied, “You MUST!” And I sort of babbled that when I couldn’t do it for myself, I’d do it for him. Yes, that was a weird thing to say. Yes, I cringe when I think about it. He signed my copy of the Susan Kay book which he recommended to the other Masquerade phantoms, and he read and pulled from when he originally played the phantom. He even signed “O. G.” After his name. If there hadn’t been other people waiting (and I’d already gotten a selfie, an autograph, and a hug) I might have asked him to write “sing for me.” And then gone home and died of a mix of embarrassment and joy.
So I missed his pulse on the 31st, and went for the standby line the next day.
I arrived around 12:10 to stand by for the 1:30. There were two people already there. One was waiting for cast members so they could get autographs. The other was dressed in what looked like a Dracula costume. That’s not me being catty; that’s what it looked like. It was definitely some kind of costume, if that makes sense. He also had a red fake rose in his hand, which will come up again later.
Something that you should probably know about me before I continue is that I am usually friendly and kind, but I’m also terrible at standing up for myself, and I often dismiss my own discomfort as oversensitivity. I know it’s a problem. I’m trying to work on it.
The man in the costume struck up a conversation with me which was fine… I like meeting other Masquerade fans, and I met several people from here over the weekend who were a delight. He asked my name. When I told him, he said that his ex-wife’s name was a derivative or nickname from my name. It’s not, but ok. Then he shared that he’d been separated for 9 years and is just now getting divorced even though they don’t believe in divorce. This is where I started trying to politely extricate myself from the conversation but failed. I did at least derail it for a bit and spoke about how I had missed Hugh the night before, that the standby line would be my 4th attempt to see him, and even talked about how I took my autographed book to my (extensive) sinus surgery and held on to it while repeating “Be brave, be brave” to myself, until I had to let go because I was probably going to bleed on it and the PA swapped my book out for the stuffed shark I had brought instead (Yes, I know I’m a grown woman. I don’t care.). I did not mention that I’d rather have a needle up my nose again than continue the conversation, but I was thinking it. I’ll spare everyone further details of the surgery, but feel free to message me with questions or go find my TikTok. Apparently I took AND EDITED a 10-minute video. I remember none of it.
I don’t remember for sure how religion came up, but I think it was because I said that the kind of singing I was planning to try to do again after I finish healing is community theater and maybe some church singing (I love Bach). He said he’d pray for me (ok that’s nice I guess) to get into the 1:30.
Keep in mind that he had a confirmed ticket for 1:30 and I was in standby, so a lot of this conversation was awkwardly shouted across the sidewalk. At some point a friend I knew from online and wanted to meet showed up and joined/rescued me.
The front of house manager worked a miracle and got me into Hugh’s pulse. I seriously could have hugged him. He’s great. I made some excited noises that I think only bats and dogs could hear and joined my friend in the confirmed ticket line. The costumed guy came up to me and said “I prayed for you!” With an intensity that made me uncomfortable but I shrugged it off and thanked him. I tried to keep talking with my friend but he kept asking us for help with his mask, and of course I helped. Because I’m an idiot.
Once inside I ended up separated from my friend because she was doing the ADA track and since I was in the standby line, I wasn’t. I mostly use ADA for terrible night vision and vertigo. Stairs are a problem. Escalators are hell. But I was managing okay for the most part. Or I was until I realized that the man in the costume was following me very closely in every single scene.
Some of the cast remembered me from the night before (Ball gown and a tiara are pretty memorable) when I had attended with a male friend. A couple made comments about “both” of us being back and I tried to say no, that person isn’t the friend from last night, I don’t know him. Unfortunately the fact that he was hot on my heels at every turn reinforced that assumption. I tried to tell my friend that I didn’t know the guy, but if I had been loud enough for her to hear me, I would have been loud enough for him to hear, too.
I was trying so hard to focus on the show and how happy I was to finally get to see Hugh as the phantom, but the costumed man was distracting at best. I’m honestly still angry that I spent so many scenes focused instead on trying to get away from him.
This part is hearsay, but apparently he’d also been trying to give his rose to female members of the cast and was being weird about it, so there had been complaints about him prior to this coming to a head.
I got stuck in the hall of mirrors transition before the carnival because it’s one of the spots where I really can’t see. He popped up again and offered me his arm and I took it because I AM STUPID and once we were past the mirrors I thanked him and tried to take off to the other side of the room. At that point, my friend showed up, grabbed my hand, and asked if I wanted to stay with her and her butler on ADA and asked if the guy was following me. Yes, and yes. When the butler (Ray) asked me if there was a problem I said that the guy hadn’t done anything that I could truly describe as inappropriate or out of line, but that he was ruining the experience for me. Ray immediately spoke to someone else and I stayed safe in the ADA zone with my friend.
Matthew Curiano popped out from behind us and exclaimed, “Your Majesty! Where is (friend from the previous night)?” Because he knew the guy in the costume wasn’t that friend. For those of you who don’t know, Matthew has a mind like a steel trap. He remembers. And he’s hilarious and one of my favorite parts of the show.
Another quick aside - the circus performer is fantastic but her act makes me queasy, especially with my recent surgery. During this pulse and the one the night before, I looked away. But guess who ended up not just in the front row, but *pulling a nail out of the performer’s face* in Kyle and Eryn’s pulse? Yes. Me. I don’t know how I didn’t pass out.
The next scene was Learn to be Lonely and guess who showed up right in front of my friend and I, facing us? Costume guy. I don’t know what the butlers did but that was the last time he ended up next to me.
I should note here that I’m in my forties, overweight, and objectively ugly. This is not a problem I’m accustomed to having. I am still confused.
FINALLY, thanks to my friend and her butler, I was able to start enjoying the pulse and focusing on the singers. Hugh had me in tears at the end of All I Ask of You. His voice is so pure, beautiful, and haunting, and his acting was heartbreaking.
My friend and I were upstairs during Wishing (indoors) and when Wandering Child started, Hugh STEPPED BETWEEN MY FRIEND AND I, so I was already losing my fragile little fangirl mind, but then he PUT HIS ARM AROUND HER AND PUT HIS HAND ON MY SHOULDER and I about died. I very lightly put my hand up to his but I didn’t want to be weird so instead of putting my hand on top of his I just sort of barely touched his thumb which GREAT JOB MEOWZZO THAT’S EVEN WEIRDER YOU DORK but his hand was on my shoulder and he was singing and I was on an entirely different planet, I think. Frankly, I might still be on another planet.
Things were a bit of a blur after that, but during one of the next transitions, when my friend and I were waiting for the elevator, Hugh quickly walked past us and stage whispered “He’s not real!” And I fangirled out again a little bit.
The dressing room sequence was hilarious as always, and I discovered that the second seat from the clothes rack on the side farthest from the door is my favorite, because there’s either a vent or a fan blowing directly onto that spot and it felt amazing. Carlotta, Piangi, and the managers were hilarious as always. Even the phantom is funny in that scene for a minute. And I got a letter for the first time!
Past the Point of No Return was intense, and in the final lair I ended up in tears again. The main trio killed it, and of course Hugh’s performance broke my heart all over again. I don’t want to go into more detail than that in case of spoiling that part of the show.
When we entered the bar, costume guy walked past us and glared, but we kept walking to a table and didn’t see him again.
My friend and I went to lunch at the Paris Bar which was very nice, and then we went back for the standby line again and got to see the 7:00pm, Kyle and Eryn, who were also phenomenal. I did too many stairs and the next day the world was very spinny and I was in pain, but it was worth it. I would do it again.
I do hope that Hugh comes back again and I’m able to experience the entire show without being followed around by a weirdo. But even if he doesn’t, I’m sure he’ll be in other things that I can go see, and I’ll continue going to Masquerade. Thank you again to the butlers, the friend who rescued me, the Front of House manager, the cast, and of course, to my favorite phantom for such an incredible experience.