I'm sure you've *all* been waiting to read this part of my KS story. For those of you who read it the first time around, back in 1999, here it is again! Most of the fans who went to TIC and then reported back to the others told similar stories. And now, MSOL with Kevin Spacey.
June 6, 1999 - I went to New York City for just the second time in my life to see Kevin in The Iceman Cometh. I went with my mother, sister and a friend of ours. We were lucky enough to get a room in a hotel just a few doors down from the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and just around the corner from Times Square. Since we were just going to be there for 2 days, this worked out very well. My mother and I were going to see the play on our second night, and my sister Suzanne, who wishes to remain anonymous, and our friend Chris were going to find something else to do. My mother just wanted to see Tony Danza. I, of course, had someone else in mind. I was there for one reason .. to be "iced" as the fans were calling it. Seeing Kevin Spacey perform live and hopefully getting an autograph afterwards. Actually, at $100 a ticket, we were expecting the best theater experience money can buy as well as a Spacey sighting on the sidewalk. It was exciting to see the lights in front of the BAT. It seemed unreal to be there.
The Barrymore Theater was across the street from our hotel and the play being performed there was Amy's View starring Dame Judi Dench. After we checked in, we walked to Times Square and took pictures of all the usual tourist haunts, like the MTV studios building and other places like that. We went shopping at the Virgin Records and enjoyed their air conditioning! We walked around the Theater District taking pictures of the various marquees and ended up in front of the Gershwin Theater where the Tony Awards were about to be held. There were police barricades and an awning set up in front of the theater. We talked about coming back later and watching the celebrities arrive, but decided that we didn't want to miss the Tony Awards on TV, and went back to the hotel to rest.
Later my mother went downstairs to find me a Coke since I was really needing a shot of caffeine, and when she came back she said that she had talked to a young couple in the elevator who were all dressed up and had asked them where they were going. The woman said that they were picking up her father and then going to the Tonys because her father had been nominated for two awards. She was very excited and was glad my mother had asked about their clothes because she was wanting to tell someone about her father! My mother couldn't remember who the man was or what he was nominated for, but remembered that one of the plays was Electra.
We decided to go get some dinner before we watched the Tonys and left the hotel and noticed some people standing around the stage door at the Barrymore. We went over and were told that the people there were still waiting for Judi Dench to come out. We talked to some people from Scotland while we waited, and suddenly Timothy Busfield who played Elliott on Thirtysomething came out with an elderly woman from the play, whose name I cannot remember. I think it was Anna something. They were followed by Samantha Bond, who was nominated for a Tony. I remembered her from one of the Miss Marple movies with Joan Hickson, that used to be shown on A&E.
Samantha Bond was beautiful in a black lace dress. She stopped at the stage door with her date and stood for a moment, letting the people waiting there take pictures. Someone wished her luck at the awards, she said thank you and left. Later a woman came to the door and said that Judi Dench would not be signing anything, but we could take pictures as she left.
When she came to the door, she was wearing a beautiful white gown with a matching stole. She stood for a moment letting us take her picture, then slowly walked to her car, thanking everyone for their support. This was how I always imagined someone leaving the stage door! It was like something out of a movie.
Some guy with a professional looking camera shoved me out of the way to get Judi Dench's picture. He was about a foot taller than me and could have taken the picture over my head, but that apparently wasn't good enough. The man from Scotland we were talking to let me stand where he'd been so I could try to get a picture.
We went for some dinner and returned to watch the awards on TV. I don't think I have to describe that part to anyone, do I? We all saw it. Enough said.
June 7 - We woke to an unexpected heat wave. Since the temperature was going to be around 97 degrees, we changed our plans and did a bit of shopping. We could not find a single TIC souvenir *anywhere*! We went to the few places people had mentioned to me and nothing! I was glad that I had pre-ordered my TIC window card. We took it with us in it's Federal Express box. My sister was in charge of bringing it to the theater after the play. I was hoping to get some autographs on it. We walked around awhile taking pictures of some of the recognizable places like Radio City Music Hall and the NBC Studios. It was unbearably hot! We went into St. Patrick's Cathedral looking for relief from the heat and hoping for some kind of inspiration to keep us going a bit longer.
My mother and I had wilted in the heat and returned to the hotel to rest for the play that evening (Monday night), and my sister and our friend went to the Empire State Building, took a cab back to Times Square and saw John Fugelsang from VH1 interviewing someone on the street, but they weren't sure who it was. They lined up for tickets to another show, and they were offered tickets to some of the biggest shows on Broadway, but my friend turned them all down. He only wanted to see Footloose, but that theater was dark on Mondays. They returned to the hotel to find my mother ill from the heat and it was decided that my sister would accompany me to TIC that evening instead of my mother.
So my sister and I stayed at the hotel to get dressed for the evening, and my mom and our friend wandered down to the BAT to try to see Kevin arriving on his Zappy, and to hopefully see Tony Danza arriving as well. My sister and I followed a short while later and my mother was telling us that some of the actors had been arriving and we were talking about a limo that was at the curb, and when I turned back to say something to my mother, I saw Kevin! He was taking his Zappy inside and a few girls that had been hanging around the stage door waiting for him became very excited, he smiled at them, stopped for a second because they were talking to him, and then went inside. My mother who had been waiting to take a Tony Danza photo, whipped around and took a wild shot with her camera! My friend said she'd done the same thing to Tony Danza when he arrived. We were all laughing about whether she had taken a picture of the wall instead of Kevin, and the guy changing light bulbs on the marquee laughed as well. We were all in good spirits in spite of the heat.
Mom and friend left to go get dinner and sister and I waited for the doors to open. We were looking around at the people waiting. That's when we saw Kevin's mother arrive. Someone in the play received a large floral arrangement. We saw that being taken in the stage door. The people waiting for the play were a very eclectic group.
I saw a few other people carrying flat Federal Express boxes in bags. It was strange seeing other people doing what I was going to do. But I left my box with the poster back at the hotel. My mom was bringing it later.
I wondered if any of the people I was looking at were from any of the Spacey fan email lists or message boards, but everyone was starting to suffer in the heat and no one was really talking to each other. A man finally came out and told everyone that the side door was open, come on in!
Driving Mr. Spacey!: The positively untrue life and times of Kevin Spacey,
with a few real facts thrown in for fun.
All collages and photo enhancements were done by me using Microsoft® Picture It!® 99
