Hi, it's me, back with (yet another) Broadway update... yet again.... at Hadestown... (it's my favorite show. I can't help myself!) This weekend was one of the most exciting weekends, like, EVER, so I wanted to tell you all about it!
It all started back in August, when I went to see Hadestown with some friends, who had managed to convince me to sit front row. Not only was it the coolest experience of my LIFE (which I talk more about in my full Hadestown review here) one of them had been trying to convince me all night to go back September 21, the night before Broadway Flea 2024, front row again. (Honestly, it didn't take much convincing. It's Hadestown, after all). So, that weekend, we bought tickets in basically the same seats, and I couldn't wait to spend the weekend in the city.
Hadestown: September 21, 2024 (8pm Show)
I don't want to gush too much about the show itself because I do talk nonstop about it here, so I'm going to try and be brief, but I have so many things to say. First of all, sitting front row at Hadestown is one of the coolest things I've ever done. This time around, I was in seat 110, which is a little more stage right, compared to August when I was a little more stage left. Obviously, front row is front row, and no matter which "side" you're sitting on, you can still see everything, which is so awesome. The coolest part though, by far, is that the actors can actually see you from the stage (which, is, honestly, also kind of horrifying. And yes, I know for a fact that it's true because Maia Reficco has said it multiple times. Straight up. They can see the front row like, visibly).
Throughout the show, I made eye contact with like, the whole cast, which was so insane. Maia Reficco & I had a staring contest for probably half the show, and Jordan Fisher & I made eye contact almost every single time he was downstage. It is absolutely the coolest thing in the world when you get to make eye contact with people on the stage, and then they smile at you... Like, it is so cool.
Obviously, as I've said in other Hadestown reviews, this cast is nothing short of phenomenal. They are, quite literally, all the most talented people I've ever seen. So I'm not going to gush about all of them again... although. I really could.
Anyway, one of my favorite things to do after a show (especially Hadestown) is Stage Door - which, if you're unfamiliar with what that is, it's when you line up by the exit door of the theater in hopes of being able to talk to someone from the show! It's a really cool experience because you can meet different people every time.
I do want to very much emphasize that I do not expect anyone to ever Stage Door, the actors do not owe it to you, and its just really super cool when it happens!
I've Stage Doored every time I've seen Hadestown this year, and I've met some super cool people, including Philip Boykin (who plays Hades - he is an ICON!), and Maia Reficco. Maia has stage doored almost every time I've seen the show, so I've been able to meet her a couple times, and she is genuinely one of the sweetest people I've ever spoken to in my entire life. The first time I met her, back in July, we had both had french braids in our hair that night, and she doubled back after signing my playbill to take off her hat and show me that we were hair twins. (I did tell everyone I know about that, by the way. It was so wild. I was so taken aback). She comes out with the biggest smile on her face, and takes time to talk to everyone, and is always so shocked when people tell her she's incredible as if she didn't just have some of the loudest applause I've ever heard.
After this show, my friend & I Stage Doored, and we managed to get a spot right in front of the actual door, so we would immediately see who was coming out. We got to see Tim, who plays one of the Workers, and he is so sweet and so nice and SO talented!! It was my first time seeing him in the show too, so I was so excited that he came out and I got to talk to him for a second.
Maia came out too, and I swear she just likes to talk (just like me!) because she spent a good five minutes at least talking to my friend and I. My friend Ry had gone the night before, and had told Maia they were coming back with their friend, and she had said "See you tomorrow!" When she saw my friend at stage door, she said "Welcome back!" and then looked at me and said "You must be the friend!" We had a nice, long conversation about a bunch of things, and discovered we all had a similar sense of humor. (She is also an oversharer, and after telling us she was double jointed, showed us where she tapes her entire body for the show. She's a true professional yapper!).
Broadway Flea: September 22, 2024 (Morning)
This day started nice and early, which was a little rough considering I didn't make it home until about 1am the night before. But, the early start time was definitely worth it! I met up with my friend Ry, who I had seen Hadestown with the night before, and we got bagels for breakfast before heading down to Shubert Alley, where the Broadway Flea Market was located. We also met up with our friend Kristen!
(It is a great event, benefiting Broadway Cares, and this event had tables set up for each running Broadway show, selling a variety of items that are hard to come by to help raise money for charity.)
Since we are such big Hadestown fans (shocker, I know), we headed right for the Hadestown table and waited in line until the Flea Market started. There were a variety of items, including signed playbills (signed by the entire cast), paper flowers signed by Jordan Fisher, coins used in the show signed by Lola Tung, cups used in the show signed by Maia Reficco, T-shirts, and even fleece Hadestown jackets! I managed to get a Hadestown jacket (best purchase of my life), and a signed cup! It was also very cool, because the table was run by some cast members and crew, including Brandon Cameron, who plays one of the workers in the show, and it was very cool to get to chat with him!
Broadway Flea also had an autograph table, which, for a $30 donation, you could go down the table at a given hour and have up to two items signed by different Broadway performers! We chose to go to this table between 12 and 1 pm, which included Jordan Fisher and Maia Reficco, Hadestown's current stars. You had the option to have everyone sign or just some, and my friends and I specifically wanted to speak to Maia and Jordan. My friend Kristen and I had brought our copies of ACOTAR, which Jordan had mentioned was a favorite of his, and we were hoping he would sign them. When I got to Jordan, who was first in the lineup, he was very excited to see the ACOTAR book and was equally as excited to sign it. We started to talk about it, but I had to admit to him that I hadn't read it yet, but we quickly pivoted to other books. Maia, who was seated next to him, was also very excited about the book, so she decided to cut off Jordan to tell me explicitly how excited she was about the book. When I asked her if she would sign it too, she was like a little kid on Christmas and said, "Me, really?" and did, in fact, sign it.
After the autograph table, we decided to head home and walked back towards the Walter Kerr, and stop at the cafe next door for some caffeine and snacks. As I was (not so subtly) freaking out about talking to Jordan and Maia, my friends went quiet, and I did not understand why until I watched Jordan and Maia walk right past us and into the cafe. I was mortified, but we definitely laughed about it as soon as they were out of earshot.
This was truly such a surreal weekend, and I still feel like it's kind of a fever dream. So insane.
all my love,
gab <3
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