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broadway, colin donnell, entertainment, Entertainment News, joshua henry, news, NYC, sutton foster, violet
Alrighty, here’s what you’ve all been dying to finally read! (Right?) Remember my joy months ago when I finally got my Violet tickets? Well, I saw the show on April 25th and it was, in a word, AMAZING.
I know, I know, but Sara, why did you wait so long to write this up? I’m Sorry. My sincerest apologies. Seriously. The last few weeks of school were a bit hectic.
But, enough of my excuses. The actual reason is because I wanted to see it a second time to be able to take in the entire show. This is due to several reasons:
1. The first time I saw it, I was a bit excited (okay, VERY excited) and I just wanted to see EVERYTHING. We all know that never works.
2. If I’m being 100% honest, my “I wanted to see EVERYTHING” means “I wanted to see Colin Donnell.”
3. I feel like I’m able to notice so much more when I’ve already seen a show, having gotten most of the excitement out of my system and actually being able to focus on the details. (Read: I needed to pay attention to the things that were not Colin Donnell.)
Anyway, the point is that I saw it for a second time on May 6th. The verdict: Wow.
Now, that’s not a sarcastic “wow.” It’s an “I’ve been left at a slight loss for words.” Seriously.
The first time we saw the show, it was absolutely amazing, but the second time… I don’t know if they upped their game because of the Tony nominations or if the cast just got a lot more comfortable in their roles over the course of about a week and a half–whatever it is, it’s working for them.
Now, where shall we start?
Ah, yes, with Sutton.
I won’t lie to you, Sutton is spectacular. This was my first and second time seeing her live and my expectations were thoroughly surpassed. Though she’d been sick for a few days before today’s show, she still sounded just as wonderful, if not better than the first time. I think my favorite song has to be “Lay Down Your Head.” It’s just so poignant and Sutton injects it with just the right emotion. “Look at Me” is also very striking, Alexander Gemignani providing quite the tear-jerking performance.
Additionally, Emerson Steele just wows as Young Violet. She’s only what, fourteen? Her recurring theme of “Water in the Well” will not only stick in your head for days, but will also serve as a touching reminder of poor Violet’s lost innocence.
On an entirely different note, Joshua Henry is positively magnificent! His solo number, “Let It Sing,” gives me chills every time. The riffs that this man produces are mind-blowing. Seriously. His vocals remind me of Peabo Bryson, with the same smooth and rich tone. We were simply blown away by his performance the first time, and the second time was even better! That tony nomination is SO well-deserved!
For the record, Rema Webb, playing Lula Buffington, is a powerhouse. Her gospel vocals in “Raise Me Up” are just stunning. She may be tiny, but boy, can that woman sing it. Never before have we been so tempted to raise our hands and “praise His name” during a broadway show.
Alright, alright, now for what you’ve all been waiting for! (Or is it just me…?)
Colin (FREAKING) Donnell is absolutely dazzling as Monty. (So I’m a bit biased…) Remember how I said that I would pay attention to things that weren’t Colin the second time around?
Now is when I get to tell you that that might not be what happened. I’m sorry. I can’t help it.
Seriously, though, I was absolutely enthralled by his performance both times (though this was inevitable). Like the others, he was even more amazing the second time around. “Last Time I Came to Memphis” is his shining moment. Though we felt like the performance on the 25th was a little restrained, this was not the case tonight. Mr. Donnell really showed off his vocal chops, leaving us absolutely stunned.
And speaking of guns… I’m going to take a moment to praise the gloriousness of Colin Donnell’s biceps. No joke. He has quite the…er, (steamy?) scene with Sutton in which his arms alone sent us swooning each time.
(Off the record: said biceps may cause swooning when wrapped around you…but more on that later.)
On a side note, we were quite amused by this scene the first time we saw the show. To put it simply, never have we seen a man remove his pants so quickly. It was not nearly as speedy tonight.
Alright. That’s it for the “Let’s Objectify Colin’s Body” portion of this post.
(Carolyn, commenting on that last line: He just has such a nice body.)
Anyway… the point I was trying to make is go see Violet. Right now. These guys deserve every Tony that they got nominated for. We are anxiously crossing our fingers for them.
On to the good stuff?
Allow me to take a minute to tell you my tale of woe from April 25th. By now, you all know who we were there for. It’s no big secret. So we went around the block to the stage door, eagerly awaiting the emergence of our darling. It was raining and the people were huddled in a shivering mass, waiting for Sutton. Now of course, we were not at all opposed to waiting for Sutton or Joshua. But we wanted Colin.
So we got talking to some of our fellow stage door-ers, coincidentally coming across a fellow classmate of ours that had also caught the show that night. Within a few minutes, Sutton emerged. Quite adorably, I might add, with not one, but two personal umbrella holders. She rarely does the stage door stuff, so we were pleasantly surprised when she signed playbills and took pictures with everyone that asked. She even looked and smiled encouragingly when two girls asked to sing for her.
Next came Joshua Henry. Let me just say, on the record, that Joshua Henry is a prince. Plain and simple. He is one of the nicest, humblest people that I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Just before he got to us, the girl next to us accidentally dropped everything that she had in her hands, and Joshua kindly helped her pick everything up and made sure that she was okay. It was adorable. We also found out that his riffs are improvised every night, which just made him all the more amazing. He was very amicable and gave us each a squeeze when we took pictures with him. Again, this man deserves that Tony.
So…we wait. And wait. And then I comment that I wasn’t even there for either of them. Then our new friend from school casually points out that Colin actually uses the front exit of the American Airlines Theater.
Yup. At that point I turned to Carolyn and demanded… or rather declared that we return the next night to wait for Colin.
And after quite the fiasco of a day (long story, I won’t bore you with it), we made it the next night. We anxiously waited for him outside, panicking for a few moments when we stopped to wonder if perhaps he had decided to go out the back that night. Luckily, a security guard soothed our worries when he asked if we were waiting for someone and kindly informed us that Colin would be out shortly (Cue the fangirl squeals).
Alright, here it goes. Colin could not have been any sweeter. We were literally the only people there waiting for him and he seemed a little bit bewildered to have anyone at all waiting for him. I was barely able to get words out, telling him how much I love his work, but I managed to ask him to sign my playbill (with the lucky gold Sharpie, also touched by Jonathan Groff!) and take a quick picture. I won’t even lie, when he put his arm around me, I was in absolute heaven.
Wait. It gets better. Before he left, Carolyn asked he would give me a hug…and he obliged. Let me tell you about this. Until you have been squeezed by Colin Donnell’s impressive biceps, you have not lived. I was, and (as I reflect on this to write) still am, OVER THE MOON.
But Sara, did you cry? No comment.
Now, now, did you really think I would go see it again and not wait to see him again?
The second time around, I was much more emotionally prepared (Read: I was still freaking out). Two other guys caught him after he finished chatting with some friends and asked him to sign their playbill. The cutie pie dug around in his pockets, but found that he didn’t have a pen. So who came to poor Colin’s rescue? Can you guess?
Yup, I stepped forward, heroically (or at least, I’d like to think it was heroically…) offering him the sacred, lucky gold sharpie. He accepted graciously, and we waited for him to sign and take pictures with them.
Then it was our turn. We told him that it was our second time seeing the show and that it was much better the second time. He asked if we had seen it early on and we told him that we’d seen it in late April. I took the opportunity to ask about his unfortunate head shot in the playbill, telling him that it was a little Bieber-esque.
“It’s an old picture…from like four years ago. That was a different me.”
We’d wager that it’s older than that, but whatever Colin says, man.
He took pictures with us again and it was just as glorious as the first time. We agreed that he is so gentle when he put his arm around each of us, as though he didn’t want to hurt us with those biceps of his. 😉 Regardless, it was beautiful.
I’m so glad that I got to see Violet again before leaving. As of right now, it’s set to close August 10th, so get your tickets soon! I’m hoping that they’ll extend the run until September and that we can go see it when we get back.
Best of luck to everyone at Violet! May they receive several Tonies.
Warm hugs to all of you! Stay tuned for my next post on A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder!
P.S. This will henceforth and forever be known as “The Colin Donnell Post.”