Amazing, Wonderful, Incredible, Exciting-- Inconceivable!

Why do you keep saying that word? I do not think it means what you think it means. ~Mandy Patinkin Today was all those words and more. The work day was okay, but it was when six o’clock rolled around that the most thrilling night of my entire life began. Tonight was yet another trip to the infamous Studio 54 to go to a tech rehearsal for Threepenny Opera. (note: I know nothing about this show. Nothing at all. The only reason I have an idea how one of the songs goes is a McDonald’s commercial I remember from my early childhood.) Going to this event started off bitter-sweet because I know that I wasn’t the only one at a tech rehearsal. My beloved GCC is in tech week for their first show without me. ::Sniff:: But this is a happy post, and let me tell you why: We’ll start with the least-thrilling and work our way up. 1) Isaac Mizrahi – Really, I just learned who he was tonight. 2) Ana Gasteyer and Alan Cumming tie for non-exciting simply because I already met them. But they were very friendly tonight. And this by no means takes away from their general awesomeness. 3) This man gets a back story. He’s in the show and came to speak to us before he performed. He introduced himself as Jim Dale. I smiled and thought, “that’s nice.” Then I started to think, Jim Dale, Jim Dale, Jim Dale… Why does that sound so familiar? Then he started to dance – really well, by the way – and I forgot to think of where I knew him from. But then he started acting, using his stage voice, and it dawned on me: He’s the voice of Harry Potter on tape!!! This is the man who has lived my dream as a voice actor, the fruition of reading HP to JZ and Charlie junior year! One of my faceless idols now has a face! And he dances, to boot! Number four gets their own special paragraph. To get a full grasp of this situation, we have to rewind about a month ago when I went Target to get a hanging unit for my clothes since my apartment doesn’t have a closet. While I was there, I decided to buy Me Talk Pretty One Day and The Princess Bride, because I’ve started reading on the subway and during the minutes I’m not watching TV or working or sleeping. I’ve since finished my Sedaris, and last week I started reading my Morgenstern. Pretty delightful book, great for short trips on the subway. Fastforward to tonight. I’m watching the rehearsal and I glance to my right to see a little old man shuffle in and sit on the other side of the theatre. I poke Rachel and whisper, “is that who I think it is?!” And indeed it was: Wallace Shawn, also known as Vizzini in The Princess Bride. Later that evening, I went to take a pee break (rehearsal was four hours) and while I’m in the bathroom, who should appear beside me? Oh yes, I peed with the Sicilian. Of course I had the book with me in my trusty bag, and I made him sign it when the rehearsal was over. It was my most touristy moment, yet remained one of my most glorious memories. So basically the two largest literary influences of my life collided into a beautiful evening.