Stars in the afternoon

I got the opportunity to volunteer for the Drama League Awards today.

I have friends that had worked it before so I kinda knew how it worked but not really. ;)

My first challenge was picking out an outfit as we were told to wear something that was festive business attire. Uh?! I went to Macy's and got a royal blue jacket to wear w/ my pencil skirt. I thought it might be a little big but was determined to make it work.

Friday morning I gave up on making the jacket work and ended up wearing a button up red blouse that I already had! Doh! This last minute fashion switch of course made me run late and of course the subways were running late and it was raining so...I was a flurry of nerves when I arrived only to find out that the guy that I would be working w/ was even there yet! Sigh.

Anyway, it was somewhat of a hurry up and wait situation - we were eventually walked thru the area involving the awards in the Marriott Marquis, helped stuff programs and set them out @ the tables (sadly I wasn't listed as a volunteer as I had been added after they went to press - darn) and then sent to our posts. Mine was in the lobby on the non-Starbucks side. I was to keep my eyes peeled for celebs and others that looked like they were headed to the awards and approach them by saying, "Are you here for the Drama League Awards?" If they said, "yes" then I was to direct them to either the escalator or elevator depending on whether they were the previously mentioned celebs or "other people".

Since I was in the lobby and looking "official" I kept getting asked questions about the hotel from the people staying there. At which point I'd have to tell them I was there for an event in the hotel and didn't work there. One guy said, "Well, you LOOK like you work here."

The first celeb I spotted was Martha Plimpton, I readied myself to do my assigned task and she and her publicist (?) blew past me w/ her publicist giving me a snappish, "We know." Ohhh-kay. I hope the whole morning isn't gonna be like this...

The next person I encountered was the publicist for James Early Jones. He was very nice! He had come ahead of Mr. Jones to walk thru the route ahead of time. When the publicist came thru with Mr. Jones later he made a point of acknowledging me so JEJ acknowledged me too! :)

Rosie Perez came in by herself and was texting when I assisted her.

Peter Gallagher came in by himself, too and is a very genuinely laid back and friendly guy - unlike a lot of the celebs who kind of blew past me and I had to rattle off the info and keep pace w/ them as they passed (I never really knew if they truly knew the info already or not so felt like I had no other choice than to make sure...) he actually stopped and listened. He then spotted Marion Seldes entering from the other side and walked up to her singing. A couple girls in the lobby recognized him and asked for his picture and he was kind enough to oblige before he continued on to the elevator.

I had 2 doors to keep an eye on and one lead right to the escalator. That was the door Harvey Fierstein - the host for the awards - happened to come in on and up he went on the escalator before I had the chance to say anything. Fortunately, there were people posted on each floor to steer people in the right direction but I did scramble to let the guy @ the elevators know he was there (he had a walkie talkie to announce celebs as they arrived so people had the heads up in the press area).

The publicist for Amy Morton (the oldest daughter in August: Osage County) approached me and asked if I had seen her yet and I said that I didn't think I had but that she could have come in on the other side so she should talk to the guy @ the elevator. She did and came back to inform me that he knew what she looked like and that she hadn't arrived yet. Sigh. Apparently the car service didn't pick her up so she was headed to the hotel via subway and she was worried about Amy finding the way. So she paced near me and of course Amy came in on the other side. The volunteer @ the elevator was w/ her looking for the publicist and I saw them first so I hollered to get their attention (which they didn't hear), I tried again and by this time the publicist had seen them and kept repeating - "It's okay, I've got it. I've got it." In all the flurry I don't remember if Amy looked all that haggered from having to take the subway instead of car service - I think her publicist was wound up enough for her.

Who else did I see and somewhat assist? Laurence Fishburne, Patrick Stewart, Patty LuPone (she tossed back a thanks to me),Dallas Roberts (who seemed kinda spaced), Faith Prince, Little Mermaid aka Sierra Boggess - (most of the celebs were dressed down but she was in a very cute goldenrod colored dress enjoying here moment as a nominee), Cheyenne Jackson, Kerry Butler (haven't seen Xanadu but I recognized her from somewhere...Dirt?! No. Later I found out she was the backstabbing assistant on Lipstick Jungle!), Anika Noni Rose w/ a whole group of people, Sutton Foster (I found out later that she had been there, stepped out and came back so she really didn't need the info I gave her but she was very nice and listened - I wouldn't have known it was repetitive had the guy that assisted her previously hadn't of told me), Chazz Palminteri (he is a BIG guy - tall) and although I didn't assist her - I saw Frances McDormand get on the all glass elevator in front of me. And there are probably more but it became a blur after while! ;)

Gina Gershon was running late and blew past - I told her to go to the 7th floor - where the celebrities were to go and she said - It's not the 6th? Uhh...I hadn't been given a game plan for "celebs" that arrived in support of nominees but weren't themselves. It didn't matter - she kept walking to the elevators so she got to her destination either way.

We were finally dismissed from our posts in the lobby and were allowed to sit @ tables in the back of the room where the ceremony was being held. Everyone else sat w/ too much food and we had bottles of wine w/ a meal card from Cafe Europa. Many of us wondered if we could sneak out to get the Cafe Europa food and eat there - no one tried. Although some did go down to the lobby to get Starbucks...

The set up for the awards is very casual. All the nominees are marched thru from the back to the stage and take their seats in a tiered set up of tables. Then they begin eating their meals just like everyone else (except the volunteers...more wine?!). W/ maybe half the meal left Harvey began the "ceremony". Each nominee gets to stand up and speak and after several had spoken they'd break to present an award.

Some choice speech moments...

Anika Noni Rose saying that someone from the press asked how it felt to start the awards march and she told him this was it (she wasn't nominated for a Tony) and w/ that in mind she said she would take her moment and time talking. ;) She told a story about auditioning for Chazz long ago and knowing that she sucked but he was very nice anyway.

Chazz Palmenteri told a story about being an understudy and explaining this job to his friends. These particular friends offered to "take the actor out" so Chazz could be on stage but he opted to turn them down (although it took a lot of convincing as his friends thought he "just didn't want to be involved" so they offered to do a mugging that couldn't be pinned to him). He added that the actor wasn't that nice and he often wanted to tell him - You don't know how lucky you are...

Dallas Roberts said he had something really important to discuss and people laughed and he started to get irritated and emphasized that it was serious and people laughed more. Then he got out a cigarette and soon it became apparent that he was going to talk about smoking bans but as soon as he acted like he was going to actually smoke and the audience didn't respond well he said he was joking. Harvey followed it up by saying - Acting, Ladies and Gentleman...

Patrick Stewart got up towards the end so people were done clanking around their dinnerware. He asked that they continue as that was the closest he had been to performing dinner theater.

After the awards it is kind of a free-for-all as celebrities and "common man" mingle. I came face to face w/ Lois Smith but couldn't think of anything spectacular to say so I just opted for "hi". Bobby Cannavale was getting stopped for pictures. Patrick Stewart was leaving @ a rapid pace w/ a girl in her 20s rapidly following him saying - But you don't understand, I am such a HUGE Star Trek fan, I'll follow you to the elevator... Not sure how that turned out. Nearly ran into Rufus Sewell coming out a door and then later he was on the escalator behind me listening to a guy tell him he saw Tom Stoppard's Rock n Roll more than once. Rufus didn't respond at first and the guy wondered why. Rufus said, I can't believe you actually sat thru it more than once! I saw Laura Linney standing in line to get her coat @ coat check just like everyone else - funny how they keep everyone separate in advance but in the end everyone is tossed together. And I managed to get a pic taken w/ Peter Gallagher on behalf of a friend who is a BIG fan of The OC.

The Drama League was going to have a gathering @ a pub w/ a free drink & appetizers after everyone cleared out but I didn't stick around for that. Just wanted to get home, eat a regular meal and decompress.