Tony Awards

Through one of Molly's many theatre contacts, we were able to go to the 2007 Tony Awards as seat fillers this past Sunday. As the Tony Awards are a black tie affair, I had to rent a tux and Molly had to borrow a dress. Unfortunately, when we were all dressed up and ready to go, both of our roommates were out of town, so we had to settle for taking pictures in Molly's poorly lit hallway with her camera's self-timer. It may not be the best picture, but you can still see how dashing we looked.

We were given instructions by the Tony people about when and where to arrive. We were also told that we were going to be there from 4:30 to 11:00 and we wouldn't be able to bring food or drinks. As such, we went out for a late lunch and stuffed ourselves around 2:00. We went to Molly's apartment, changed, took pictures, and then realized we were dangerously close to being late. We jumped in a cab and asked the driver to get us to Radio City Music Hall as fast as possible. There was just one little problem. Sunday wasn't just the Tony Awards. Sunday was also the Puerto Rican day parade. The cab driver could only get us so close before we had to get out and fight our way through the crowd, cross the parade route, and get to the theatre. Even though we were nervous about being late, we could still appreciate the fact that we were dressed in our black tie attire and were surrounded by this:
The disparity was vast and comical. We got all sorts of strange looks as we passed through the crowd.

We made it across the parade route and arrived at the theatre at about 4:29. By the time we got there, a fairly large line of seat fillers had formed outside the theatre. This was yet another factor to make us nervous. At lunch we had discussed the various possibilities for our night, but not even getting in was not one of them. Luckily, the line started moving and after no time at all, we were given wristbands and escorted to our seats in the back of the theatre.

All the seat fillers were corralled into a big group at the back of the theatre. They were running the rehearsal, so we got to sit there quietly and watch as the stand-ins delivered their speeches and accepted their awards. It was pretty interesting to watch.

After the rehearsal was over and we were allowed to make noise again, the seat filler crew gave us our welcome speech and went over the rules. We were given instructions about how the seat filling would work, who to talk to for further instruction, and where to stand, but it was clear that it was going to be pretty chaotic as there were around 200 of us and maybe 10 of them.

When they were through talking to us, we were split into three groups. One group of 50 lined up against the far wall on stage left, our group of 50 lined up against the far wall on stage right, and the remaining 100 seat fillers stayed in their seats in the back of the theatre. At first, we were a little jealous of the people who got to stay in their seats. We were going to be standing all night while they got to lounge comfortably in their seats. But then we got to our wall and discovered our close, clear view of the stage. We had a far better vantage point than the obstructed view seats of the other seat fillers. And then it got even better. Patti LuPone walked right in front of us and we realized that we were standing 100 feet from the door to the backstage area. Nearly every presenter and a handful of other celebrities began walking right by us. The list was vast, but included:

• Patti LuPone
• John Mahoney
  
• Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs
• Jeff Daniels
• Neil Patrick Harris
• Anne Heche
• Harry Connick Jr
• Eddie Izzard
• Angela Lansbury (who asked the line of seat fillers if we were waiting for a bus)
• Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts
• Zach Braff
  
• Christina Appelgate
• Rainn Wilson
• Cynthia Nixon
• Vanessa Williams
• Robert Sean Leonard
• Brian Dennehy
• Sam Waterston

We were trying to keep a mental note of everyone who walked by us, but it got to the point where we just couldn't remember them all. The awards hadn't even begun yet, but we had already decided that we could go home right then and be happy with the night's events. Overall, I'd say we handled our close celebrity encounters with tact, but we got a little star struck when Eddie Izzard came ambling by. He had a bit of a quizzical look on his face, but he was walking past 50 people who were pretty much staring him down, so it was understandable.

Eventually the main show began (the tech awards were earlier, but we stood in the wings and watched celebrities, so we barely even noticed that they were going on) and the seat fillers began to fulfill their destinies. Since we were towards the middle/back of the line, we didn't get seated during the first commercial break, but we ended up pretty close to the front of the line.

I suppose now would be a good time to explain how seat filling actually works. Since the cameras at the Tony Awards are up close and personal, they want to make sure that all the seats are filled at all times. During commercial breaks, the guests go to the bathroom, talk in the aisles, or just get up to walk around. As soon as the commercial begins, the seat fillers start taking empty seats. Sometimes, a seat filler will sit in a seat only to get up again a few seconds later when the ticket holder comes back. The seat fillers were taken from the front of the line to fill seats and they returned to the end of the line after being bumped. If they got seated and subsequently bumped during the same 3 minute commercial break, however, they were allowed to return to the front of the line. The other important rule was that if you got bumped from a seat, but you saw another empty one, you could take it without being placed there by a crew member. The whole process took place at a rapid pace due to the time constraints and things got a little nuts when they announced 30 seconds or 10 seconds remaining.

So anyway, we didn't get seated during the first commercial break, but Molly got seated during the second or third. I moved up to the front of the line, but as people got bumped, I kept getting pushed back to 7h, 8th, 9th in line. Molly was seated towards the back, (the back of our seat filling section, which was the first 15 or so rows) got bumped at the next commercial, and moved to the another seat near the back.

I was then seated at the next commercial break and got a really nice seat. I was sitting directly behind Jan Maxwell of Coram Boy in the 5th or 6th row.
At the next commercial break, Molly was seated across the aisle from me right in front of Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts. You can see us as Jay Jonhson walks up to receive his award.
The woman sitting to my left must have realized that her companion was not coming back because she gathered her stuff and stormed off leaving an empty seat next to me. Molly took advantage of that and, at the next commercial break, moved across the aisle to sit next to me. We sat there happily for a couple of segments until two ticket holders bumped us from our seats. We were upset because we had great seats and the ticket holders were bumping us from the wrong seats. I had seen the people previously occupying our seats, so I knew that these people were mistaken, but we weren't in a position to argue. There were two seat fillers sitting directly behind us, so those were probably the seats these people were looking for. Regardless, we politely vacated our seats and Molly ran up to a crew member to ask if anything was open. He directed us to the front row and we sat down in our best seats of the night. Molly was right next to Anne Heche and I was diagonally in front of Angela Lansbury. Any lingering anger about our unjust seat bumping was quickly erased, but we knew our time there had to be limited. We had too great of seats to stay for long.

Sure enough, in the middle of the next segment, I felt a tap on my knee. I looked up to see Kevin Spacey staring down at me. I quickly and graciously got up, but it wasn't a commercial break. The show was going on and I was being bumped from my front row seat. I crouched down and started to take my leave, but I was trapped between two camera men blocking my exit. So there I was, crouched down on the floor of Radio City Music Hall - in the front row - while the show was going on - in front of Kevin Spacey and Anne Heche - with nowhere to go. I was starting to panic when Kevin Spacey suddenly decided he wasn't ready to sit down yet, told me he would be right back, and walked away. Molly and I decided that Kevin Spacey just does whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Kevin Spacey doesn't let commercial breaks get in his way. So I sat back down and a few moments later, Journey's End won Best Revival of a Play and walked right past us and onto the stage.

This is a great shot of Molly and Anne Heche during Journey's End's moment.
And here we are - perfectly framed - in the front row - in front of 6.2 million television viewers.
During the next commercial break, Kevin Spacey came back and decided the time was right for him to take his seat. As I got up, he put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Thanks. Sorry about that." So Kevin Spacey not only touched me, but apologized to me as well.

Kevin Spacey's companion bumped Molly from her seat as well, so the two of us retreated to the back of the seat filler line. At this point, the show was nearly over, so we didn't expect to get seated again. We stood there discussing the night's events and we would have been happy to let it end there. We were pretty well fulfilled. At that moment, the only thing we really wanted was water. It was some time after 10pm and we hadn't had a drop of water since around 3pm despite the fact that we were running around under the hot lights. All the celebrities and crew members were walking around with bottles of Fiji water, but the lowly seat fillers got nothing.

As we waited around in our line, Spring Awakening took the stage to perform. We couldn't see very well from where we were standing, so we edged closer to the seats and to where other people were standing and trying to see as well. Molly ended up standing right up next to Vanessa Williams during the performance.

Then, during the final commercial break, Molly was picked to go out into the seats and I took it upon myself to find one of my own. As I walked out into the crowd, I saw Kevin Spacey walk by, so I made a beeline towards his seat. I sat down next to Anne Heche and a few seconds later, Molly ended up getting seated right next to me. Molly and I were discussing our good luck, since we randomly got seated together again and we were back in the front row, when Anne Heche turned to me and handed me her cell phone. She asked me to take a picture of her and her date. I was happy to oblige.

Angela Lansbury took the stage to wish everyone farewell and the show ended. We got up to leave, but we were stuck behind the massive crowd. As we were standing around waiting to get out, the front row celebrities were doing the same. Seeing an opportunity, Molly walked right up to Zach Braff and had the following conversation:

Molly: Hey Zach Braff, you don't know me, but do you think you can get me a gift bag?
Zach Braff: You don't want one, they're not that great anyway.
Molly: Come on, I'm sure they are.
Zach Braff: It's really just an energy drink and a gift certificate for a cubic zirconia.

We eventually made our way up the aisle and out of the theatre. As we walked out into the night, we were greeted by the sight of fans packing the street and trying to get pictures of celebrities. Since Molly and I were directly behind Zach Braff, we probably ended up in a lot of people's pictures.

All in all, it was a really fun night. We'll definitely go back next year if we get the opportunity.