chasing Will Chase

Dear Will Chase,


I was lucky to have been told by the stage door guy at the Imperial that you don't usually do the autograph line and walk away immediately. So I was well positioned to chase you down 44th St. for an autograph and a photo.


I love Rent, see. I first saw it live in a local Manila production maybe a decade ago and fell in love. I regret never watching Rent on Broadway but thank god for this digital age when theater performances can be recorded and immortalized on DVD, then get distributed worldwide via peer-to-peer sharing.

I finally got to see Rent "Live on Broadway" a few months ago. I plugged my USB into the player, sat on the floor in front of my TV and entered Alphabet City on December 24th, 9pm EST. Mark shot without a script! Then there was you, tuning the Fender guitar. And what a Roger. Words I had memorized for years felt like they were being sung for the first time.


I usually like Mark better than Roger, dorky vs brooding you know? But not your Roger. Your performance brought me to tears and made me fall in love with him, that first time and many viewings since.


Which is why I KNEW, being back in New York, that I was not going to miss Billy Elliot if it killed me. The chance to hear you in person! I won't pretend that I was / am disappointed that Tony grossly underutilizes your vocal prowess.


But it was a good show overall and now we've come full circle to post-Billy and me needing to chase Will Chase for a much-awaited encounter.


You turned around when I called, "Will Chase!" and asked for an autograph. As you signed my Playbills I told you I had seen you in Miss Saigon, Manila. Did you reply, Awesome? Then I asked if you would take a picture with me, which I told you I would be taking myself. After the click I was checking the camera and you asked, "Are we pretty?" Will Chase, you are very pretty.


I was so overjoyed by this brief encounter that I almost told the girl in line for the American Idiot lottery, where I headed after Billy, what had just happened.


But then I realized that I had forgotten to tell you something, something more important than having seen you in Miss Saigon. What I should have told you- I realize that I am a few years late with this compliment, but you are my favorite Roger.


Would that have made a difference to you to hear? Maybe not. But I would have liked to tell you that in person. After all, how often do we get to tell people that they are our favorite Phantom, Moritz or Elphaba?


So I am instead expressing this sentiment to the general digital populi. That one day you may hear of this know what I meant to say!






Much love and thanks,
Bea