If you read the blog yesterday, you will know that we have a broken-foot superfan; a woman who broke her foot on the way to the show and refused to go to the hospital until after seeing the show. So tonight, I went to the theatre in search of her letter in order to share with all of you.

I have to say, I am still pretty over-the-moon that I’m working on a Broadway show, but getting to go in the stage door at the Shubert? That is like, beyond. I still get a bit nerdy about it all. Like the day I rode in the elevator with Angela Lansbury or walked by Chita Rivera on the street or when I got to email Donna Murphy. It wasn’t that long ago that I was in Colorado doing Pippin…

So we went backstage in search of the letter only to find it MISSING off the callboard. Tragic. So we went to Stage Management to see where it might be.

Now mind you, the show is going on at this point, so Tegan and I are darting in and around actors, jumping out of the way of dressers doing pre-sets, that sort of thing. Pretty incredible. Again, me geeking out that this is my life. And sort of getting nostalgic for those days when I was the one onstage or dressing the person onstage. Alas.

So, we catch Production Stage Manager, Arturo, in between something and he doesn’t know where the letter is- perhaps Gary has it and plans to laminate it?He is often laminating things. But Arturo did let me take home one (already laminated) letter which I thought I would share with you since I could not uncover the foot lady letter.

An excerpt as written to the enitre Cast, Crew and Creators of Memphis:

“I believe we all look for a significance in our work beyond simply doing the job- whether we drill rivets, fit pipes, test for illnesses, clean up other people’s messes, teach, preach, or sing and dance. Each audience member will leave your production with his or her own beliefs and feelings about the significance of what you have accomplished. As for me, I believe all theater can not onyl entertain but encourage and, on occasion, even transform. It has been that way from the Greeks through Shakespeare, Shaw, and Sondheim.”

“In today’s cacophany of ill-mannered opinion quickened by a need less to be heard and seemingly more just to be loud, you have reminded us of true struggles which remain but on which wee have made progress. You remind us of loss and redemption. You remind us of the universal power of music to heal and inspire because it touches that part of us we far too often hide or shy away from. I think that if you got all 535 members of Congress to see your performance at one time, we’d have an ironed out health care bill the next day! Ok- maybe not…”

I love the idea of Memphis bringing about a resolution to the health care debate. Though can’t you just picture some Congress member on CSPAN filibustering throwing in a little “No, No, No, No, that’s not possible!”? Am I the only one who wishes people would break into song in real life?

But back to the letter, I also love the idea that someone saw the show, went home (in this case, Viriginia) and then wrote a letter, a real letter (not a text or a Facebook status) and put it in the mail. And while texting or Facebooking about Memphis is certainly encouraged and appreciated, there is something about getting something in the mail that is not a bill.

Thank you to Walter for writing this letter, to Arturo for letting me steal it off the wall, to Gary for lamenating it, to Franc for letting me bob and weave around his quick change with James in order to get the letter, to the Shubert staff for letting me in the stage door, to Junkyard Dog to letting me in the doghouse, to Angela Lansbury who let me press her floor in the elevator, to Chita who smiled back when we crossed paths, and to Donna Murphy who emailed me back.

And I made it home before the snow, which Sue, office meteorologist, kept me posted on ALL day. Funny, it’s not snowing at the moment…though that could all change by the morning. Stay tuned…

Sidenote Retraction: The Barbra fan fainting story from yesterday was actually a Nick-tastic story and not from Tegan. But because Nick and Tegan are both obsessed with Barbra and with “The Golden Girls”, I often get the two of them confused. My bad.