That time I met Harry Potter

So, I went to New York this week for part of my Spring Break. Good heavens, I love that city. Now, this story isn't about this trip, but I got reminded and it deserves to be documented.

Back in October I went on a somewhat-spontaneous weekend trip to New York with two of my roommates, Dema and Pam. We did the normal things: ate really, really, ridiculously good food, went to Times Square, got makeovers at MAC, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and so on. Oh yeah, and we went to see a show. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to be exact. (Funny side note, I was in this musical in high school and had never heard of it until that point. So many hilarious memories....) The main stars of the show were Daniel Radcliffe and John Laroquette. It was an endearing performance and I was quite impressed that Daniel Radcliffe did as well as he did, seeing how he's not really a singer or a dancer. But bless him, he was really dancing his little heart out.

Fast forward to the end of the show. We decided to go to the stage door cause why not? We were already there, it could be fun to get a picture of Harry Potter. Only, come to find out, he doesn't come out for the matinee performance. Disappointment ensues. Then, we start thinking. Well, we're already planning on being in the area for dinner tonight, why not just come over after the night show and get a quick picture? So, that's what we do. Except it was anything but quick. In fact, in all it took several hours. We got there early enough that we were on the front line, right behind the barricades. Not to be dramatic, but it really was a bit like war. Not at first, but as time went on and the masses got larger, star-struck crazy girls start pushing, thinking that the one inch separating them from the person in front of them was unacceptable, and they just had to get that much closer to their beloved star. It got so bad that a little girl who was also on the front line couldn't breathe and had a panic attack, after which she had to be taken out of the crowd (at which point the security guards won me over because they were determined that the little girl would get to meet Daniel Radcliffe, even if no one else did. They were darling.).

This was the crowd before things got really crazy.

Anyway, long story short (too late), there was a large build-up and long wait for the much anticipated arrival of Mr. Radcliffe. John Laroquette came out first, and I was really impressed by him. He let people hand up their programs from the back of the crowd and just hung out and signed autographs. He was standing in front of us for a while, and we talked about how his wife was in Europe so he had the dog for the weekend and really hoped he didn't kill it while she was gone.

Then Daniel came out. Bless his heart, he was really anxious and flustered. Not that I can blame him, those girls were out of control and could have easily crushed him (he's tiny!). When he got to us, Dema told him that it was Pam's birthday and he looked up for the first time since he'd gotten outside. He said, "Who's birthday?" And Pam very eloquently said, "Um, well, it's uh mine, and, I mean it's her's too, but.... yeah." Then I talked to him and just told him that I was really impressed with his performance. He thanked me and said it meant a lot. We talked about the show and he recommended that we see the Book of Mormon musical because "it's something special." What are the chances he would say that to the only 3 mormon girls in the entire crowd? We wanted to tell him about how special the REAL Book of Mormon is, but we lost our chance because he was in a hurry.

Daniel signing my playbill

 And that is the time I met Harry Potter. That being said, I will leave you with some of my favorite things, Harry Potter style.