Got Hugh Jackman? I do!

I met Hugh Jackman! I touched his arm to make sure that he is real and sure enough, he is! Even a more attractive and all around amazing person in real life!

Ok, so here's the scoop. Tiffany told me a few months ago that she had read that Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig would be starring together in a Broadway play called "A Steady Rain." Not only are those two guys our favorite actors (her Daniel and me Hugh) but it was a story about cops and would only be running for 12 weeks. So of course we jumped on the opportunity! We got tickets for October 9th, a Friday night so we planned to leave Thursday night, explore during the day on Friday, watch the evening show and then return home. That's about how it went. It was intense, I believe we spent 24+ hours on the road and only about 12 hours in the city, but as you will soon see, it was soooo worth it!

Around 3:30pm we decided that we had already explored the as much of the city that was worth exploring (it was Tiffany's first time there so we saw all of the big attractions). So we decided to head back to my car to drop some stuff off and then kill some time on Times Square before our 8 o'clock show. On our way back from the car, we noticed a man standing outside of the stage door for A Steady Rain, so I decided I wanted to go talk to him to see if he had any intel. We chatted for a while and eventually he told me that he was Daniel Craig's bodyguard. He mentioned that we may or may not be able to see him if we came back at a certain time. We had almost an hour to kill before this "certain time," so we headed to an Irish Pub, grabbed a Guinness and Cider to pass the time and then headed back to the theater.

At the "certain time," Daniel Craig arrived to the theater. We were thrilled! Tiffany was beyond thrilled since she was able to see her guy, but seeing one of the two guys we drove so far to see was amazing! After a quick photo op, we of course had to wait for the opportunity for me to see Hugh!

Tiffany's photo op with Daniel Craig

After a ridiculously long hour and a half, Hugh came strolling up the street. Strolling! Not arriving in a fancy car! So of course the crowd had grown in that hour and a half, so there was a chance that I was only going to be able to touch him, not necessarily get a photo like Tiffany was able to get because his bodyguard was trying to get him quickly into the stage door. I very kindly explained to the bodyguard that we had driven 12+ hours through the night in order to be at the show and would love nothing more than a photo with Hugh. Not long after the bodyguard apologized and said "no," Hugh turned around and said "Sure. Where is your camera?" OMG! Needless to say I was in a bit of shock so I look like an awe-stricken goof in the photo, but it's amazing of him! See?

Isn't he adorable? What a guy!

After my life became complete, Tiffany and I moved into line for the show (since that was the whole reason we came). Already the trip had turned into more than we could have ever expected! We watched the show, it was amazing! It dealt with tough choices in life and started out humorous and took a turn towards intense. In case you are going to see the show, I don't want to ruin it for you, so go read a review if you want to know more. The important thing is that both Hugh and Daniel were amazing and it was a fantastic show!

At the conclusion of the show, we headed outside for the possibility of being able to see the guys one more time while they signed autographs for the large group of fans. The theater set up the barricade so that one side was for random people on the street waiting to meet them and the other side was for people just getting out of the show. Because we were in the show, we were able to get a decent spot in the group to get one more good look at the guys. Now here's the next best part. It's a bit cheesy (especially to you guys), but I'm going to write about it anyways. Hugh was the first one out to sign autographs on our side of the door and I was able to hand him my playbill so that I could have it signed. When he handed the playbill back to me, he must have seen the huge genuine smile that I had on my face because when I thanked him, our eyes met and I got an incredible smile back. Jello! That's how my legs were anyways. That smile is powerful on screen, but when you get that smile with eye contact in real life, it's a powerful weapon! I hope that his wife never takes that for granted! Wow...

If I had to give a moral to the story, here it is: Be nice to everyone because you never know who you are talking to. It could be Daniel Craig's bodyguard who will hook you up for the rest of the evening just because we were nice and chatted with him for a while, even before we knew who he was. The door guard was hilarious too. He had been working at this theater for over 10 years, so he had all kinds of fun stories to tell. My favorite was him telling me how Hugh was the nicest guy by far that he had ever met while working at the theater and that every Friday, Hugh brings lottery tickets for the employees, just because....good stuff!

Ok, so that's my story. Of course there are so many more details involved, but some of you probably already think I'm crazy for what I've written up to this point. But that's ok, I am a little crazy inside. Crazy for Hugh! Haha... So if you want to know more, feel free to ask because I'll always be willing to reminisce about this! Happy picture viewing!

Reenacting my "break-in" of the stage door

Tiffany and I before the show
Hugh signing autographs... :-D
Daniel Craig signing autographs
Hugh is such a nice guy, he thanks everyone for everything!

My proof that I "Got Hugh" this weekend! A signed playbill and a lottery ticket.

P.s. As a funny side note, the worse part of my day when I returned to Indiana was having to take a shower and washing Hugh Jackman off of me :-( It's ok, Ariela was able to get a good hug in to share Hugh before the shower. Weird I know, but if you think about it, it's something that you would think about too....haha