Performing for Brooke Shields & the Cast of Addams Family

The Maine Attraction, Brooke, me

I am so proud of myself! Not because I had the opportunity to organize and perform in a private show for the beautiful and super-accomplished Brooke Shields and the cast of The Addams Family (currently on broadway), but because I successfully kept it a secret! We were all under agreement to keep things private so that she could enjoy a night out on the town with her cast members without dealing with paparazzi.

We closed down Nurse Bettie for them and there were trays and trays of delicious Taiwanese baos from Bao Haus. Everyone started arriving around 1130pm and we started the show at midnight with a beaming Brooke sitting right in the front. Brooke asked for a classics-only show so we only did the best, most glamorous and fantastical costumes. Medianoche did her honeysuckle, floral act. Maine Attraction did her famous Sing, Sing, Sing number while Tansy did her comedic Snow White rendition. Bettina May did a classic green gown strip, Broadway Brassy sang 2 songs, and I did my red Dusk Til Dawn fan dance. They were a fantastic audience - totally into everything and needless to say, smart about the theater performance experience. Brooke is so nice and gracious and has a wicked sense of humour. It makes me so happy when I meet a celebrity and they are actually like-able! I had the displeasure of sitting next to Emily Haines from indie band Metric once at a local cafe, and I am (or was, I should say) the BIGGEST Metric fan. I saw them twice in NYC and once in Seattle. But she was SO annoying - and it was obvious that the guy she was with was just completely stricken with her and she knew it too. Her conversation consisted entirely of herself, on and on about the most trivial things that this guy unfortunately licked up every single word like she was preachin the gospel truth or something! To make it worse, the guy sitting next to them on the other side got sucked into her vortex too so her ego trippin became worse! Ever since then, I stopped listening to Metric.

Anyway so Brooke was not like that at all. She's genuine and very much a cool, down to earth person. Considering that she's been famous since she was 10 years old, take a lesson from her Emily Haines and other egotistical, talk-about-oneself all the time, budding performers/entertainers! During the dance-off competition, two of her cast members came up and one girl busted out the worm on the floor! Holy insects, I've never seen that move done at NB ever! It was an amazing night. Thanks to Tina Turnbow who created the opportunity for the performers and the venue, I was so happy that I got a chance to entertain someone who entertained me growing up.

Roger Rees (Gomez)

Bettina May, Brooke, Medianoche