Hunter Parrish and the cast of Godspell - Pictures
Hunter Parrish, star of Weeds and 17 Again, has been on Broadway for several months now. Lucky for me, I somehow had the privilege of catching him on the day of his final two performances in Godspell. The cast of the show and Hunter are all very kind, compassionate people, but for me personally, nobody was as genuine as Hunter himself.
I wasn’t able to get tickets because they do a lottery at the theater for Godspell, so instead I went to see How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, starring Nick Jonas, Michael Urie, and Beau Bridges. I downloaded the Godspell soundtrack a couple weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it since. I’m kind of in love with Hunter’s voice. I’ve been a big fan of Hunter Parrish since he started on Weeds way back in 2005. Then came RV and 17 Again, and as if he wasn’t incredible enough already he really wowed me in both movies. It’s amazing seeing his growth from season 1 of Weeds till now. Kind of insane.
Needless to say, the main reason I was headed over to the Godspell stage door was to see Hunter. My desire to see the show was rising and rising, and then while I was waiting there somebody told me it was his last day at the show. This matinee show followed by the evening show would be his last two performances. That’s when it kind of sank in that I would never get to see Hunter as Jesus… like, ever.
I had truly been planning to see this show, so knowing Hunter was going to leave kind of made it super important that I actually meet him. Knowing he was in New York City for months on end and I never even got to meet him once or see him perform live kind of pissed me off. I heard nothing but good things about how nice and gracious and incredible he is toward fans, but nothing could have prepared me for how down-to-earth he actually was.
The cast slowly starting pooling out one-by-one, and they were all very friendly. I got a picture with every person who walked out there mainly because I didn’t want to be rude. They were all shockingly very cool people. Not a single stuck-up or nasty one in the bunch. The main people I knew (besides Hunter) from other things were Telly Leung from Glee and Anna Maria Perez de Tagle from Hannah Montana and Camp Rock. Telly was very friendly and polite, and Anna was so short and cute. The best thing was the energy at the stage door, which really seemed to be electric. All these actors were clearly still high on theater fumes and it showed. They loved meeting their fans! Seeing how nice they were only made me want to see the show even more. I’ll be sure to support this awesome cast in any way possible. This show officially moved to the top of my list of Broadway shows to check out!
When Hunter finally came out, he was grinning from ear to ear. In fact, I don’t think the grin ever subsided even once. He was out there signing and taking photos and conversing for a good forty minutes at the very least. I have met nice celebs before, but I’ve never seen someone so comfortable and at ease with his fans as Hunter. He was chatting away with everyone on line, taking multiple pictures, and giving out hugs like candy.
He literally stopped for every person. When he got over to me, he willingly made out the Weeds Season 1 DVD I’d brought “to Josh” and then I had a girl I’d met there take a picture for me. He put his arm around me ahhhh! I was kind of spazzing, so I didn’t even check the picture till I’d left the barricade and realized it looked awful. I was already halfway down the street, and thought twice about going back. I finally just thought, what the hell have I got to lose. When I got back, he was maybe a foot further down the barricade than when I had met him. I walked right up and told him my picture didn’t come out good. He instantly pulled me in and was like “Sure, let’s take another one!” This time I took it myself, and was much more satisfied with the results. I said “thanks it was so great meeting you” and then he smiled that wide smile right back at me and said something that I can’t even remember. Some moments go by so fast or are so spectacular that they are just a blur. I have to remember to record these things in the future!
In the end, I walked away having pictures with virtually the entire cast, including two great ones with Hunter. I hope he returns to the city soon for publicity for Weeds or films another movie role soon, because I’ll be there to show my support. I’m a little skeptical about Corbin Bleu filling in for Hunter, but I’ll still check it out since I’ve been dying to see the show and I love the cast. I’m sure he’ll be good. Don’t forget to check out Hunter’s debut EP Guessing Games, which hits iTunes today, April 17th. Also, don’t forget about the new season of Weeds (season 8 already? That’s kind of insane), airing on Showtime starting July 1st.
