Aly doing stage version of "When Harry met Sally"

[mollyig]

We saw this on Feb 14th. I enjoyed it, which kind of surprised me, as I was a bit dubious about Luke Perry. Oh, and also I had never seen the movie.



We went to the matinee, and went around after the performance, but the doorpeople said that because there was another show later on that Aly et al would not be making an appearance. Ah well, it was still very enjoyable.

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". . . and tolerance it ain't acceptance . . ." - Amy Ray

[concrete]

Wow! Biiiiiiiig sigh of relief we got our tickets so early on and were lucky enough to get March 6 (next week, next week ) Of course it would not have been a complete waste of time cause there's plenty of fun stuff to do/see but seeing Aly is -obviously- the high point of this all and makes up for the enormously long (45minutes, no less) Amsterdam-London trip. I sure hope no Kittens have tickets for the 17march - 03april period cause that would be a bummer (maar zolang wij maar goed zitten maakt het me eigenlijk niks uit haha).

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious. ...

[kajo 2000]

There are some photos of Aly signing fan autographs after the play's premiere at Slayerworld.info. (Alexis and Tony Head are also in a couple of the pics). There are a few more at Rex Features.



Edited to add: Rex Features also has some shots of the actual play:



Page 1



Page 2



Edited again to add: There are 2 more play pics at Buffy.nu:



Pic 1



Pic 2

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"I want to be Byron... because I want to date young boys." Amber Benson

Edited by: kajo 2000 at: 2/25/04 11:10 am

[tyche]

Quote:

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‘When Harry Met Sally’ bland on stage

From Nwsource.com

Tuesday, February 24, 2004 · Last updated 12:38 p.m. PT

AP: ’When Harry Met Sally’ bland on stage

By MATT WOLF

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

LONDON -- The fake orgasm scene is about the most real moment in the London stage premiere of "When Harry Met Sally ...," the much-loved Billy Crystal-Meg Ryan movie that has now become a harmless, bland star vehicle for television stars Luke Perry and Alyson Hannigan.

Perry, star of "Beverly Hills 90210," and Hannigan, Willow from "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," are the latest American TV imports to try their luck on the British stage. You can bet they will not be the last.

One of the biggest hits of this past summer was a West End revival of the David Mamet play, "Sexual Perversity in Chicago," that featured Matthew Perry from "Friends" making his British stage debut.

It was almost a sure bet to transpose "Harry" from screen to stage. Audiences tend to respond to titles they already know, which is partly why "The Producers" and "Hairspray" have been such huge successes.

The difference here is that those Broadway musicals took their source films largely as a jumping-off point. The stage "Harry," though, is a case of slavish, almost pointless, imitation: It copies Nora Ephron’s screenplay nearly moment by moment - sometimes line by line - without ever capturing the film’s easy charm or wit.

The 1989 movie, directed by Rob Reiner, remains best remembered for the restaurant scene featuring Meg Ryan’s fake orgasm. The scene arrives on cue in the play near the end of Act 1. The throes of passion are moaned for optimal comic effect by Hannigan, who has inherited Ryan’s screen role as the perky, fastidious Sally. But too much of stage director Loveday Ingram’s production comes across as a Cliff Notes version of the film.

And the theater adaptation doesn’t even have Reiner’s mother on hand to utter the now classic quip, following Sally’s cries of ecstasy: "I’ll have whatever she’s having." In the play, the line has been handed to a campy young man sitting in a booth next to the couple, and it lands without comic effect.

Sure, a few of the details are different. In the movie, Harry meets Sally when they share a car ride from Chicago, where they have been at college, to New York. Marcy Kahan’s stage adaptation starts with budding journalist Sally, age 21, already in Manhattan, where rising corporate lawyer Harry arrives to paint her apartment.

The two have a love-hate relationship and take more than a dozen years to decide what we can tell from the start: However much they may spar, the pair are every bit as meant for each other as the numerous couples whose filmed testimonials of affection appear throughout the film.

The stage production includes its own droll sequence of such testimonials - a screen drops in between scenes to project them - including that of two gay men who first met during a Metropolitan Opera production of "Der Rosenkavalier."

In pointed comparison with the slow build of romance that drives the central plot, Harry and Sally’s two best friends, Jack (Jake Broder) and Marie (Sharon Small), fall in love almost instantly. They must then wait for Harry and Sally to see beyond the Platonic confines of their rapport.

The portly Broder all but steals the show from stage neophytes Hannigan, who has never done theater at all before, and Perry, whose limited experience includes the Broadway revival of "The Rocky Horror Show."

Though engaging, Perry is too lightweight a presence for the part, and he doesn’t sound comfortable with the Jewish-etched zing of Ephron’s writing, which was so perfectly matched to Crystal.

Hannigan is more audible, certainly, but she brings a somewhat shrill quality to the less rewarding of the two leading roles. No wonder the fake orgasm shows the actress at her best: For that moment, at least, Hannigan looks as if she is having fun, and the audience, however briefly, is, too.

The play, which opened Feb. 20, is booked through May 29 at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.

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[kajo 2000]

From Implex Verlag:

Quote:

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ALYSON HANNIGAN, West End Girl



The following text is a somewhat expanded and slightly altered version of a review which was printed in the February 13th edition of "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" in German. It’s about A.H.‘s debut as a stage actress in the role of Sally in Marcy Kahan’s theatrical version of Nora Ephron's "When Harry Met Sally" at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London, co-starring Luke Perry as Harry. As with the Amber Benson stuff elsewhere on this site, I translated it myself and hope it’s readable & you enjoy it.



- Dietmar Dath





In the year 1989 a quirky and smart screenplay by Nora Ephron allowed director Rob Reiner to guide Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal towards delivering some of the best lines these two actors ever got to speak. "When Harry Met Sally" was quite a good motion picture for many reasons, not the least of which seems to be – at least in retrospect – that it made fun of two of the most common misconceptions concerning love and/or sex that were passed around in the wake of the "sexual liberation" of the 1970s. The first of these two charmingly idealistic, but ultimately unworkable ideas which can be summed up as "love exists to conquer the system" was corrected in the course of Reiner‘s comedy by a crafty tongue-in-cheek-presentation of the ways in which people who actually profit from said system – by not being forced to worry over basic necessities of life too much, for example – namely, two innocently self-centred Yuppies as only the Eighties could have created, may sometimes be granted by a benevolent goddess of erotic mischief, the unlikely ability – not to mention the time – to enact complicated ballet-exercises of love, attraction, withdrawal and so forth for our enjoyment. Enjoying that might have been a guilty pleasure for us enlightened liberals, but an instructive one nonetheless.



The other weak post-68-idea which Reiner’s film subverted was the kitschy radical slogan that "private lives of any kind are a bourgeois diversion and shall be smashed by the righteous fury of the politically minded". For if you but watched these two deliciously confused products of corporate America carefully enough, you had to admit that their fuzzy decadence was something that should not be lost or discarded, but rather preserved by an utopian, even a post-revolutionary society: let’s never give up the games people play.



Fifteen years and countless pamphlets by kind-hearted sociologists of sex later, stage director Loveday Ingram now presents a stage version of "When Harry Met Sally" at London’s Haymarket Theatre (that’s one of those "West End"-venues one reads & hears about so much). Marcy Kahan, the Canadian-American playwright who adapted Ephron’s original screenplay for this production, managed to get everything right that Ephron herself somehow failed to recapture in most of her other similar efforts following "When Harry Met Sally", from the long-winded "Sleepless in Seattle" up to the feeble "You’ve Got Mail".



Kahan’s version showcases all of the original’s strengths while discovering some new ones only visible today: everything she preserves or inserts is historically precise and emotionally true, the time is shifted from the space between the seventies and the eighties to the one between the eighties and the new millennium, the right TV shows are mentioned ("West Wing", "Jerry Springer") and Harry’s ex-wife gets to spout pseudo-hipster-jargon cut from original nineties fabric, remarking about a restaurant: "it’s so retro, it’s avant-garde".



Even those endearing video-inserts of longtime companions telling their tales of true love and commitment get recontextualized: This time around, they feature a harmlessly middle-class gay couple as well and were made by Sally’s friend Marie who is now a video artist instead of a storefront-decorator. On top of that, they get dissed for being "schmaltzy" by the ever-sarcastic Harry. Speaking of Harry, whom you might remember as an eloquent, misanthropic pessimist obsessed with doom and thanatopsis in Crystal’s quite fetching interpretation: here he‘s not so much a timeless existentialist but rather a boyish, yet at times amusingly savage social heretic – you’d have to be pretty grumpy not to enjoy watching Luke Perry spitting out words like "über-ruthless“ , "fascists" and "corporate yuppies".



Kahan knows her characters – and what’s more, she’s quite aware of the necessities of form such a reworking of already well-done material entails. On the characters, she writes in her short commentary: "What they find is each other, but since Harry is a depressive, domineering sexual opportunist and Sally a perky, romantic obessive compulsive (I‘m exaggerating ever so slightly), they don’t hit it off."



On the form of the play, Kahan has this to say: "A funny thing happened on the way to the end of the first draft. I discovered that "When Harry Met Sally", deep down in its deepest impulses, is really a stage play. This has to do with the differences between plays and movies. As the playwight Christopher Hampton once defined it, a theatre play dramatises "the slow unfurling of a tightly knit argument, powered by thetoric, while a screenplay relies on the eloquence of its images."



As it was with Ephron and Reiner, the very best thing about a solidly planned textual fundament for any dramatic presentation is that it allows the actors to show their stuff as best they can. And these actors fully deliver here.



Roughly half of the people present at the preview I’ve seen could be (or actually are) familiar with Alyson Hannigan by way of her former roles as Willow on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Michelle in the hugely succesful "American Pie" films – you can tell because of their age, their T-Shirts (one woman has a lovely embossed Buffy-Shirt that’s probably homemade, I’ve never seen it before anywhere and believe me, I‘ve seen and worn plenty of Buffywear), their fannish demeanor (I mean that in a good way since I’m in no position to throw the first stone) and their comments during intermission time. Hannigan has reportedly never stood on a stage before, but she captures the mood and uses the possibilities as I‘ve heard she’s been itching to try this one for a while. The voice carries, the gestures beckon, the first clumsy New-Year’s-kiss between our two star-crossed yuppies is placed by this incarnation of Sally’s with impeccable awkwardness and the famous fake orgasm-scene gets a deservedly sustained round of applause (by the way, it’s also followed by one of Kahan‘s nice little upgrading touches: the person who says "I’ll have what she’s having" is not, as in the movie, a middle-aged woman, but rather a good-looking young man).



Hannigan plays it slightly more controlled than Ryan did, her kind of cute is a bit more cerebral, sweet & sour instead of sweet & uptight. Some tell-tale little tics and accidental parallels connect this role with others she’s played, the adorable little "och"-sigh when she’s exasperated is there, and when the Buffy-crowd detects an Apple-computer onstage, we naturally think of our favourite technopagan wicca, even the way she wrinkles her nose or slings a sheet around her body (don‘t get me started on "Seeing Red") suggest a scent of déjà-vu, but that’s full-blown Buffymania for you.



Be that as it may, Hannigan’s interpretation of what it means to be a latter-day-Sally is especially delightful in that it seems to wryly comment on the fate of such roles since 1989 – this Sally has clearly seen some romantic comedies herself and wears this sense of romantic-comedy-erudition like her too-big-aerobic-T-Shirt and green stretch pants in a newly inserted workout scene – even when her tongue slips, it tends to make sense: once, she declares that she’s just arrived in L.A. instead of New York, and of course that’s just as possible for this new Sally, Nineties-wise, as does showing us the different ways of sitting on a sofa (when you’re Sally and someone you just met is shamelessly hitting on you, you don’t sit there like you do with your best female friend, discussing each other’s love-lives).



Hannigan’s fans, judging from my own reactions and from what I‘ ve heard others say during the intermission, are thus completely satisified and pleased, as was to be expected. Compared to this – for people like me, the evening‘s main attraction – the very capable supporting cast members, especially Sharon Small as Marie and Jake Broder as Harry’s best friend Jack – the movie introduced him as Jess – are merely very competent and admirably restrained, they serve the whole thing well by being anything but movie-actors, absolutely devoted to delivering the line, making the point, hitting the note which cannot be repeated.



Wherever there’s new dialogue ("Old people are lucky – they know their story" sounds more like a novel than a play, but works nicely) it fits, and some of the things the film had which you cannot reproduce onstage are replaced by absolutely adequate replacements: the autumn walk is suggested by psychedelicately falling larger-than-life-leaves on video and the long drive to New York gets transformed into a paintjob for Harry which takes several days because Sally wants her new N.Y. apartment done in a very specific way ("White verging on white" as he mockingly calls it).



Surprisingly for those of us who thought he might not have it in him, the male lead delivers the goods. Billy Crystal's Harry is a tough act to follow, let alone surpass, but Luke Perry, ageing Beverly Hills 90210-heartthrob, mouths off and flatters, swings and swoons, sings and throws his body into the ring (once, we even get a glimpse of his backside) in so energetic and engaging a fashion that you cannot help but cheer him when he finally wins Sallys heart – the hair may be falling out, but if your weapons include natural sardonic wit and the will to learn from experience, you might just get your heart’s desire, even in erotically highly challenged times like ours.

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From BBC Cult:

Quote:

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When Harry Met Sally

25 February 2004



Alyson Hannigan makes West End debut.



Luckily, I must be the only person not have seen the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks original. Fans of the film may find their enjoyment marred, however.



For my fellow virgins, When Harry Met Sally concerns the will-they-won't-they friendship between the new-to-Manhatten Sally and true New Yorker Harry.



Can Alyson Hannigan cut it as a West End star? The answer is largely yes. Alyson has a certain degree of stage presence and manages to banish memories of Willow, thanks largely due to a change of accent. Unfortunately the demands of the role require her to age thirteen years, with the Sally of 2000 considerably older than our Alyson. This is largely where her performance falls flat – we just don't really believe that any time has passed. Seeing little Willow grunt and groan in the famous restaurant scene is also a bit disconcerting.



Luke Perry also abandons his husky Beverly Hills 90120 voice for one with a hint of roguish charm and the audience certainly warmed to his performance. And yes, we do get to see rather a lot of the former teen idol and the years have been kind.



Unfortunately, while individually appealing, there's little chemistry between the two. Initially this isn't a problem – Harry and Sally are supposed to find each other annoying - but we never believe they could fall in love.



Fortunately, there is admirable support from Kevin Collins and Sharon Small as friends who Harry and Sally try to pair-off. Their performances are so strong that you can't help but wonder what could have been if they had been put centre stage.



Another major ingredient of the play is a series of When We Met filmed vox pops featuring aged American couples telling us how they met. This device is either sweet or stomach churning – I'd go for the latter. Also, for a show that is presumably trying to distance itself from the original movie it seems odd to cut to filmed inserts.



Staging of the piece is stylish and minimalist which, while this adds a sort of timeless quality, doesn't help convey the passing of a time. Music is also timeless, with Jamie Cullum providing a jazz score and lending his unique vocal talents to the classic It Had To Be You.



While When Harry Met Sally has it faults the material of the piece is strong enough to amuse. Alyson Hannigan and Luke Perry make appealing leads, but a lack of chemistry sometimes kills the romance.



When Harry Met Sally is on at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket for a run of sixteen weeks. Click on the links below for more information and to enter our competition to win tickets.



When Harry Met Sally website



Win tickets

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"I want to be Byron... because I want to date young boys." Amber Benson

Edited by: kajo 2000 at: 2/26/04 10:43 am

[tyche]

Quote:

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www.thestage.co.uk/paper/0409/0201.shtml

When Harry Met Sally

Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London

Based on the 1989 movie, this play tells the story of a couple so intent on proving that they can be friends without sleeping together, they nearly miss the fact that they have fallen in love.

Luke Perry has been perfectly cast as Harry. We can easily accept his tales of sexual conquests throughout Manhattan, although Perry also successfully projects the vulnerability hidden beneath Harry's dark side. Alyson Hannigan as Sally sounded desperate to project in the opening scenes but, mirroring her character, she matured and blossomed as the story unfolded. This seemed more prominent as Sally's friendships came to the fore, primarily with Harry, but also with the fine support offered by the excellent Sharon Small and Jake Broder as the couple's friends.

The design by Ultz paid homage to films, with wooden tabs recreating mid-shots, split screen and ultimately Cinemascope scenes, reaffirming its alliance with the original. The adaptation by Marcy Kahan proves fairly slick with some perfectly acceptable inventions to ease the transition from screen to stage and also a few cheeky surprises on some of its most well-known gags.

The big question is whether or not this play has legs after such success on the screen. The creative team appears so desperate to please audiences by making this play look like a movie that intellectual theatregoers may sneer with derision. However, it is unlikely anybody saw the movie for intellectual stimulation and audiences should accept the play for its witty script, fine acting and sentiment rather than its concept.

By Paul Vale

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[Boudecia Jones]

Hey, how about replacing Luke Perry with Amber, and renaming the play When Harriet met Sally Now that`s one show I`d pay good money to see!!!

[urnofosiris]

and again and again

[Boudecia Jones]

Well it`s now the morning, or rather the evening, after the night before! After seeing the delectable Ms Hannigan, my head`s still in a blissed out fog! However I`ll try to give as honest and coherent account of the play as I can.

Gosh don`t know where to start! When I arrived I discovered that due to a lack of "bums on seats", my ticket had been upgraded. This was good news for me but not necessarily for the play, time will tell. I guess I have mixed feelings about this production. The movie did not particularly engage me, so I really wasn`t expecting the play to do likewise. Like most other Kittens on this board, the main purpose of this visit was to see Alyson Hannigan. In that respect the evening didn`t disappoint!

So on to the important part... After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, it was probably only about fifteen minutes, the lights dimmed, the screen lifted and there was Aly in all her loveliness She`s incredibly slender and seems taller than she appears on screen, with the shiniest hair I`ve ever seen on just about anyone!!!

I gotta say she was fantastic, the consummate performer. Aly has an incredible comedic talent, considering she has not appeared on stage professionally before, she was amazing. Far from merely mimicking Meg Ryan, she makes the role her own, and brings a sensitivity and vulnerability to the role of Sally which for me, is missing from the film. Occasionally I caught the odd inflection in her voice or a gesture which was very reminiscent of Willow, or maybe it was Alyson, either way it was very tender. As for the famous cafe scene, all I can say is Alexis is one lucky fella

The play itself is very slick and polished, but in my opinion, not that creative or innovative. It remains pretty true to the movie, including the video testimonies of older couples reminiscing about how they first met. This is something I actually found intensely irritating, and way too saccharine for my taste. Luke Perry`s "Harry" is quick witted, charming and kinda likeable in his way. I would say though, that whereas Aly and Amber as W/T had chemistry by the bucket loads, the romantic dynamic here felt strangely flat. However on the whole this production does not warrent the harsh criticism it`s received from certain quarters. Have to say though, that for me Alyson Hannigan`s performance outshone every other member of the cast. Ok I know I`m a little biased, but I am trying to remain objective!!!

Finally finally, after the show I noticed a few people hanging around the stage door. I stayed until Aly came out but was too shy to get her autograph. What an idiot Once again, as other people have noted on the board, she was remarkably gracious and patient with the fans, posing for photographs, signing autographs and just generally looking very gorgeous! Next time I go, and there most definately will be a next time, I`ll be a little braver!!! So there you have it, my first Aly experience, what a gal

[urnofosiris]

Thanks for the report Boudecia Next saturday will be my turn.

[daiailun]

I went to the play last night, Feb. 27, with my partner and when it was over heard several people around me say very enthusiastically they’d go see it again, definitely. Which is what I said to my partner, who’s not necessarily an Alyson / Amber fan, but is very kind in listening to me go on from time to time. If you’re teetering on the edge of going / not going to this performance, just go. Alyson was wonderful in her role as the anal-retentive Sally. If you’re a States-bound Alyson fan and can grab one of those really cheap flights and hotel bargains to the UK for the weekend, do it. Enjoy London. Enjoy the play. I think you’ll end up walking out of that theatre with all kinds of warm fuzzies.



At the hands of a lesser actor, Sally’s neurosis could have easily become annoyingly over-the-top and I think Alyson walked this tightrope skilfully. She transforms the irritating into the endearing with little effort, and by the end had everyone in the theatre wishing we could all marry Sally. Well, me and the surrounding rows anyway. Probably my appreciation of Alyson’s talents was partially enhanced because I was very close and centre, row B the second from the stage. I got to see all of those lovely subtle facial expressions and quirky body tics that make Alyson’s comedic acting a delight to watch. Yet oddly, I thought she was most compelling during the more heart-rending moments, when the neurotic gave way and we were left with a heart broken and vulnerable Sally. Touchingly, Alyson made them human emotions, genderless, universal.



I agree with Boudecia Jones’ post that there are some things that Alyson does on stage that are so Willow- Alysonesque: the knitted eyebrows that emphasise confusion when something doesn’t make sense, the sharp little shake of her head when impatiently pointing out the obvious. At one point, unrelated to the Big O or post-sex with Harry scene, her eyes happily closed for a moment, she smiled and let out a satisfied “ummmmmmm” very reminiscent of “when did the moon go down, I forgot how good this could be”. Those all made me smile. And yeah, great visuals when thinking what it would be like if that were Amber up on stage and not Luke Perry!



Most reviewers hated the stage design, but if a desired effect was to make me concentrate more on Harry and Sally’s perspectives and feelings, it worked beautifully. Hey, concentrating on Alyson’s talent for two hours—concentrating on Alyson for two hours. Not a problem.



With all respect, I kinda thought Luke and Alyson had chemistry and that this affection perhaps aided the middle section of the play, when Harry and Sally became each other’s confidant. But my partner felt Alyson had better chemistry when opposite Sharon Small, who played Marie, Sally’s best friend. She seemed to think Alyson relaxed more and tried less. A little aside here: a bonus for me was to see Sharon Small whose character, Havers, I really like in the BBC Inspector Lindley Mysteries. I got a chance to tell her this when she was quietly escaping after the show. She seemed genuinely pleased someone recognised her work, thanked me, and walked quietly off by herself into the London night. For someone who just appeared full glossy in The Radio Times, I found this simplicity endearing.



No, this play isn’t going to win awards. I did wonder how Alyson’s voice projected to the back rows. Hers was the softest of the entire ensemble’s by far. Alyson seemed more compelling in the second half, but I’m not sure if that was because she was personally relieved her performance was half-way finished, or whether she was reflecting Sally’s familiarity and ease with Harry. I, too thought the play remained disappointingly two dimensional. I blame the adaptation by Marcy Kahan. It wasn’t the most compelling dialogue and the actors had to really work to make it, well, work. Thankfully they all gave it their best. Alyson has said before that actors can only do so much with what they’re given. If the writing’s poor, the performance suffers no matter how talented the actors. I’m not a WHMS fan and have only seen the film once, about 12 years ago and had really forgotten most of the plot. So maybe I was able to relax and enjoy the show more because I had no little niggling devil sitting on my shoulder urging me to compare. The music by the Cullums, I hardly noticed. I honestly don’t know whether that’s good or bad.



I went to the stage door afterward. Alyson was one of the first to leave the building at around 10:20, and she graciously took her time and signed autographs and posed for pictures. She was soft-spoken and warmly open and usually finished her signature with a thank you to the autograph seeker. Boudecia Jones nails it about Alyson’s hair. It has to be the most shiny of any that I have ever seen in my life. It’s stunning. I know this will sound dumb, but the most surprising thing of the entire evening to me was how beautiful Alyson looked on stage and off. She looked exactly how she does in some of her best photographs. The kind of cuteness and beauty that makes one do a double-take. And then smile.



The Theatre Royal, Haymarket was established in 1720 and the current building was designed by John Nash in 1820. It’s Regency opulence at its best with glittering gold gilding, swirling mouldings, and playful cherubs, making this a wonderful sensory experience. In 1730 Henry Fielding opened Tom Thumb at the Theatre Royal and in 1893 Oscar Wilde premiered A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband.



Like I said, if you’re teetering on the edge of booking a ticket, do it. Go. For so many reasons. It really is worth it.

Edited by: daiailun at: 2/28/04 6:09 am

[Boudecia Jones]

DrG, do have a wonderful time next saturday, I know it`s one evening I won`t forget in a hurry. Hey Daiailun many thanks for relaying your impressions of the play, I agree with many of your comments.

[willowlove]

The Variety review. Read at your own peril.



When Harry Met Sally

Wed Feb 25, 7:00 PM ET



MATT WOLF



I won't have what they're having: That's likely to be a common response to the anemic stage premiere of "When Harry Met Sally," which has arrived in London --- original home to the equally superfluous stage transcription of "The Graduate" --- in order to trade on the seemingly ceaseless appetite for seeing celluloid icons in the flesh (though not, on this occasion anyway, in the nude).







Alyson Hannigan (news) and Luke Perry (news) are pleasant personalities and fine stage technicians (she more than he), despite their lack of live experience. But to ask them to vie with the memories of Meg Ryan (news) and, especially, Billy Crystal (news) (in his best screen perf), is about as absurd as representing Manhattan by the faceless, antiseptic rectangular box that passes for designer Ultz's set.





The design, however, is the least of the problems in scribe Marcy Kahan's theatrical replication (adaptation hardly seems the word) of Nora Ephron (news)'s screenplay about the long, slow road to romance across a dozen-plus years of Harry (Perry) and Sally (Hannigan). Harry, you see, loves sex and likes to boast of his prowess at it, but he shies away from the real commitment --- the desire to make love --- that defines the perky, fastidious Sally.





As Shakespeare often made clear in his comedies, sparring can be the most logical precursor to passion, and there's a genial amiability about the arc of a narrative that lands where any onlooker could have anticipated from the start: with Harry and Sally locked in a decisive, lasting clinch. (Although that embrace, in director Loveday Ingram's maladroit handling of it, is so far from celebratory that the audience seemed confused as to whether to applaud.)





The two have jobs, sort of: She as a journalist, he as a corporate lawyer who may not be quite sharkish enough for that milieu. And yet their careers are nothing when set against the parry-and-thrust of opposites who, in time-honored fashion, must eventually attract. What drives Harry to distraction about Sally --- At a restaurant, must she always order everything on the side? --- is what ultimately endears her to him, even if their friends, Jack (Jake Broder) and Marie (Sharon Small), turn out, amusingly, to be far quicker off the amorous mark.





The movie is arguably the most Woody Allenish of films not to have anything to do with the Woodman and, watching it again, one is struck by the pathos that Crystal brings to the wisecracking yet emotionally cautious Harry. Perry looks great --- indeed, he's almost too much the heartthrob for the lines he's been given --- but he's in no way right for the role. More your standard-issue jock, his Harry hardly seems the type to indulge heated debates about "Casablanca" and karaoke renditions of songs from "Oklahoma!" It's odd, too, to hear the Jewish zing of the repartee quite so de-ethnicized, which in turn has the effect of making it seem as if Perry knows the words but can't land the rhythmic cadences of them.





Hannigan's response to a similar problem is mostly to speak louder: For a first-time theater practitioner (Perry at least did a Broadway stand in the "Rocky Horror" revival), she has no trouble reaching the back wall of the Theater Royal, Haymarket. The odd result, however, is to make the opening half-hour or so sound as if the two stars are acting at totally different volumes: You want to turn one up even or turn the other one down. (The discrepancy eased up after the intermission.) But playing a woman who worries that she will be "40, someday," Hannigan tends to be hard-edged and slightly shrill where Meg Ryan was famously dizzy and warm.





Small wonder that before long, one's attentions have shifted to the tale's secondary couple, with the portly, effortlessly funny Broder suggesting himself as a natural Harry. Except, of course, that he isn't a big name.





Spectators may enjoy making direct comparisons of the screen and stage scripts: the way the movie's opening car ride from Chicago to New York, for instance, has been eliminated in favor of a starting gambit in which Harry arrives to paint the apartment of new Manhattanite Sally, whose sensitivities toward urban living lead to a neat gag about the multiple locks on her front door. Many of Ephron's best lines remain intact: An apt riff on the time that could be saved if real estate ads were combined with obits (Perry doesn't mine that one for anywhere near its full value), or a delicious exchange about Charlie Chaplin (news) becoming a parent in his 70s.





Oddly, the famous "I'll have what she's having" moment --- delivered with movie-stealing gusto onscreen by director Rob Reiner (news)'s mother --- is here given to a swishy male reveler seated near Harry and Sally. The entire restaurant scene, Hannigan's impressive orgasmic moaning notwithstanding, is so fussily staged that its, uh, climactic line is all but lost.





The "how we met" film sequences, meanwhile, have been updated for the 21st century: There's a gay couple who tell of meeting during "Der Rosenkavalier" at the Met and a black couple who fell in love at 12. At the very end, Harry and Sally take to the screen to recount their tale, though I did notice that, on opening night anyway, the aisle-sitting critics weren't the only ones who had already left.





--





(Theater Royal, Haymarket; 895 seats; £40 ($74.80) top)





A James Tod presentation of a play in two acts adapted by Marcy Kahan from the screenplay by Nora Ephron. Directed by Loveday Ingram. Sets and costumes, Ultz ; lighting, Nigel Edwards; sound, John Owens; music Ben and Jamie Cullum; sound, John Owens; projection design, Jon Driscoll; movement, Mike Ashcroft. Opened, reviewed Feb. 20, 2004. Running time: 2 HOURS, 10 MIN.





Harry ..... Luke Perry





Sally ..... Alyson Hannigan





Marie ..... Sharon Small











Jack ..... Jake Broder



With: Richard Teverson, Natasha Diot, Cleo Johnson, Peter Swander, Elizabeth Jasicki, Kevin Collins.

[tyche]

From 'The Independent':

Quote:

---

enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/reviews/story.jsp?story=497074

Supposedly, West End punters are rolling up to see the theatrical "remake" of the 1989 Hollywood rom-com When Harry Met Sally like so many ex-lovers falling into the arms of an old flame. Sure, the night has its giggles and romantic moments as Luke Perry's Harry and Alyson Hannigan's Sally fail to get it together, manage the feat years later, break up and make up. It's that age-old love/hate formula of Much Ado's Beatrice and Benedick and Pride and Prejudice, plus the teasing question every modern-day hetero can relate to, namely, "Can best mates of the opposite sex be simply platonic?" As regards the script, writer Nora Ephron's repartee can still be irresistibly funny, with farcically demanding restaurant orders from the lady's side and shameless propositioning from the other. Adapter Marcy Kahan also updates the action, so the relationship now runs from 1987 to New Year's Eve 1999. This works fine in so far as the stereotypical gender gulf still raises a laugh of recognition, especially when Perry carelessly proclaims that men always hope a 30-second post-coital hug will suffice.

However, the film's multiple short scenes are condensed, so the relationship's developments over time are not conveyed so deftly, and the set design by Ultz is dreadful: a drab minimalist white box that is obviously meant to be cool. In the the movie, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan are always on the move or, at least, in touch with the bustle of Manhattan. They share a car, cross paths at the airport, lark around in shops etc. Director Loveday Ingram has no imaginative alternatives. We are stuck in windowless apartments or in a gym where everyone just cycles on the spot. For Central Park we get artistically third-rate, computer-generated leaves projected on the back wall - hardly compensation for cinema lovers.

The cast could be worse. Mr Perry (from TV's Beverly Hills 90210) is lithe and Hannigan (aka Willow, chum to Buffy the vampire slayer) has two tender close encounters with him when they hover on the brink of kissing. However, he isn't quite enough of an arrogant prick to start with and his gloomy side is unconvincing. And this Sally's obsessive streak isn't bound up with attractively nutty energy to make you believe she'd fake an orgasm in a restaurant. The inserted "documentary" clips of long-married couples ring embarrassingly false, as well. Not a performance to make one moan with excitement.

---

And 'The Observer':

Quote:

---

observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1158516,00.html

Marcy Kahan's adaptation of When Harry Met Sally is almost painless and totally pointless. Alyson Hannigan and Luke Perry are cute as the friends who discover they can be lovers too. Ultz provides a smart design - an oblong box across which flash conventional New York scene changes - that will allow all theatre-phobes to pretend they're in the cinema. Nora Ephron's script is smoothly tweaked so that everything takes place in doors and a decade later.

Half the time, this looks like an unsuccessful episode of Friends, with Sally, defined by her alphabetised video index and her picky food habits, as a dead ringer for Monica. The rest of the time, it's on a par with the most famous scene in the Meg Ryan-Billy Crystal movie. A good fake.

---

Edited to add: Implex Verlag have a translation of a German newspaper review:

www.implex-verlag.de/HANNIGAN/index_E.html

(Scroll down to read the review.)

Edited by: tyche at: 3/2/04 2:38 pm

[willowlove]

Now we have The Hollywood Reporter weighing in.



When Harry Met Sally





By Ray Bennett









Bottom line: The movie had a cute gimmick, but it falls flat under the harsh scrutiny of the stage.





Theatre Royal Haymarket, London

Through May 29



Two words stick to the comedies of Nora Ephron.



One is cute. From "When Harry Met Sally ..." through "Sleepless in Seattle" to "You've Got Mail," Ephron's characters meet cute, flirt cute, fight cute, split cute and reunite cute. They always reunite. There are no cute surprises.



The other word is gimmick. In "Sleepless," it was radio call-in shows

in "Mail," it was about e-mail. In "When Harry Met Sally ..." it was the proposition that a man and a woman can never be friends because the sex gets in the way.



In the 1989 movie, the notion played out entertainingly in the hands of director Rob Reiner and with stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal at the top of their game.



Now Ephron's screenplay has been adapted for the stage by Marcy Kahan, a Montreal-born, London-based playwright who has written many original plays and adaptations for BBC Radio. Her stage play "Intimate Memoirs of an Irish Taxidermist" won the Perrier Award at the 1986 Edinburgh Festival and "Goldberg Variations" ran off-Broadway in 1999.



As in the film, Harry and Sally meet in Manhattan through a mutual friend and don't hit it off at all. The story then follows through a dozen or so years as they run into each other and relate their individual love affairs. Encouraged by their best friends, the platonic relationship finally sparks into a sexual encounter and their friendship is immediately over. It must be love.



Director Loveday Ingram and designer Ultz present the play on a set with the aspect ratio of a widescreen movie. This works when Harry and Sally separately call their best friends following their lovemaking in a sort of split-screen effect. But for most of the time, it's clear that there's not enough going on to fill the frame.



In fact, we soon see, the device is really to allow the front of the set to become a screen for a series of documentary-style interviews with couples whose marriages have lasted a long time. Just like in the movie.



These clips are explained as the work of Sally's best friend, Marie, who is a video artist. But interwoven through the ongoing misadventures of our two young lovelorn leads, the interviews seem trite and smug. Rather than celebrating marriage and lifelong love affairs, they suggest a marathon of denial and feeling trapped.



This may, however, be more as a result of the interplay between Harry and Sally. It's one thing to watch Crystal be snappy and clever and find Ryan's urchin charm irresistible when it's all happening in a fast-moving film. It's something else when it plays out on a static stage.



For despite Ephron's cuteness and gimmickry, the notion of sexuality preventing men and women from being friends was being explored by Chekhov 100 years ago, and to much better effect.



Under the fierce examination of the theater, Harry and Sally really have very little of interest to say. He is an unambitious lawyer who'll sleep with any woman, really. And she is a fussy priss looking for Mr. Right. In the hands of Ephron and Kahan, they have no inner life, and it's hard to see why they're even attracted to each other.



And that explains the casting. Luke Perry, former heartthrob of "Beverly Hills, 90210," is Harry, and Alyson Hannigan, Willow on TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Michelle in the "American Pie" films, is Sally. They really are cute, but it will be interesting to see if it's enough of a gimmick to make this show a hit.



WHEN HARRY MET SALLY

Presented by James Tod

Credits:

Adapted by: Marcy Kahan

Writer: Nora Ephron

Director: Loveday Ingram

Designer: Ultz

Lighting designer: Nigel Edwards

Sound designer: John Owens

Projection designer: John Driscoll

Director of movement: Mike Ashcroft

Music: Ben Cullum, Jamie Cullum

Cast:

Sally: Alyson Hannigan

Harry: Luke Perry

Joe: Kevin Collins

Marie: Sharon Small

Jack: Jake Broder

Helen: Elizabeth Jasicki

Ira: Richard Teverson

Ensemble: Natasha Diot, Cleo Johnson, Peter Swander

[SnoopyDancer]

I saw When Harry Met Sally yesterday, and that's one night I wont forget in a hurry! As soon as I got home from school, I had to visit my dad in hospital in london, and afterwards me and my mum decided to walk past Haymarket just to see what it looked like...well, we ended up going to see it at the very last minute. I was the youngest one there by quite alot, still wearing my school uniform and carting my bags around! I really liked the show. I was sure I'd be dissapointed, because of what critics have been saying, also, I've never seen the film, but I wasn't! I thought it was very cute and funny. After it ended (this is the best part!) I went around the stage door, and after Luke Perry had gone Alyson came out! I gave my mum my bags, and got right in front of her (being the smallest one there had its advantages!) Aly looked at what I was wearing and grinned but didn't say anything. I'm sure she was wondering why I was wearing a kilt Anyway, I gave her my french book to sign because it was the only thing I had on me, and to my amazment, I actually managed to say something intelligent! I didn't stutter or faint or anything! Go me! I said to her "I know it's a bit late, but I wanted to say congratulations to you and Alexis!" and she smiled and thanked me and when she gave me my book back told me "It's never too late!" And then when she got in the car, she waved at me because I was standing away from the crowd on my own, staring at her autograph like it was a million pounds She was very sweet, saying "sure" to everyone who asked for a photo or autograph and asking how everyone was. What really amazed me was her eyes! You know the kind of eyes on Disney characters? That's what her eyes reminded me of What started out as a really bad day yesterday turned out to be one of the best nights of my life and one I think I'll remember for ages and ages, and it's all because of one woman! Thank you Aly!

[daiailun]

SnoopyDancer: your post above made me smile all morning. Let’s hear it for carpe diem, especially when Alyson’s involved!

[concrete]

Still buzzing from yesterday’s experience of seeing Aly. Our highly anticipated trip came to an end today and I must say the play itself was more than enjoyable. Seeing Aly at such relatively close proximity (it’s really a small theatre) was awesome and my partner in crime (to be called p.i.c. from here on) and I were enjoying it immensely. Of course we are somewhat biased but I still don’t think it deserves the harsh criticizms it is getting but who cares.......

After the play we went to the back of the theatre, not really expecting to get a chance and not really knowing how long it would take for Ms.Hannigan to leave the building but our waiting was more than worth it because after a while ‘She’ finally made her appearance. P.i.c. and I –because we are way too cool (not!)- stayed in the back a little bit but finally managed to squeeze ourselves in the crowd and made pictures and...... I never expected to hear myself sheepishly asking (I was standing right in front of her) for an authograph. She said “Sure, of course” and signed the programme-book. I thanked her and she said “Oh, not a problem” (or something to that effect) and she flashed this beautiful smile at me and for a moment I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Now, bear in mind that I am coolness personified but even I was completely taken aback and p.i.c. also got his stuff signed and we were both ecstatic. It was more than worth the wait. Yes; it is immensely childish and no, it isn’t cool; I am fully aware of this but my programme-book is something I will treasure for the rest of my life and seeing Aly is definitely something I shall never forget. She took the time for everybody, signed all sorts of stuff, posed with people patiently. I cannot praise and thank her enough because she must be doing this like every time after a performance. She’s a classy lady. And gorgeous to boot! What an evening.....

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious. ...

[urnofosiris]

Well honey, I'm home. I have lots I want to say about this play and how much fun it really is and some stuff about Aly as well of course, but before I do I am going to work on the great pics Conrete shot with my camera and video I managed to shoot at the backdoor.

Edited by: DrG at: 3/7/04 9:56 am

[WannaFriendsBe]

Yippee! - so much talk about fun and heaven when talking about all this sweet Aly goodness!!!



SnoopyDancer your post really made me smile, particularly because I was there on that day too!! I'm so pleased that Aly made your day - she sure did the same for me particularly because it was my 2nd time meeting her at the stage door and in total.



DrG I can't wait to read what you have to say about your Aly experience.



Meanwhile I just have to say - Bah!! to the harsh critics - though I guess it takes lots of things to make the world go round.....



Thanks to everyone who keeps posting news of their meeting-Aly-experience/critic reviews - it really helps me to notice the BIG difference between Aly's fans and critics, Heh! At least some consolation is the fact that not all the reviews about Aly herself have been totally bad..... lots of the harshness is directed at the production itself and not on Aly's acting prowess - which is mighty fine IMHO!!



If you want superb entertainment and to meet a sweet, caring, gracious & gorgeous lady - Aly delivers in spades!!! She is just SO talented - and it becomes very glaring when you meet her in real life - she is NOT like the characters she portrays at all which makes it more awesome how real she makes them to us - for one thing it's almost unbelievable how soft-spoken Aly is!!



ON A SLIGHTLY SADDER note - as I stated much earlier in this thread I was determined to watch the show again, so I went along on Thurs 4th March and after the show I went to wait at the stage door - when Aly came out at around 10.30pm, there were a bunch of very rude and pushy guys shoving people out of the way to get to Aly - they were obviously there to get as many autographs from her as possible for commercial gain(no doubt lots of the autographed photos are going to end up for sale on eBay)... SO ANYWAY eventually Aly had to start telling them repeatedly that she won't sign anymore 'commercial' photos and that she needs to sign for the folks who hadn't gotten anything signed at all. She was still very soft spoken and courteous but at the same time adamant - she's obviously very observant even if it may not seem so.



She still smiled and snapped photos with several people amid the crush of rudo-s and true fans, but I kinda got the impression that she might have lingered a while longer if not for those rowdy guys.



Thank goodness that about 5 minutes before she got in her car, I got my picture of her and me autographed and she also autographed my Willow and Tara comic too (Yay! now my comic's got both Amber & Aly's sigs on it *happy sigh*)



Aly was extra sweet to me - I think she noticed I was very nervous(due to all the shoving and pushing - which I really dislike - I was hanging back) - yeah so, anyway she flashed me a smile when she noticed me hovering nervously and actually asked me if I wanted something autographed and when she saw it was a picture of me and her she smiled wider and said it was nice and then I think she asked me if I was sure my pen would write okay on the glossy picture surface, or something - luckily it did(though the last 2 letters of my name and her trademark 'smiley face' sig were a bit faint) AND then somehow I was able to collect myself enough to ask her to please sign my comic and would she please take another photo with me.... Her answer was always 'sure' in that endearing soft spoken way!!



Yep - something like being in heaven was indeed the feeling she evoked in me!!



My friend who snapped the photo was also deliriously happy, 'cos earlier she'd gotten a wave from Aly (having watched the staircase windows to know when Aly was descending) - and Aly had stopped to peep downstairs probably to see how many people were waiting for her - so anyway my friend who I guess is less shy than me had waved enthusiastically and Aly had smiled and waved back before continuing down!! Such endearing moments more than made up for the rudo-s!!



There were just so many cute things that Aly did - she apparently has a very cute er, 'double' laugh - I'm gonna be a wee bit mean and not explain what I mean by 'double' laugh.... just know that Aly's laugh is apparently very cute.



Oh yeah - imagine this, Luke Perry came out and left even before Aly arrived and while he was signing stuff for some people, lots of them were asking him to confirm that Aly was soon gonna arrive - I mean that can't have been good for his ego! But he sort of took it in his stride and good naturedly said that yeah she was right behind him.... Oh, and one other thing - I saw Luke turn away when one of the rude guys shoved something under his nose for him to sign. I mean celebs have feelings too for crying out loud! - It's one thing for a fan to say "please could you autograph this and make it out to (insert name of fan here)" BUT it is a totally different thing for someone to just 'demand' only a signature!!



ANYWAYS - please anyone who has the opportunity to go watch this show - should definitely go!! BTW - recently the afternoon shows seem to have less 'bums in seats' than the night time ones, so I guess it may be easier to get tickets/good seats for the afternoon ones.



Take care everyone

WFB

Edited by: WannaFriendsBe at: 3/7/04 8:46 pm

[urnofosiris]

I have not read the reviews in detail, I just scanned them and it appears that most are negative, but I would never let an official review encourage me or discourage me to go see something I want. I realize that writing bad reviews must be much more interesting than writing good ones, but still it does strike me as odd that the collective pool of professional critics seem to want to bitch about this whereas the entire audience seemed to love the play.



I am biased towards Aly, but not towards the rest of the play and the rest was very enjoyable as well. I have seen the movie and I find it hard to understand that reviewers who claim to like the movie did not like the play. If comparisons must be made then I´d claim Luke Perry to be much more believable as a guy ´who slept with all the women in NY´ than Billy Crystal. Mr.Crystal is a good actor and comedian, but I never could see his Harry as someone who could woo women into his bed that easily. Meg Ryan (whom I like) or rather her character, annoyed me in the first part of the movie, but Aly never did. Her happy bubbly attitude was always cute rather than naggingly annoying.



Aly was great, really great, my favourite scene had to be the one in bed just before she and Harry slept together where she is bawling about her ex getting married. Other than Aly being great, she also looked damned good in the various outfits, but that is a given really.



The other actors were good too, all of them, even the ones that had little else to do than to work out on those hometrainers or sit on a bar stool totally drunk. The intermissions with the old couples talking about how they met were sweet and funny and I really like the fact that there was a gay couple among them. I don´t remember whether there was a gay couple in the movie.



There were plenty of laughs and the cast got a really big round of applause when they came to take their bows, so I trust that no matter what the critics may write, they know people really enjoyed their performances.



Afterwards we walked toward the back of the building to check out the scene. I am not sure if any of those rude guys were there this saturday, but I am glad to hear Aly noticed the difference between them and the people who were there for her. I am not good at guessing numbers but I think there were about 60-70 people waiting at the back door when we arrived. Clearly most were there for Aly. Luke Perry was done in about 5 minutes, but from what I saw he was very nice to his admirers. Aly came out like half an hour later, but the wait was fine, it was a nice evening and a relief to stretch the legs and get some fresh air (it was a lovely threatre, but a rather tight fit).



I was hanging back and still unsure of whether I would ask for an autograph. She was surrounded by the aforementioned 60 or so people, so there wasn´t anything to see, Aly being not that tall and all. She took her time signing and having her pic taken and most people were nice enough to leave after they got what they came for, so the crowd thinned and I found myself up close in front of Aly and I asked whether she would sign this please. ´This´ being my WT comic which had already been signed by Chris Golden and Amber (so now it is complete ). She could not tell it was a WT comic, I had it turned to the inner page with Chris Golden´s sig and she asked me who´s it was. She sounded curious and seemed a bit surprised at hearing it was Chris Golden´s. Whatever, she was very sweet and nice to everyone. Thanking people etc. I did not ask to have my picture taken with her as I hate having my pic taken, but she certainly would have allowed it. It was cool enough seeing her up close being all gracious and sweet.

So I did end up doing the fan thing, but what the hell, not as if anyone recognised me. I´ll ask someone to put up the vids and pics I have later.

Edited by: DrG at: 3/8/04 6:25 am

[xita]

ugh, i am jealous

- - - - - - - - - - -
"Hard work often pays off after time but laziness always pays off now!"

[concrete]

Quote:

---

ugh, i am jealous

---

And with good reason!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious. ...

[SnoopyDancer]

Xita: I'm glad some people are jealous! I've been telling my friends about it (I've been telling them for 4 days :lol) and they remain unimpressed. In fact, they don't know who Aly or Amber are!! Uncultured people indeed. Still, glad to know I can always come here and people know who I'm talking about, with jealousy thrown in as a bonus!



WannaFriendsBe: I noticed the rudo's too! I quickly got my book signed and scampered because of them (I'm tiny!) but I did hear Aly say "Hey, guys, I'm only little here!" which made me want to stop in my tracks and :smash those guys! Can you tell I'm protective of my heroins? :)



Today I had French, and I took my French book out and it still had the inprint of Aly's autograph on the other page! I was telling my teacher it was The Holy French Book, and that she was honoured to hold something that Aly had held but she looked unimpressed...:rolleyes

[WannaFriendsBe]

DrG - Thanks for the report. Um... were you just being shy or did you forget to say what you thought of THAT fake orgasm scene of Aly's? *cheeky grin*



As for the rude guys, believe me if they were there you would have noticed them!! They probably got the message that Aly's not a push over and thus knew not to return......



For some reason I found it a tad amusing that Aly was curious about Chris Golden's autograph, she's probably used to seeing Amber's and so seeing one she didn't recognise probably made her channel Willow, thus seeking an answer. Heehee, shutting up now.... I know I'm being silly!



I look forward to viewing your pics/vids of Aly - thanks again.



xita - Um, anything I say to your being jealous might sound like I'm gloating.... but can I just say: "Awww....."



SnoopyDancer - Yeah, I felt like smacking those rude guys for all the shoving and pushing which I really can't stand, and unlike you I'm not tiny - but still I hate it!! Aly saying 'Hey guys, I'm only little here' is kinda cute - it sounds like she was channelling Willow yet again - BUT on the other hand, for her to have said that implies that the shoving was really bad and reached Aly too... how dare they!!!



Oh well - as DrG said - it's good to know that Aly knows who is really there for her.



And oh yeah! - this board really does rock!! Just knowing I can come here and interact with others who love Aly and Amber as much as me - makes up for the people in my life who're like your teacher/friends who don't know what they are missing!!!



Take care everyone.



WFB

Edited by: WannaFriendsBe at: 3/8/04 5:52 pm

[umgaynow]

There is a review of "When Harry Met Sally" in this week's Entertainment Weekly...they gave it a D...hmmmmm

[nimbus]

Quote:

---

For some reason I found it a tad amusing that Aly was curious about Chris Golden's autograph, she's probably used to seeing Amber's...

---

Funny you should say that, WannaFriendsBe, cos Aly was curious to know whose the other signature was on my W/T 'Joy of Soft Furnishings' cartoon. When I told her it was Amber's she seemed a bit surprised.



I have to say that I found the play to be a very, very fun night at the theatre. I didn't expect to laugh half as much and as hard as I did - particularly over Aly's 'blissful' expression after they've done 'The Deed'; it's absolutely priceless.

[urnofosiris]

Okies, so I have been a good little paparazzi and shot me some Aly after I got my comic signed. Xita has uploaded the video I shot of Aly signing stuff after the play.



You can find it here (right click and save as...)



You can hear me talking a bit of Dutch to Concrete and the dork squealing 'Holland loves you' in the end is me too, but I was just being silly, Aly could not hear me I promise, it sounds louder than it was because the camera was stuck to my face. It gives a nice impression of what it was like and how sweet Aly is, she even says sorry for almost missing someone who wanted an autograph, bless her.



Oh and the pics concrete took with my camera are posted in the Aly picture thread.

Edited by: DrG at: 3/13/04 10:26 am

[xita]

Such lovely pictures and video garfield. I am still terribly jealous and I am not getting over it!

- - - - - - - - - - -
"No more twat. No more twat for me. Twat gets me into trouble!" - Crack Whore Jenny, The L Word

[Warduke]

Great stuff Garfield. She's just so cute

---

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