julian de guzman

My mother and I moved to the Greenville, SC, area in April 2019, when I got a new job.  Mom was interested in seeing Hello, Dolly! because she likes the classic stories, but we decided our money was best saved for exciting things like new coat hangers and Windex.  In June, one of my new bosses offered me his tickets to the show because he wasn't going to be able to make it.  Needless to say, I eagerly accepted them.  After seeing Come From Away in April, I was starting to get hooked on this whole Broadway show thing.  I knew nothing about this show other than mom wanted to see it, and it had been made into a movie at some point.

 

The seats were good: center stage, about ten rows or so back.  I flipped through the program and noted two exceptional things: 

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1. A local theatre would be putting on a production of Newsies in September!  (cue slight hyperventilation here)  Newsies!  Here!  In my newly adopted town!  Could life possibly get any better?  (Hint: the answer is yes)
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2. When I calmed down from the anticipation of the upcoming Newsies event, I resumed my perusal of the program.  As I scanned the actors' pictures, my eyes came to a sudden and complete halt and I shrieked.  Mom told me to be quiet, but it was too late!  My focus was singularly locked on the headshot of Julian deGuzman, a real-live Newsie who was about to be on the stage, right in front of me!  (cue more slight hyperventilation here) 

 

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh.  I looked up.  Had the show started yet?  No.  It hadn't.  Why not?  What were they waiting for?  Didn't they know there was a Newsie up there?  I wanted to see him now!  After an interminable 15-minute-ish wait, the curtain finally, finally rose, and I scanned the faces of everyone on the stage.  Where was he? 

 

Eventually, at last, he showed up, and I couldn't help but grin in delight.  I honestly don't remember much about the show as a whole because I kept a watch out for Julian each time he came on the stage.  He was off and on quite a bit because he was in the ensemble, so there was a lot for him to do, but that was OK; it just meant I got to see him more.  At the beginning of the second act, there was a long dance number that the ensemble performed, and there was quite a bit of Newsie-style dancing in it, so I was suitably impressed!  At the end of the show, I clapped and cheered for him louder than anyone else, then I rushed to the stage door, hoping against hope that I wouldn't miss him.  

 

I didn't miss him.  I recognized him straight away (I'm always glad when that happens because I'm always afraid that they'll be unrecognizable when they're not in the costumes I'm used to seeing them in), and managed to call his name.  He turned with a curious expression on his face, surprised, I guess, that someone knew who he was.  I did my usual gushing thing (it was probably worse then, since it was so new) about how I loved Newsies, etc., etc.  He patiently listened and thanked me for my support before happily signing my program and taking a few pictures.  He was the first newsie-Newsie I had ever seen live in person (I had met Kevin Carolan in April, and he is a Newsie on account of his being in the show, but his characters were not the actual newspaper-delivering newsies that Julian's character was), and I was so happy that I felt like I was going to float clean off the planet. 

 

I headed to the car super-excited about everything in life.  It was truly a glorious day!

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