Prized possession

[Deleted]

Any piece of theatrical memorabilia at all
A souvenir
A programme
An autograph
A photograph
A piece of confetti(!)

It might be rare, it might be valuable, it might be completely worthless to anyone else but you

You are only allowed ONE prized possession to rescue from the flames...

What would yours be?

Mine: a 2' x 3' framed photograph of Ruthie Henshall as Fantine. (She's pictured with some other drunken whores, belting out the line, "Don't they know they're making love to one already dead...")

[49thand8th]

I have a little Les Miz tricolor flag autographed by about 30 LM alumni, including Jarrod Spector and Sutton Foster! I took it around to shows for a few years until it was full.

[Deleted]

Tom Bateman.

It wouldn't be fair to leave him trapped down in the basement if there was a fire.

[theinvisiblegirl]

My programme from The Elephant Man signed by Bradley Cooper. I never imagined I'd ever get the chance to see him perform or meet him and getting to do both was really momentous for me so the programme means a lot.

[musicallady]

The last time I saw the original Miss Saigon at the end of The American Dream Hylton McRae threw a fake American bank note into the audience. I was sat on the front row and caught it. At the stage door he kindly signed it for me.

[lynette]

I have Harold Pinter's signature on the cover of a copy of The Birthday Party. I asked him as he was leaving the Almeida after a performance. I don't know why I had a copy of the play with me- he was v grumpy and ungracious but he signed.

[Deleted]

Mar 4, 2016 18:07:07 GMT @theatremonkey said:

My personally annotated copy of "The London Theatre Scene" book, which contains all the original 'seating opinion' notes I made over almost two decades before using them to create my website.

Had to go and find my incredibly well thumbed copy (dated by me 1984) which used to sit by the phone every time I called a box-office. Oh, the good old days! Can't bear to part with it as it's part of me... Now I sit looking at your wonderful website to help me choose seats! Thanks, Monkey!

[DebbieDoesDouglas(Hodge)]

An Andrew Lloyd Webber watch that says 'sorry dear, too fat' on the hour every hour

[DuchessConstance]

Mar 4, 2016 17:05:57 GMT @ryan said:

Tom Bateman.

It wouldn't be fair to leave him trapped down in the basement if there was a fire.

Fine then I'm having Bertie Carvel.


Or, if the UN raise objections, a bit of stage decoration I nicked from my first (and only) season at Stratford.

[greenlantern]

Too hard to decide - would it be the signed Julia Roberts playbill from Three Days of Rain or Kevin Spacey signed Philadelphia Story poster. I think I would have to choose my Trekkie Monster hand puppet from the original Avenue Q London production. The internet is for porn - indeed (and theatreforum!!!!)

[Dawnstar]

Mar 4, 2016 18:07:07 GMT @theatremonkey said:

My personally annotated copy of "The London Theatre Scene" book, which contains all the original 'seating opinion' notes I made over almost two decades before using them to create my website.

You should leave that to a theatre archive in your will. It must be fascinating.

Thanks to my front row habits I have various items from shows - streamers from Wicked, money from Evita, feathers from Top Hat, a page of script from The Play That Goes Wrong, etc. - but while they're fun to have I wouldn't say they're exactly prized. Also while a keen stage doorer I'm not really an autograph hunter - I prize memories of conversations far more than scrawled signatures. So if I had to rescue one object I'd actually go for my computer, as it contains my theatregoing lists.

[Deleted]

I'm torn between my broom from Wicked and Mary Poppins umbrella props.

I would need there to be an actual fire in my home to decide this.

[Steffi]

I'd be tempted to grab all my Drowned Man and Sleep no more items but couldn't pick just one.

So if I was forced to chose just one thing I'd probably go for something completely different and take the poster from the German production of Saturday Night Fever signed by everyone in the cast. That show started my theatre addiction and the poster reminds me of some of the best times I have spent in a theatre.

[mallardo]

The only theatrical memento I have - and not exactly prized - is a role of toilet paper autographed by the New York cast of Urinetown. It was sold to me in the theatre lobby - a charity thing - by the delicious Amy Spanger who was then playing Hope Cladwell and who gave me a smile that warmed many a cold night thereafter.

[Deleted]

I have theatrical memorabilia, some of it quite large, but I agree that the memories are more important than the things.

That said, Steffi has reminded me that I do have a bag of smaller mementoes from The Drowned Man and Sleep No More, I would probably grab that bag before any larger or more expensive items.

[alece10]

Quite a few but my top 3 would be

Liza Minnelli programme from London Palladium concert 1977

Spend, Spend, Spend CD - only because it seems to be worth money and might need it in my old age

Signed poster by the cast of Paradise Found - anyone who saw it will know why its prized.

[Steffi]

Mar 6, 2016 11:13:50 GMT @baemax said:

I have theatrical memorabilia, some of it quite large, but I agree that the memories are more important than the things.

That said, Steffi has reminded me that I do have a bag of smaller mementoes from The Drowned Man and Sleep No More, I would probably grab that bag before any larger or more expensive items.

I'm currently wondering what people would think if my place was on fire and they saw me running out the door carrying a collection of bloody masks, rings, paper ships, notes with random scribbles on them, tiny head shots and so on. :-)

[Deleted]

I'd grab my programme from 'What the night is for' signed by Gillian Anderson, because for me that's from the night (well matinee) it all began. That and Queen Gillian touched it obviously.

[Deleted]

Mar 6, 2016 11:29:36 GMT alece10 said:

Signed poster by the cast of Paradise Found - anyone who saw it will know why its prized.

Haha! Is it covered in Mandy Patinkin's sweat by any chance?! I was on the front row for that show (Lordy be... I had such high hopes but...) and spent the entire show ducking in case I got covered!

[alece10]

Mar 6, 2016 13:57:48 GMT @caiaphas said:

Mar 6, 2016 11:29:36 GMT alece10 said:

Signed poster by the cast of Paradise Found - anyone who saw it will know why its prized.

Haha! Is it covered in Mandy Patinkin's sweat by any chance?! I was on the front row for that show (Lordy be... I had such high hopes but...) and spent the entire show ducking in case I got covered!

Wasn't it the most bizarre thing ever?. 2 of the worlds best directors, god knows how many Tony awards between the cast members and the maddest musical you have ever seen.

Its embedded in my memory forever

[Deleted]

My prized possession should have been a Sondheim signed poster of the ENO's production of Pacific Overtures ( I think from the late 80s) which was given to me by a friend who was one of the design team. Unfortunately I left it on a train going to Gatwick Airport and it was never handed in to Lost Property. If any of you out there have it let me know! LOL As usual I was travelling back to Madrid where I lived back then with far too much luggage as was my wont.
My most prized possession now is a poster for the London production of Follies which was never on sale. This one is just of a woman's head looking very ethereal (one of the ghost like chorus) with the word Follies at the top. These posters which were made of plastic were widely used for London buses and as far as I know never printed on card as an alternative poster. The original poster was printed in six different colours I think but I only have four of them. The bus poster and the four cardboard poster feature on my Follies wall which is made up of posters from various productions including the original David Bird one.

[bobbybaby]

Oh God, I nearly forgot about Paradise Found. Or Carry On Vienna as me and my friend renamed it. We and another couple stayed for the second half thinking, well it must get better. What a sight - people actually looked shell shocked leaving the Menier. My prized memories are the cast trying to negotiate the scenery (often taking bits with them unintentionally) and a candle being perilously close to setting a negligee alight (still Mandy's sweat would have out it out). I had taken my friend to the Menier to show her how fab it is - she's never been since. Methinks if this was on Broadway it would have closed after the first performance.

[Squire Sullen]

I don't really have much of theatre memorabilia collection to be honest, just many programmmes and playtexts (I guess I could grab my Stoppard-signed copy of The Hard Problem). So I'd probably go for my big purple photo album, as it has all the tickets from the shows I've seen and a handwritten cast list for each. I regularly flick through it every time I update it, jogging my memory of a particular performance or a first time at a venue.

[anthony40]

My prized possession is a memory.

There was a production of Sondheim's Passion playing at The Donmar Warehouse staring Elena Rodger as part of the Sondheim's 80th Birthday celebrations and they were doing a talk with a Q&A before the show which, of course, had sold out but I had to least try for a ticket and I remember I rocked up and (unbelievably) managed to secure a ticket.

Now to put this into perspective, coming from Australia I never dreamed I would be in the same country, let alone the same city, or indeed the same room as Sondheim, but there he was, a mere few feet in front of me.

He answered a question and gave insight about The Millers Son, Petra's song from A Little Night Music.

Appreciate that I am looking ahead at him, unaware who is behind or along side me.

Then when this was over I got up to leave only to realise that Helena Bonham-Carter, a woman I have been in love with since I was 17 and I saw her in A Room With A View all those years ago was sitting right behind me; this was at the time of the Sweeney Todd movie.

You know that phrase 'your legs go to jelly'? That doesn't begin to describe how I was feeling.

But wait, it gets better.

So I stood outside the theatre waiting for Sondheim to come out but I got distracted by Helena who came out with her friend she was with. Someone asked if she could sign something, which she did and another guys asked to take a photo with her, which she agreed to. However whilst this guy was there phaffing about with his camera lenses, she was just standing there waiting and this was the moment, Carp Diem boys. Seize the day,

So I politely asked and she agreed, depending upon her friend. I completely ignored her and thrust the camera into the friends hands and the result is photographic proof of my achievement.

I have been in London over 10 years and to this day, this was still one of the highlights of my time here- Sondheim and Bonham-Carter in one evening.

I can die a happy man.

[vickster51]

Hmm I don't have much memorabilia other than programmes and the odd cast recording. I certainly cherish my list of all the shows I've seen, when and who (if anyone) I was there with. That helps me remember some lovely theatre memories. Besides that I would probably choose my RSC 2008 Hamlet programme. I didn't quite get the whole company to sign, but as that was the production that made me become an avid theatregoer it will always be special.