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Christine R.'s Memories of MichaelSubmitted by Christine R. I won't go into the detailed background of how I became a fan of both Phantom and Michael Crawford other than to say I discovered Phantom in December of '87. I fell in love with the musical from the opening bars of the overture and very quickly became a major fan of the Phantom himself. In September of '88, my husband, son, and I made a trip to New York, where we had a wonderful time (I love N.Y.!) and saw Michael perform. As anyone who's ever seen him knows, he was spectacular. We met him very briefly on the street in back of the Majestic--he was kind enough to stop and take time to autograph my record jacket (*his* album, not PTO) and a photo my son had. My reaction to suddenly coming face-to-face with this man that I adored? He came walking down the street toward us, looked at me, and smiled. I felt as if I'd been hit by a large stupidity brick--paint a big ol' "duh" sign over my head. (His smile *is* devastating, as we all know.) My husband was the one to ask for the autograph for me. My husband was the one with the presence of mind to snap photos (all pretty awful, since I had that ever popular brain-dead look). Later, I could only hope and pray that I'd remembered to say thank you. It was both a lovely encounter (any time you see Michael it's lovely) and a memory that made me cringe every time I thought of it. After that first New York visit, I began to get in touch with more and more Phantom fans. I did this little newsletter, "Phan Mail", which started out as a limited circulation thing (just among "us"--about 10 copies) and ended up with a lot of folks on the mailing list. One of those folks was Michael himself--I sent copies to the Ahmanson and asked if he wanted to receive more and got a note back from his assistant saying yes, so I kept on sending them. In April of '90, Michael left L.A. and Robert Guillaume took over the role. A few months later the rumors began flying that Michael would be coming back, but nobody paid much attention to them. Then a friend in New York, who knew a lot of folks in the cast there, called to tell me the rumors were true and the official announcement was due any minute. I immediately called my friend Robin in L.A., who called the Ahmanson and got two sets of tickets for a weekend in March of '91. Robin told me she was going to write to Michael and tell him the editor of "Phan Mail" was coming out and ask if he'd meet me. I laughed. I knew nothing would come of it (why would Michael Crawford want to see *me*?)...but at midnight on the Saturday before I was to leave for L.A., my phone rang and I heard Robin's voice saying, "Sit down. I just got a call from Tiffany Hicks. She said Michael would *love* to meet you." (Okay, I *knew* he said that to *all* the girls, but still...) Luckily, I had less than a week to be nervous/anxious/scared to death...and to be more than a little annoyed with myself. I mean, there I was, 43 years old, a woman who'd been able to talk quite rationally with *other* Phantoms and other celebrities that I'd met, going to pieces at the idea of talking to someone as sweet as Michael. (I had a lot of flashbacks to the meeting on that street in New York...) Robin and I had been invited backstage on Friday, March 15. We saw the show that night and it was beyond spectacular. Michael was even better than I remembered. Afterwards, shaking (well...*one* of us was shaking), Robin and I went around to the stage door. A bunch of my buddies from L.A. were there--one had a video camera and got a tape of me looking as if I were about to throw up. Robin almost had to shove me down the steps, and *she* was the one who told Margaret (the security guard) who we were. Margaret took us just inside the door and told us to wait. I'd expected that Michael would stop to speak to us before he went on outside to sign autographs, but, in a couple of minutes, Margaret came to get us and led us back toward the dressing room. Robin had a purse/tote bag with all our stuff--we had cameras and things to be autographed and a U.T. Vols sweatshirt that I'd brought as a gift for Michael. But then, as we were walking down the hall, I made what was probably one of the best decisions of my life. I whispered, "No photos, no autographs." I decided I wanted to meet Michael as a person, not as a fan. He was beautiful in every way--absolutely one of the sweetest people I've ever met. I have trouble talking about that meeting because even now, five years later, I still get tears in my eyes when I remember. Michael was sitting in the make-up chair with a black plastic cape around him, and Tiffany was taking off his make up. Most of it was gone--he was just wiping away at the last bits and he had this wonderful lemony scent all around him (from the removal solution, I assume). Robin and I stopped behind him. Margaret told him who we were and he turned around and asked which of us was Christine and I said, "I am." And then we just began to talk... I gave him the sweatshirt and, since it was a little chilly that night, he said it would come in handy. (He did wear it later, and one of my friends sent me photos of him at the stage door in U.T. colors.) He thanked me for what I'd done with "Phan Mail" and said he'd like to see me write stuff for the MCIFA newsletter and that he'd have Glynnis get in touch with me. He asked if we'd seen the show that night and what we thought. At some point, he turned back around so that he could look in the mirror as he finished up, and so he and I talked with our eyes meeting in the mirror...what an appropriate way for a Christine to talk with a (*the*) Phantom. I made him laugh! He asked if I planned to see the show again that weekend, and I said we had another set of tickets and that I was going to sell Robin's car on the street corner and buy more from a scalper. (*Michael* laughed, but *Robin* didn't--she probably wasn't quite sure that I was only kidding.) And then he laughed again and looked back at Tiffany and said, "I *love* her accent"...and I forgot myself enough to actually lay my hand on his shoulder and say, "I love yours, too." After a few minutes, I said we probably should go, and he turned around and looked up at me (remember he was sitting down) and held out his hand, and I shook it. And then he got this little twinkle in his eye and grinned and said, "Gimme a kiss." I leaned over and kissed his cheek and he kissed me on the left corner of my mouth. And then he looked over at Robin and looked surprised (she joked that he'd forgotten she was there) and said, "I'll kiss you too" and she got her kiss on the cheek. And I thanked him for seeing us and *floated* outside. We went back on Saturday. I'd been asked to get a piece of artwork (a cartoon from Thomas Bevel) signed for one of the auctions Jenn Bills did in N.Y. The cartoon had Michael bound and gagged and clad only in boxer shorts behind a curtain, while three grinning women were advancing on him. From the top of the curtain came the caption, "We'd really like to thank Michael Crawford for contributing items of his clothing to our auction. And now for the last item..." (Something like that.) I got at the back of the line and handed it to Michael and said, very quickly, "This isn't my idea. It's for charity." He looked at the cartoon and laughed and signed it, and I said, "Would you like a copy?" He said yes, so I gave him a color xerox (which Thomas had thoughtfully included), and he thanked me. We went to the Sunday matinee and got back in line afterwards. Instead of getting an autograph for myself, I just shook his hand and thanked him for making my trip to L.A. so very special. He gave me one of his sweet smiles, and I suddenly heard myself say, "If there weren't such a crowd, I'd give you a big Tennessee hug." He laughed and said, "Not with this lot", and I said, "There'd be a whole new line." And we both laughed and I started to go when he stopped me to tell me how much everybody had enjoyed the cartoon--he said they'd put it up where everybody could see it backstage. I said, "Thomas will be so pleased to hear that". And then he added, "It's given me some ideas for the Phantom auction" and I said, "*Jenn* will be glad to hear *that*." And then I went back up the steps...and I'm *still* smiling! (However, I'm 99.9% sure he never sent any of his underwear for *any* auction...) A bunch of us watched him drive away--he waved goodbye to us as he turned
the corner and ended one of the most incredible weekends of my life. When
I got home (and had recovered sufficiently), I wrote him a letter thanking
him for being so kind to me. He sent back the sweetest note, telling me
he'd enjoyed meeting me and calling me a "lovely lady". I saw Michael twice more, but only on stage, in the "Music of Andrew Lloyd
Webber" tour. When he sang "Love Changes Everything", the song suddenly
had new meaning for me--loving Michael (a love that was no threat to my
husband and child!) had changed so many, many things in my life and
enriched it immeasurably. I'm so very thankful that Michael Crawford's
life touched mine.
Thanks for letting me share some really special memories of a really special man.
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