I suppose I should tell you that last week I saw Nye and got to meet Michael Sheen at the Stage Door.
First off - yes, he is a literal angel. I can see why Neil Gaiman has said this and casted him the way he did. Does he have to do Stage Door, night after night? No. But he does, and with so much kindness.
For example, after he had spoken with each and every one of us, given each person the full light of his attention (there were about 30-40 people there that night) he scanned the crowd to be truly sure everyone had had their moment before walking off into the street.
But the moment I want to tell you about is this. After being mortified by a friend telling MS about my Aziraphale cosplay (the cosplay wasn't that great and I was trying to play it cool about the GO obsession geeeeez), I watched as MS lifted his hand and lightly touched the beige blazer I was wearing.
"Well this is a very Aziraphale colour," he said to me he said.
So, first time I went to see him was a matinee, but he was unwell. The next time was an evening performance with @playdohangel where about 100 people were waiting and we decided not to miss our trains (and it also turned out he wasn't out that night).
Tonight, I finally got to meet him. Did I babble? Obviously. Did I actually say "hey, I love your work"? Nope, my brain just shut down.
He seemed (understandably) a bit tired, so as he was signing my programmes I just said thank you so much for doing this. Then another fan took the photo above, which was super kind of them.
What I forgot, of course, was that this would have been what he saw as he patiently waited for the photo to be taken
(an amazing sticker gift from @the-literal-kj 💜) At least he knew where to look, I guess
Anyway, I said thanks so much again and then fled so he could go talk with the about 40 other folks who were there. I really didn't want to monopolise his time, especially as I was the first person he spoke to. Plus the longer I talk, the probability of me making a complete prat of myself approaches 1.
Thank you to my @whickberstreetwriters friends for suggesting I go try the stage door again. I'm so glad I did.
I just met Michael Sheen at the stage door to Nye. And he was the kindest person. There were nearly 100 people waiting. They crowded him in and he handled everything with a grace and kindness that was just impressive. Especially since it was a 2-show-day.
He didn’t move on until the person he was talking to was truly done. It felt like he was very much aware of how important this was to a lot of people and treated them with respect.
Additionally the cast of Nye was so good. Everyone was truly living the show and radiated such a joy and confidence. Wow.
@neil-gaiman thank you for bringing Aziraphale into this world and in the form of Michael Sheen onto our screens. It is truly a blessing.
And as at every stage door I’ve been at I’ve met new people and we talked for hours. Good Omens and the love for theatre bring people together 🥰🥰🥰 a wonderful experience every time.
Totally not a dig to anyone who has given him a plushy or a bracelet but he said he had gotten so many in the Seth Meyers interview and I was trying to be That Bitch™️ y’know? (Plus those books are near and dear to my heart and we know he loves to read)
A second reason why I’m so upset that I can’t make it to Starkid Innit is that I could have stage doored and taken a picture that would allow me, Tumblr Tinky, to meet Ted Spankoffski himself Mr Joey Richter. Then I could’ve taken a group shot with Jeff Blim and Curt Mega 😭.