The Fest was a blast wasn't it? Jonathan was amazingly spry, I hope I am as well if I reach that age! He was wonderfully charming and I think moved by the love he felt from the audience. I think that was apparent during his presentation of his favorite scenes from the show (which of course included the little duel of words between he and Burke Devlin at the Blue Whale, fantastic scene!) Anyway he remarked that the feeling he got when watching the show with the audience who adored it was completely different from the feeling he got when watching it by himself.
At one point (I believe it was at the banquet) Kathryn Leigh Scott was up on stage giving Jonathan wonderful praise. When she was done he came up on stage as well and when she went to hug him he went in for a bite on the neck. The whole place erupted! It was a riot!
The banquet... my GOD! There were WAY too many people there. Ballroom capacity was 317 according to a plaque on the wall.
There were 850 people and tables crammed inside. There was barely any room to move between the tables. I am horrified by the thought of what would have happened had a fire broken out. People would probably have been killed. I think the banquet should have been handled differently. Not to mention the fact that as we lined up for dinner, all 850 of us, we were kept waiting outside in line for over an hour and a half before we were permitted inside.
I had wanted to see Jonathan up close and personal, but the poor man was exhausted by the end of the night (our night anyway, we hightailed it out of there around 11:00) and he had gotten through less than half the tables waiting to have their autographed pictures personalized. He felt bad about it and offered to stay tomorrow morning in the lobby for the signing. There were a few groans from the audience at this announcement which I felt were totally ungracious. I didn't go back in the morning as I would have felt terrible about delaying him further from starting his long drive back to Canada.
Otherwise though we had a total blast this weekend and I hope everyone who attended did as well. A HUGE and most sincere thank you to Midnite for introducing herself, and introducing me to both AngeliqueWins and mscbryk! I should have said it to you in person Midnite, but thanks so much for all your hard work on the forums! It was a pleasure to meet all 3 of you!
PS - If you're ever in the area go and check out the Old Dutch Burying ground. I had no idea (we had just stopped there to pass the afternoon) but the attendants told us that they had filmed Carolyn's burial scene there and then showed us how to get to the mausoleum it was filmed at. That isn't the only attraction to the cemetery though, the place is immense, fascinating and full of some of the most beautiful monuments I have ever seen. We found out there are a ton of really fun things going on in the area for Halloween so we're heading back then!
PPS - My camera died on me and my sister's seemed to malfunction in the hall, so the only pictures I have from the fest are of the recreation of part of the drawing room set w/ me in costume.
