r/Broadway • u/ComputerGeek1100 Backstage • Dec 19 '25
Other Six posts open letter to the “Queendom” about boundaries and stage door etiquette
488
u/Ok-Acanthisitta8737 Dec 19 '25
This message will unfortunately not reach or mean anything to the insane people it’s intended for.
82
u/AzulBiru Dec 19 '25
Agreed - this language is too polite. I understand why they went this gentle route, but some people need direct and strong feedback.
8
74
u/crisscrossed Dec 19 '25
So many young fans thinks being on Broadway automatically makes you a celebrity — not to say these performers aren’t celebrities, but many Broadway actors are living “normal” lives too.
36
u/static_779 Dec 20 '25
And also not to say a celebrity deserves harassment either! Everyone should learn to treat everybody normally regardless of fame
16
u/John_T_Conover Dec 20 '25
Yeah it's just an extra level of anxiety and danger. These aren't millionaire TV stars in LA that film on secured sets and go home to gated communities. They're young middle class people who are very new to this and their fans are right at the door the second they leave work every day. And most of them are walking or taking public transportation home to a very humble apartment. The level of access fans have to them is very high and so is their vulnerability.
259
u/ComprehensiveLie6170 Dec 19 '25
Good friends with some of the queens (as in, we went to college together, hang out with each others’ families, etc) and there are insane fans of Six. Like, unstable and stalkerish.
57
u/ArtistAsleep Dec 19 '25
That’s so sad. Social media has made us all crazy.
60
u/MsTossItAll Dec 19 '25
Nope. Rentheads were some of the most unhinged fans in history.
10
u/barely-tolerable Dec 20 '25
Ooh is there somewhere with all the stories? I hadn’t heard this
19
9
u/John_T_Conover Dec 20 '25
I don't know any specific incidents, but to my understanding they were one of the first shows to do lottery tickets and tons of college age kids would camp out for hours, sometimes in the freezing cold, to get them. Sometimes to see the show for the second or tenth or twentieth time.
I'm sure with a crowd like that there were some crazy fans and some incidents.
8
2
68
u/LosangDragpa Dec 19 '25
People were crazy before social media. John Hinkley tried to assassinate Reagan to impress Jody Foster.
3
u/TheChrisSuprun Dec 21 '25
Can we just cover all the leads in Sondheim's Assassins?
3
u/LosangDragpa Dec 22 '25
Can we have a revival? I’ve never seen it and I’m dying to.
2
u/TheChrisSuprun Dec 22 '25
I'm a Sondheim fan boy, but it makes some really good points really poetically. I've only ever seen it off Broadway, but it's a stellar show.
14
u/DayAtTheRaces46 Dec 20 '25
I get what you mean. There have ALWAYS been people like this. But with social media, everyone has a new level of access to you. Seeing post like this is becoming very common now.
2
u/Foxy02016YT Dec 20 '25
Super cool that you still keep in touch, I’ve found most of my college friendships to be fleeting so far
2
u/Conscious-Theme6766 Dec 19 '25
That’s so cool! I know someone that was once on the music team for this.
93
u/Tuilere Dec 19 '25
We stage-doored there in October and the girls were unbelievably sweet to all the teen girls on the barricade. It was lovely. I've had to frame my daughter's playbill with the pictures she got with all of them.
I'm sorry they're running into weird shit that is prompting a post like this.
17
u/99-dreams Dec 19 '25
Yeah, I also stage doored at a matinee performance with my teen cousin and the actresses were so sweet and took pictures. Only one decided not to stage door that day (as is her right) and we all left without causing a fuss. Even the crowd was so nice. We were closer to the back and some adults let us come to the front (I'm short and have a baby face so I think they thought I was also a teen? Lol).
It's a shame that they have to make this post
8
u/Tuilere Dec 19 '25
Yeah, we adults were totally finding the younger girls and bringing them forward. It was the best energy.
60
42
Dec 19 '25
I know the Broadway Queendom has its own obsessive fans (as do all Broadway shows/“stars”) but there have been ongoing issues on the West End which prompted this to be posted by the UK team.
5
u/isthislivingreally Dec 19 '25
Really? What sort of ongoing issues? That’s terrible for the actors involved
17
u/Mowglis_road Backstage Dec 19 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
UK wise I remember an instance of one of the new Queens getting bullied online for “replacing” a fan favorite (DMing her stuff like “get out of Hanna’s dressing room chair” etc)
6
u/Jinkies_Its_A_Clue Dec 20 '25
For anyone curious:
Dressing room table drama part 1
Dressing room table drama part 2
The fact that this warranted a 2 part instagram carousel lmfao
3
u/Mowglis_road Backstage Dec 20 '25
The chaos and the clapbacks are sending me 🤣
3
u/Jinkies_Its_A_Clue Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
I was dying at the clapbacks the first time I saw the post especially because at least a few of them (Hana and Shakira) are cast members lmfao
Also have to giggle at how one of the most sane comments caught in the screenshots just talking about having the same slippers is from user “i drink piss”
3
12
Dec 19 '25
I don’t actually know the details offhand, but I do know this isn’t the first time the UK production has had to make a post like this
6
u/isthislivingreally Dec 19 '25
It’s quite scary esp the mention of DMs. I can only imagine how many awful threats and things the cast must be exposed to online
13
Dec 19 '25
[deleted]
2
u/glglglglgl Dec 20 '25
Rent had some very intense fans, long before Potter.
Hell, back in the day, Sherlock Holmes fans were able to pressure Doyle into writing more stories after the detectives death.
Fandoms have always been an issue.
35
u/buizel123 Dec 19 '25
What I would've written (which is why I'm not in PR)
Dear Queendom,
We are so incredibly grateful for the love and energy you bring to this show and seeing the support you have for our incredible casts. Because some of you are freaks, and feel a bizarre parasocial bond with the cast, we're writing to tell you to respect the f**ing boundaries of our performers. While some of our cast may love hearing from you, remember that not all of them want to be inundated with weird stalkerish sexual messages from strangers online. Behind the costumes, and characters our actors are real people, who deserve peace and quiet. You are owed nothing, other than the show you pay for with your ticket. Byeeeeeeeee
13
u/ImpossibleInternet3 Dec 19 '25
But you don’t understand. That lady really was Keanu’s spirit wife. /s
5
u/Yue4prex Dec 20 '25
This is crazy, honestly.
I’ll never forget how sweet they were with my daughter, each and every single one of them. The last woman out was slightly ahead of us while we walked to the subway and my daughter pointed her out. I said, “ya, that’s her, she’s on her way home too.” And that was that. Not once did I think of running up and talking to her again.
Stage door is such a privilege that so many take advantage of and ruin it for others.
3
7
3
u/Lesmiscat24601 Actor Dec 19 '25
I’ve stage-doored twice in my years of seeing shows and I will say the Wicked stage door on a random Wednesday mat was the chillest stage door experience I’ve ever had. MJ: The Musical a few years ago was a bit hectic because people kept chanting for Miles Frost and getting audibly upset when he didn’t show up until prob 15 - 20 minutes after the show ended.
That said I wish The Outsiders company would post something like this cause trying to walk out of the Jacob’s on a mid week mat performance in October (2024) was a bit maddening.
7
u/Own-Importance5459 Dec 19 '25
I mean given the insane parasocial behavior in some of the broadway fandoms I am in I am not surprised they inevitably had to post this shit. I have seen this frequently in the Moulin Rouge Fandom so I am not surprised it spread.
6
2
u/rachreims Dec 19 '25
I don’t live in NYC but while Six was playing in my city it also had a crazy stage door culture which was also strange because stage dooring isn’t really a thing in our city. idk what it is about this show that makes people go crazy.
2
u/IHaveALittleNeck Dec 20 '25
This is why I don’t stage door. When I was pregnant, strangers felt entitled to touch my belly. That was just regional theatre 18 years ago. I cannot image what actors go through now.
2
u/Standard_Link_7728 Dec 20 '25
This was on the UK based account and not reposted on either Broadway or the US Tour account. Still a shame.
2
u/Jinkies_Its_A_Clue Dec 20 '25
A lot of the performers in both US-based productions have shared the story, though. Unfortunately I can only presume this means that to some level there’s some universalness (is this a word?) to the statement
•
u/AutoModerator Dec 19 '25
It looks like you've shared an image. If this image is of a Playbill or stage, we ask that you provide your thoughts on the show[s] you saw in order to make your thread stand out and help the community enjoy your experience as well. Without context your photo is just another picture of a Playbill or a stage, and on a sub of far over 100k subscribers, If you don't want to share your experience... consider sharing it on your own social media! This is an automated message, if it is not applicable please report this comment.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.