I have said that I have the opportunity to meet dozens of amazing people in my line of work. It’s true, I do. I’ve said before that I make a point of getting to know the guest entertainers. Particularly the ones who come to the flagship. There is however, one guest ent who is a regular returnee to the flagship stage that I don’t know, merely because I am so intimidated by who she is that every time I work up the nerve to approach her I get about two steps into the process and then end up running back to the shadows.
Dale Kristen is Christine Diae, the original from Broadway. She played the part for five years, making her one of the longest running Christines in show history.
The first time she came on the ship and I saw her credits I felt my heart turn over in my chest. And even though her show is the same every time, from the moment she walks onto the stage, with a red velvet dress that sweeps behind her like a bride, my heart stays in my throat. It’s not her voice – though her voice is spectacular – it’s her presence. She opens her show with “The Journey” from Phantom (read: one of the most famous opening chord sequences in show business) and I am instantly back in London, sitting at the back of the theatre, having paid half price for my tickets after scrimping together my tips for nearly a month – watching Phantom for the first time.
If I was enough of a fan girl to have an autograph book, I would have her name in it. But that would require my actually having the nerve to speak to her. I have managed to speak to her once, only once, at some point last year, and in truth she is – or at least seems – a very sweet person. But even so, I can never work up the nerve to say more than two sentences to her.
Apparently the confidence that allows me to hang out with famous musicians and make life long friends of all sorts of other international class entertainers, completely abandons me when faced with the opportunity to speak to a legend in my actual field.