[Laura]

What presents have you gotten or given to/from other cast members. When I was in the king and I, our Anna made each of us kids a little doll dressed in the same material and costume as our actual costume, and I got two because I was a twin! I still have it, she is so lovely (and directing Wizard) I’ve gotten lollies and stuff and a scrapbook from Honk!
What have you guys given or received?

[wicked_boy]

I've given:

Giant lollipops - Munchkins in Wizard of Oz
Fake eye balls - The Twits
I gave each person something individual - Oliver
Packs of humbug sweets - Scrooge.

[Robinflamingo]

When I directed the Odd Couple I gave each cast member an individual cactus. The joke was that even Oscar couldn't kill a cactus. The interesting thing was that the young man who played Oscar gave his cactus to his mom to take care of. It grew, and grew, and grew. Years later he was killed in a tragic accident, and I went by his mom's to see how she was doing. His cactus started dying the same day he did. No explanation.

[pish123c]

[vanillabean]

I have never really given people anything.

I have been given a pink flower (Grease) and various food items to be shared amongst the dressing room.

[Matthew]

I've gotten these adorable pewter star keychaings
huge flower pots
doorknobs
oh so much more.

[luckystar_30]

After Grease way back in high school we all got to keep our Pink Lady jackets.
When I directed Cabaret last year, the cast mounted the poster and all signed it for me - which was beautiful.
I've also received tons of booze, candy, cards, signed props, that sort of thing.

[OneSongGlory]

I really never gave gifts until the last show I did, Footloose.

I gave pretty random stuff. I gave Ren a goblet full of skittles and Milk Ways (because he's obsessed with both) and mounted this cute maybe 2-inch teddy bear I found that has a sign saying "I love you xoxo" on top of it. I gave Ariel a build-a-bear I customized, Ren's mom a picture frame that had a picture of me, her, Ren, and Ariel in it and the frame said "Mom" "<3" "xoxo", etc. all over it. For my Rusty, I bought a neon bar-type sign that lit up and said "bitch". And Chuck... I got him a porno.

Pretty much they all were from inside jokes, and they were all to some extent personal (if not in the gift themselves, then in an accompanying letter). It cost a fortune though, and next time I get cast presents, I'm going to make sure they're cheaper haha. I only got stuff for 5 people, and it cost me upwards of $100.. when you're 17 and spend your life doing shows, rather than having a job, that's rough.

[dwarves r very upsetting]

The cutest gift I every recieved. I was Aunt Eller when I was in High School and my mom bought me Pioneer Barbie. It was so cute. I still have her.

[metaphor17]

After doing The Secret Garden, the director gave me a potted violet... it was sweet, and she knew purple was my favorite color. The thing lived for a couple years.

I've gotten to keep special props and set pieces from several shows. I have a whole shelf-full in my closet.

The best show present-wise was The Wizard Of Oz!

I received:

1.) About 293874924932 million love letters from little munchkin boys and cute drawings from little munchkin girls. I was the "munchkin hairdresser"... I got really attached to some of them. I babysit one of them now, a little girl The rest of the adult/teen cast was jealous

2.) A shirt that says "Tree Diva" from one of the other 2 Apple Trees! We played the trees with a lot of ATTITUDE... pop the hip, talk to the hand, all that jazz It was so sweet!

3.) Twinkies re-labeled as "Winkies" from one of the Winkie guards I don't like Twinkies, but it was so hysterical! The guy who made them also made his own "Queen Of Emerald City" shoes. They were decorated with gold and green sequins, rhinestones and glitter

4.) An ADORABLE handmade bag from one of our costumers, who is my best friend's mom. It has fabric with little poodles on the outside and pink and white polka dotted fabric on the inside. It's SO CUTE! I use it all the time.

5.) A handmade keychain with my name on it from a fellow dance corps member. It's really really cute! It's green with really pretty beads. I liked it so much I wore it on my Emerald City costume


I gave:

1.) A fake apple for the Tin Man from the Apple Trees that we all signed in silver Sharpie. We wrote funny messages on like "You have a great AXE"... He thought it was so funny.

2.) A box of really fancy printed truffles for my favorite munchkins! They were the three of the oldest munchkins (almost 11) and I'd known them for most of their lives They're major cuties.

3.) A bag of cute little "best friends" trinkets for my best friend, a fellow dance corps member. Her favorite trinket was a coffee mug that matches my favorite one. She's at my house so much that she screamed when she saw it


There were probably more that I've forgotten

[sunrae]

I have given:

South Pacific - Tiny bottles of bubbles with little seashells glued on top that had labels that said "Wash that _____ out of your hair!" and the shows info. And I glued little ribbons around the top and wrote each persons name on it.

Guys and Dolls - Flowered hankies for the dolls and plain white for the guys and I wrote with a fabric pen on them the show info. I gave to each cast member with a card that read "For whenever you have a cold, a cough, the flu, or la grippe!" I thought it was clever

Peter Pan - Two star shaped cookies in a little bag with stars drwn all over it and said "Second star to the right and straight on til morning!"

Fiddler on the Roof - I gave a flower with a tag tied to it that had all the shows info on one side and a personal note to each cast member on the back.

A Chorus Line - I made orgami flowers for each cast member that were sprayed with a floral scent.

Top Girls - Over the course of rehearsals the cast had written a "Top Girls Rap", so I printed out the lyrics and gave them to each of the girls along with the candy that they had earned as a nickname during the show. (I was Skittles, one girl was Snickers, etc.)

Those are the most memorable gifts I've given. I pretty much do a show gift for every show I'm in and pass them all out on closing night. It's one of my favorite things to do! It's so much fun! I know it's a little silly - but I love it. And now those who know me can't wait to see wait little gift I'm going to come up with next!

[Robinflamingo]

When I directed Canterbury Tales, it meant a great deal to me because it was the last show in our old building, and I got to direct it. As you know, Canterbury Tales is set in April/Easter time, and is about a pilgrimage. I made everyone in the cast and crew Pysanki Easter Eggs. If you don't know what those are, let me show you:


Each egg takes hours. I started in January for a May show.
Once the show was cast, I put personal details on each egg.

[I Love Lockstock]

High School Gifts:

Kazoo from The Music Man
A little kilt from Brigadoon
A wooden guitar from The Sound of Music.
'Nerd' classes and little plastic pig from The Nerd.
Little fan from Lute Song.
And my friend writes little notes to all the cast, so I have quite a few of those.
...I'm drawing a blank on the rest of the plays.

Otherwise:

Some makeup from Urinetown, the poor used this stuff we called 'clean dirt', and I thought it was awesome, but really sad I couldn't use it! So my director gave me my own clean dirt!

From A Chorus Line I have this guys tights that he gave me...weird, but hilarious!

When I was Little Red for the first time, my director gave me this beautiful velvet bag we used for Jack's money. I was the youngest one in the cast, and everyone else wrote me encouraging notes and put them in the bag. I cried so hard! They're beautiful notes...my favorite one is from the woman who played the Baker's Wife!

[lt.shaw]

when i was in snow white my director gave us little boxes colored with our favorite color covered with stickers and a wooden apple



by the way your pasanki eggs Robinflaming are amazing, i do them but they are never that great

[ActingDude17]

Lemme see...

So a cast member gave each actor or actress playing an Enchanted object, which was everyone except for Belle, Maurice, Lefou, and Gaston (Monsieur D'Arque doubled as Ensemble, too), who I'm sure got something too. The guy gave every person playing an object a present based on their object. Like this:

I played a Sugar Bowl. He gave me an actual sugar bowl, LOL.

In the same show, a daughter of a cast member gave me a few presents like a small little pot like thing she made herself. She wasn't really cast or crew, but still.

In Peter Pan the girl who played Peter and her little sister (who was also in the cast as an Indian) gave every single cast member a card saying "goodbye" and how they enjoyed the run. Not really a gift, but I felt I should mention it.

That's it, I think.

[MissMusic]

My friend wrote me a note last year for godspell. We had recently preformed "For Good" at a talent show since no one at ourschool new about wicked. She was a year older than me and so she wrote me about how the lyrics were so true to our friendship. I still hang out with her constantly, she's amazing.

This year I'm making everyone somthing for Aladdin, I just dont know what yet. Any ideas?

[NoOneMournsTheWicked]

I really want to make goody bags for the WSS cast, filled with all the chocolate and junk food that hasn't been allowed at rehearsals and a little toy Jet for all the Jets and a toy Shark for all the Sharks.

[norayouadora]

^Yeah! I would really like to do something like that for Fiddler because I feel like I'm kind of everyone's mother (literally, lol) and I really have actively tried to be nice/friendly to everyone, especially freshmen/new people. But our cast is sooo big. There's all the named roles, plus 60+ chorus members. I really don't have enough money to give something personal to everyone, but I would feel like I was being clique-y if I only gave stuff to my stage family or something. I'm thinking maybe I'll just make a bunch of cookies or bring in a lot of candy in a big bowl and write a sign or something that says "To everyone, love Nora!" Lol I know, pretty lame, but it's looking like that's the best I'll be able to do.

[Annie]

When I did my first show at theatre school (2nd year), one of my best friends (in 3rd year) gave me a seashell she had painted gold and purple, with the words "Break a leg" on it, and my name on the back with the year. It was so sweet! I love it, and keep it in my dressing rooms with me now.


Me, after a Madwoman of Chaillot dress rehearsal, with my shell. Heehee!!

My friend who made it for me is in Orpheus Descending now, which I'm assistant stage managing. I got her a gorgeous necklace for her opening (the last, before she graduates!) that says "This be the stuff that dreams are made on". It's lovely, I hope she likes it!!!

haha, I'm such a sap!

Annie

[Aimee]

I'd bore you all if I listed the pressies I'd given or received over my 24 years in theatre.

I do roughly 4 shows a year and many of the cast give out cards on the first night and pressies on the last night, to the whole cast. I fall into this catagory.

Things range from the silly, like bic razors during Sweeney Todd to the beautiful, I got a gorgeous framed picture of fairies from my Strephon when I played Phyllis to the practical, I got an engraved silver tankard in My Fair Lady.

I like giving pressies, its fun.

[theonetowatch]

What is this? I've never gotten any cast presents.

[Aimee]

what never?

[benjivaudeville]

Me neither.

[Matthew]

[benjivaudeville]

[theonetowatch]

[broadwayxdoll]

we dont usually get each other things. just the people who help us. like the director, set designer, coreographer, music director etc.....


and if we have a show during christmas and we do an exchange its usually just silly things that have to do with jokes you have with that person

[opheliarose]

I gave up doing that about halfway thru college. Got to be too costly and too much work, especially if I was playing a leading role.

Nowadays it just seems wierd to do so- I sometimes get something from the director but that's about it. But then, it's a job now and I don't usually buy presents for my coworkers - maybe a bag of fun-size candy for the cast to share if I'm in the mood

[arctic_orange]

When I was in Peter Pan our Nana made her own costume, she spent weeks of rehearsal sewing on it, and it was amazing. On the first night of the show she gave everyone a card with a little patch of leftover fur inside. Very cute.

Also, one of the pirates gave all of us Indians a turkey feather from his last hunting trip...that was a little less cute and a little more strange.

[ShadowInTheWings]

I worked backstage Emily- the Musical last year and one of the cast members had found a picture of all the children in the Blair Water School in 1903 (the place and rouchgly the era the musical takes place) and made cards for all the cast and crew. That was cute.

[phantomphan85]

I'm Sarah in Guys and Dolls and I want to get a little pressie for my Sky, any ideas?

[lovesingin]