Part 2 Ted Neeley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDHoTOgeNWE

The day of the show came and the 7 of us were crazy; like schoolgirls, running around doing silly things and obsessing on Ted. He spoke at the library across the street from the theatre first and we found him there. He was with the current Judas and his lovely daughter. We could hardly contain our glee!
We mostly sang all the songs along with the actors during the show because Ted’s voice that night was very hoarse and he could hardly do it. So the audience helped him out. It was a house choir so to speak. And they added a resurrection to the show that did not appear in the movie. It brought the house down, to say the least.

After the show, there were only a dozen or so who stayed behind to meet and hug Ted. I had learned from the ‘friends of Ted Neeley’ group everything one needed to know for the meet and greet. We had our cameras, extra film, pens for autographing things, things to be autographed, gifts and messages from other fans. I was the last one to meet Ted as I learned it was preferable to get more time with him. It was well known, however, that Ted gave as much time to each person as he felt they needed with him. I saw him give well over a half hour to a person at a meet and greet.

My first hug from Ted was the most exhilarating feeling I’d had for a long time. They all said he was a fabulous hugger, and they did not lie! I have a photo, but cannot download it right now…soon as possible it will be posted.

Of course, the first thing I did when we sat down to talk, was insult him. So typical of me – fortunately he was so loving, he barely noticed. We had a long conversation, he signed my stuff, read the article and asked for a copy and took many photos. It was so wonderful it seemed like a dream. Then he was off to Omaha.

I had managed to get tickets for Omaha as well, so just two days later, along with my neighbor who had never heard of JCS, we were off to see the show there and have another meet and greet with Ted.

We made a day of it in Omaha, strolling through a botanical garden during the day, having supper at a great restaurant and just enjoying the time up to the show. We managed to find a parking place right across the street from the bus, Big Red, ending up at a little pub there, waiting. While we sat there talking about the show, we heard a couple of guys at the table next to us talking about a show. So I asked them what show they were going to see; they said JCS. I excited said, ‘so are we!’ They asked where we were from; I told them Sioux City and we had just seen the show there, and they said they had too! Now I was really excited and asked them if they live around SC. They said no and continued on to ask where we were sitting; we had front row seats so were very fired up to see the show. I asked where they were sitting and they said the stage -- - What??? Yes, they were disciples in the show! They had a great time leading us on and teasing us about who they were. Acting like a silly schoolgirl again, I jumped up got my camera and asked them if they would take some pictures with us. They were such good sports and as they left, told us they would wave to us from the stage…which they did! It was a delightfully wonderful addition to the show.

This one was not so easy; the line was long and we waited for two hours to be the last in line. In the meantime, we met a guy from England who had flown over to see the show and meet Ted; took pictures for him that we were never able to get to him. Met other gals from the FOTN website and watched those in line as they met him, many for the first time. And again, we hugged, talked, took pictures before leaving him again.


I felt so satisfied meeting Ted after all those years of crushing on him.