Hey y'all :)

PZelda was so great to inform me a while back that Vicki will be IN MY HOMETOWN for her show next year---ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! OMGOMGOMG this has to be like the BEST birthday EVER!!!

So my question is this:

For those who have seen the show, and have met her, how did you meet her? I mean, is there an official "Meet 'n Greet" after the show, or did you contact a specific someone, ask a random security person, or did you just go as far backstage as you could? :lol:

I of course don't want to be a bother to any staff there (which is why I'm asking this), and I just cannot imagine seeing Vicki Lawrence, my favorite actress, from my favrotie TV show, in my hometown, on my freakin' birthday, and not getting to meet her. If I could see her and tell her how much her talents and her work on the Burnett Show and "Mama" meant to me, that would be a lifetime of birthday presents! :D

So, any advice?

Thanks! :)

Byron

That's great you're getting to see her actually on your birthday! I saw her the day after my birthday.

My mom & I just went in the backstage area, and they said since it was just the 2 of us, we could come back. If it would've been 3 people, they probably wouldn't let us. Good luck! :)

Yeah, just kind of wait around after the show, and see what happens. That's what I did pretty much, and it worked out great!!

P.S. Today is my 2 year anniversary for seeing the show!!!! (Sept 13, 2003) MY HOW TIME FLIES!!! I am so excited I am getting to see her again on Oct 10!!!!

She didn't have any M&G's after her show all 3 times I went. But yup, you wait around. I'd advise on asking some of the people there too to see if "Ms. Lawrence will be greeting visitors." It couldn't hurt :) Plus, you can always phone in...try in maybe February or March, as soon as they know more. It'd be useless to call them right now to ask (seven months BEFORE the show) because they won't know anything yet. :lol:

The first two times I saw her, I had connections...guess that doesn't really help you any! :lol: Both were with my sign language interpreters. The first time I saw her, back in 2003, my interpreter who was signing the show for me knew the public relations manager there. I knew the PR manager as well, because I was in the same grade as her daughter (this daughter was killed in a car accident the summer before our junior year in high school, unfortunately. :( I graduated from HS two weeks after the first time I saw her in 2003). So it was no problem at all, and the PR lady was more than happy to take me backstage to meet Vicki.

It was the same deal the 2nd time in 2004, only it was at a MUCH BIGGER venue (10,000 people) so a LOT of people went backstage to meet her too. I estimate at least 100-200 people met her that night...I had to wait 45 minutes before I met her, and we only talked for 3 minutes, and it wasn't as personal as the first time. :( :lol:

The third time I saw her (almost 3 weeks ago, on August 27), we didn't find anybody BUT I did get to meet her son, Garrett, so that made me more than happy. :D Garrett is really cool! :cool: If you can, try meeting up with him too. :)

Myself, I'm aiming to see her for a 4th time in 2006. That would be AWESOME.

Thanks for the replies y'all, I really appreciate it. :)

Hmmm, now from what I've heard from a few folks online, someone got to see her backstage, someone waited an hour afterward and saw her in the lobby, and now Allison says sometimes she stays for an hour so to greet 100 or more people. Could this be any more unpredictable?? lol

Somebody also said they asked Garrett if they could meet her, and he said no---twice. :( That sucks...I wonder if he travels with her on all of her shows?

Thanks though, I sure hope somethin' works out...

I can't remember if I saw Garrett when I saw Vicki the first time in May 2003. I really don't think I did -- I remember talking to jterry after he saw her in September 2003, and he said Garrett had a part in her show. I remember telling him I really didn't remember him being in her show.

It really depends on the venue she plays at. Sometimes she barely has any time to rest between tour stops. Sometimes they're scheduled only days apart, sometimes even only two days apart (for example, she performed in MN on 8/25 then she had to hop over here to ND before 8/27). And in garnering information for the tour schedule portion of my site (www.angelfire.com/nd2/vicki_lawrence/schedule.html), sometimes she even performs TWICE in the same night. Sometimes 2x for several days in a row. :faint: I heard she rehearses all the time, so doing all that would be positively exhausting. I'd estimate that between 85% to 90% of the time, she sets aside time after her shows to greet her fans.

She's not like, say, Cher or Clay. She doesn't perform in exclusively large cities at extremely large venues (~20,000 seats or more). She prefers to perform in the "underdog" towns/cities, and the venues wherever she goes to vary greatly in size. Heck, the size of the venues I've seen her at have also varied. And be forewarned, her shows sell out FAST. So I would STRONGLY advise buying tickets the day they go on sale.

It REALLY depends. If I've met her 2 of the 3 times I've seen her, I would think you would have a pretty good chance of meeting her. :D Lay a guilt trip on SOMEBODY, tell them it's your birthday (which it will be), whatever it takes to get you backstage. Who can resist? ;) :D