Last night Eddie and I went to a fund raiser for "The Trevor Project". Not the dog. The Trevor Project is a basically a helpline (and often suicide hotline) for any teen. But it is focused on gay youth, questioning youth, or battered youth..
It's called the Trevor Project because it arose out of a 95 Movie Short called Trevor - about a kid who has no where to turn.
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Anyway, it was chockablock full of stars (which we did not know when we signed up). We went and picked a table at random, and apparently hit it good. First we met some GREAT amazing people. A guy who is a political fund raiser in South Carolina, a mother from Philadelphia who helps coordinate the Project there, a bunch of guys from LA (we are everywhere baby)... it was great.
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And the entertainment totally rocked. The guy who wrote the musical Spring Awaking (and won the Tony for book and lyrics) sang "I don't do sad" from the show.
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Sandra Burnhart told inappropriate jokes (as she does). Rosie Perez introduced Alan Cummings. It was all cool. But 2 things were the COOLEST ever. First, Idina Menzel was there and sang - a bunch. If you don't know Idinia was an original in Rent, the Musical, and was in the movie as well. She was also the original Alphaba from Wicked (and again, won the Tony). She rocks.
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Well, she sang There's Only Now from Rent (you know... forget regret, or life is yours to miss) and made the entire place tear up. It's a song about getting on with it and not letting life get you down. And friends, Scooter needs to hear that every now and then.
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Well after some more awards and discussion, Idina comes BACK TO THE STAGE! No one does that - she just wanted to sing one more song, because it means so much to the people that come to her concerts. She sings "Defying Gravity" from Wicked! As she starts, she finds out that Stephen Schwartz (the writer of the musical) is sitting right there are dinner and she gives him a hug and sings the hell out of it.
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It was a moment in time that is just that. A moment.
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Then, after dinner, Ed and I (1.5 sheets to the wind) go to mingle. We have been invited to an after party on a rooftop penthouse (pretty good for going to a dinner thingy where we know nobody, right?), and we are going to mingle a little before we go.
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Then Ed sees her!
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That's right; Ed's Icon, His Muse, His Windmill -as it were. Lisa Lampanelli! She wasn't performing or anything (although with Miss Burnhart's history of no shows, she might have been on call just in case..).
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If you don't know Lisa Lampenelli, well you have missed the most disgusting potty mouthed, inappropriate, politically incorrect performer EVE-AH! We spoke to her for a while (she is moving from Connecticut back into the city). Ed told her how many people he has shown her incorrect DVD to, and how he has purchased them for friends. WE talked, we laughed, we kvetched.
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She gave him a straight line ("So boys, I'm moving back to New York. Which Sex in the City girl should I be?") to which Ed responded in a way I am not comfortable writing here - so you should ask him. But it made her laugh out loud.
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I would say it was the perfect end to the night, but we went to the after party had fun. I meet the woman who first made the movie Trevor (and won the 95 Academy Award) - she lives in Pico / Roberston - so we talked the old neighborhood.
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Guys and Gals - it was the most unexpected fun night ever.
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Here is a little of Miss Menzel....