Theater fans gathered in Shubert Alley on September 23 to scoop up theater swag at the 26th Annual Broadway Flea Market. Even with all the memorabilia up for sale, Broadway actors hold on to their fair share of keepsakes, too! Broadway.com caught up with a slew of stars at the Flea Market to find out about their most prized Broadway possessions. Check out what we uncovered below!
Anthony Rapp (Without You): "I have almost all of the original pieces of my Mark costume [from Rent]. I don’t have the coat, because that was so rare that they couldn’t part with it, but I have the scarf, the sweater and the pants."
Karen Olivo (West Side Story): "Probably the Drama Desk Award that I got for Outstanding Ensemble for In The Heights. We didn’t really even know anyone was paying attention, and then for all of us to get it? It was like, are you kidding me? And most of those people hadn’t even had a Broadway debut or anything like that! Am I in trouble for not saying my Tony?"
Judy McLane (Mamma Mia!): "From my opening night of Chess, which was my first Broadway show, Tim Rice gave us these robes that have Chess on the back. Mine is in pristine condition. I’ve never worn it, I’ve never used it, and I just kind of hang on to it. It’s a beautiful white robe and there’s a lovely tiara on it. That’s one of my favorites. I don’t keep a lot of things, but that’s one I like."
Debra Monk (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof): "My Tony! That’s my prized possession. Last year I had a table [at the Flea Market] and sold everything and made $3,000 for BC/EFA. I sold all my scripts, I sold it all. I just felt I was ready to let them go, but I do have a little ottoman that was used in the Broadway production of Ah, Wilderness!, which I did at Lincoln Center. I do treasure that. From when we did Company, Stephen Sondheim made little wooden puzzles with your initials in them and the show’s logo. I did not sell that, because it’s quite precious to me."
Harvey Fierstein (Kinky Boots): "I have a lot of little fun stuff. I don’t save anything big. In fact, when I tore my house down, I called Yale and they sent a truck down and took it all away, so it’s all in the Yale Library now. I have a couple of things from Torch Song Trilogy. I think I still have one pair of bunny slippers. I have my original show jacket. Everyone has a letter from Sondheim. I remember mine: I was doing Fiddler on the Roof, and at his 75th birthday, I came out as Tevye, and they played the intro to 'Rich Man,' and I started singing, 'Why did I do it? What did it get me?' I did 'Rose’s Turn' as Tevye. He wrote, 'It was one of the funniest things I ever saw. So why was I crying?' So, I have my memories!"
Alice Ripley (Next to Normal): "It would have to be my Tony. If I could put the audience in a bottle, it would be that. A bottle I’d carry with me everywhere I go."
Lindsay Mendez (Dogfight): "Something we just got, which is really cool… Michael Starobin gave us some written-out music from Dogfight, which he orchestrated. He wrote out one of my songs and signed it, so it’s super special."
Derek Klena (Dogfight): "I got the same gift! It was my song and he had his own message on it, which was really nice. He personalized it with a joke between us. It’s a really fantastic item."
Lauren Cohn (Mamma Mia!): "I have my original cast recording of Annie. I have it framed on my wall. Annie changed my life!"
Andrea McArdle (Annie): "Probably a pair of dog-legged clenchers from Beauty and the Beast. It was a prop in the show, and as a gift after my two years there, the prop manager made me the dog-legged clenchers in proper bronze and gold, and it’s the coolest thing. And then the pantaloons from Belle. The Annie stuff is all in storage. I have a white satin baseball jacket that had the big A on the back when we played the Bad News Bears in Central Park. We got our arses kicked. And of course I have the locket, and the Fantine locket [from Les Miserables]. I did not take that [Annie] wig. I left that for the next victim!"
Rob McClure (Chaplin): "I have a sketch of Tony Walton’s original set design from my Broadway debut, understudying in the 2002 revival of I’m Not Rappaport. I was 19 years old and freaking out, and it was a huge moment. Right now, my prized possession is my great aunt Marion’s painting of Charlie Chaplin that she did in 1975. That’s hanging in my dressing room at the Barrymore. I also still have the very first mustache I put on at Chaplin in La Jolla. I keep all the sentimental stuff. I’m a bit of a hoarder that way! My wife and I bought a house in Philadelphia that had a large room on the third floor that we knew was going to be the 'stuff you put in a box and say one day I’ll put it somewhere theater memorabilia' room. It’s sort of like theater Applebee’s on our third floor!"