As I was preparing to type up this week's Update, I was having some trouble remember what I did before Friday. It wasn't until a friend pointed out that I had done a midweek Christmas post did I realize that would sort of explain the lack of memory from previous days. That and the fact that Friday was AMAZING. 

(Can we talk about how gorgeous he looks just standing there? I'm still convinced he's half fiction)

I was a freerider to the amazingness of Friday as Emily and Annie, two of my amazing friends, were determined to brave the wind and rain at four in the morning to queue up for the return/standing tickets for Donmar's Corioanus. I'm sure some of you know that it's starring Tom Hiddleston. Yes, Loki Tom Hiddleston. Anyway, they managed to get an extra ticket for me as they knew I was a fan of the play and Tom Hiddleston, but most importantly because they knew I was a massive admirer of Hadley Fraser, who was starring opposite Hiddles. I've talked about him once back in my early blogging days (read it here), but he's this brilliant musical theater actor that has expanded his work to cover movies, theater, and TV. Anyway. Fast forward several hours, and can I just say, the show was absolutely breathtaking! The cast had some pretty big names with Tom, of course; Dean from the Harry Potter series; Mark Gatiss, writer of Sherlock; and my personal favorite, Hadley. Everything was really intense and there were scenes emotionally raw to a point that you didn't even feel the electric tingle when Tom Hiddleston was half-naked and doing a shower scene not 20 meters away from you. Hadley was of course, brilliant. I won't give anything away on the production as it will be broadcast into theaters on January 30th, but just remember to have some tissues at the end.

(I present to you my new computer and phone background)

If you read the Update from last week (here), you'll know that I met David Tennant. I didn't think anything would come close in the level of amazingness to that, but Hadley is neck to neck with David. My friends and I were queueing outside the Donmar theater after the show waiting for the actors to come out when security stepped out. He advised those that weren't queueing for Tom to step to the other side of the road while those that were form two lines. For 3 seconds, I had the dilemma on if I should stay in queue for Tom or wait for Hadley. On one hand, it was THE Tom Hiddleston: the tumblr god in all his perfection and preciousness. On the other, it was Hadley. Those 3 seconds of 'Tom or Hadley' was probably one of the hardest struggles, but looking back, I think I knew I was going to pick Hadley all along. So I stepped out of queue and waited. Not five minutes passed when my friend poked me in the arm and pointed to a pair not 5 meters away. HADLEY. We waited till he was finished talking to the other fan before we went up to him. He asked if we enjoyed the show, I said that it was fantastic and started talking to him. Well, I say talking to him. It was more like I was babbling at him. I was so nervous because I was actually having a one on one conversation with a man that I've admired for so long and never dared dream that I'd meet in person. At one point in the conversation I think I was babbling and apologizing for sounding so scattered because I was terrible at talking to famous people, and he patted me on the arm saying that I was doing fine. I felt like he was trying to calm me down and was asking questions about me. My friend also shook off the starstruck and chimed in on the conversation - we talked about his work, his music production, managed to get inside information on possible upcoming shows, and congratulate him on his engagement. Long story short, after hogging his time for around 10 minutes, I figured that it was time for me to let him go. I got his autograph, asked for a photo which he immediately wrapped his arm around my shoulder and agreed to. Best of all, he gave me a huge hug before I could even finish wording the request. We had to go back to him several minutes later as my friend had blinked during the photo. Hadley was a bit busy then as some people recognized him and asked for autographs. But when he saw us, he quickly finished up the signings, took a photo with my friend and chatted a bit more with us. He's one of the most precious, down to earth people that I've ever met and he's ridiculously generous with his time, even though it was obvious he was exhausted. 

My favorite thing about the photo above? You know how there are times you're so nervous, you can feel the build up of tears? That was how I felt when I was babbling at him, but I didn't realize just how obvious it was until I zoomed in on this photo and realized that there was evidence of wetness in my eyes. No wonder poor Hadley looked slightly scared when I started talking to him, probably thinking Oh man, what do I do with this crazy one? Sorry, Hadley. 

(Us with the trophies of the night: Annie and Em with Tom's autograph and me with Hadley's) 

Update: I had a mini-breakdown today when I realized that Hadley had replied to my tweet. It was a very simple one but the fact that he took time on a Sunday evening to reply made my week