Carole and Paula came to our show last night.

The last performance of Free To Be Friends @ FringeNYC went smashingly. We had a sold-out crowd with a suspicious amount of enthusiasm, and we gave a heartfelt send-off performance.

I noticed during the "It's Great To Be a Lesbian in 1972" slide show, during the part when we show a slide of Carole & Paula for the "Me and you...others too" lyric, a section of the theater erupted with laughter, and I thought to myself, "Wow, we really got some Magic Garden fans in the crowd!" Hmmm.

After the show, we started the post-Fringe show load-out hustle, and while Neil cleaned up the stage, I overheard him chatting with a gregarious group of audience members who didn't seem to want to leave the theater. I gleaned a couple of key phrases: "Oh, let me get them...I'm sure they'll want to say hi to you"..."They're gonna be really excited you're here"... Neil poked his head backstage and told us something to the effect of, "There are a couple of ladies here to see you," and just as I began to pin it down, I heard Carole and Paula SINGING from the audience. I started shrieking. Oh my God, it's really them.

Carole and Paula were in the audience, with their families, and first and foremost, let me just say they looked FABULOUS. Really: they are totally foxy babes. Paula is thin and has a great smile and sparkling eyes, and Carole looked stunning and soft and tan, with hair that looked like goddamn sunshine. And she was rocking a tank top, everybody.


They gave us big hugs and put up with a considerable amount of my hysteria (which they seemed used to, having dealt with plenty of grown-up fans), then told us that they found out about the show because Paula's (totally hot) daughter found a flyer in CBGB's a while back, once our UCB run had already expired. Later on, somebody who works at MTR, which just acquired all the Magic Garden episodes for their collection, turned out to be involved with the Fringe, and tipped them off to FTBF. And so there they were.

I asked them: "Are you guys going to sue us?" and they laughed, saying no, but that the gal who designed the Chuckle Patch would sue us if she got the chance, she's a real witch. We chatted about the actor who played Sherlock, Carole invited us to their Special Concert for Adult Fans in Bay Shore on October 7th, I mentioned how I colored in my Magic Garden album cover, they told us how ugly they thought their pants were, and then, they signed our programs.

It was the best possible way to end the run. It's very satisfying to watch Betty & Joan graduate, with the blessing of Carole and Paula. And to know that they loved the show. As Paula mentioned, "As soon as I saw the mushrooms on stage, I knew I was home."