David Burnham
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To really understand about David, you need to know a little background perhaps.

For starters, he was the first "celebrity" I met at a stage door since I was a very little girl, (excepting for Harry Belafonte, who M and I met  many, many years ago in Hawaii, and unintentionally at that.)

Meeting David ~W~ A Love Story

In May or June of 1997, a Michael Ball fan/ friend in Toronto wrote me about a young man who had recently taken over the role of "Joseph" in the Canadian national tour of the ALW musical  "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat."

"Joseph" has long been a favorite show of mine...with a great and upbeat message, fun and singable,  a family show, and all the rest.  In any case I love it...and have forever.

I was also told the young man was perhaps a bit controversial since he had offered to lead the upcoming march for gay rights and awareness in the city,  and was consequently named celebrity chairman for Aids projects in the city. 

David had just turned 26, and this was his first starring role in a national production.  The city was plastered with his photos...the media loved him.  The show opened, everyone loved it and David!  The critics were calling him the "Dreamboat in the Dreamcoat"  but I was warned I might want to think twice about going to Vancouver when it played there from October to December that year, as it was believed he would lead the Gay Rights Parade, etc., in Vancouver as well, and head up the drive benefiting all Aids projects during the fall season.  I said I would gladly hold this young man's hand and walk proudly beside him in any parade anywhere.  This without having seen a picture or heard a note of his music.  Somehow, I just knew I was gonna love this guy!

In October...Merrill, youngest son Philip, and I went to Vancouver to see the show.  Phil had never seen it, and we were all thrilled just to be there and in the 2nd row too!  The overture began...the show began, and then suddenly the scrim opened and there he was ....gliding down from a star...riding a rainbow all the way down to the stage.  The audience burst into wild applause - cheering, smiling - while I sat there and cried like a baby!  I was so completely overcome with emotion at seeing this beautiful person who just seemed to glow with some inner radiance.  Philip (who was probably embarrassed) whispered to me, "Excuse me mom, but why are you crying? Everyone else in the theatre seems to think this is a happy part."  

Well maybe guys just don't always understand.  But I could see that he was exactly who I had hoped and believed he would me.  Believe me, that young man has a soul that just shines from a truly gorgeous face...he is radiant...the audience adored him...and I could not help crying - he was just so beautiful - and the show was as well.  It was an overpowering emotional experience.  We were all impressed.  In any case we went home...talked about it at every opportunity, and M and I decided to go back in November.

We got good seats again.  My sister-in-law, (who is normally shy and not at all given to such things) suggested I take him a rose next time.  She also told me I would regret it the rest of my life if I didn't.  I was certain that was not at all likely.  And I did not intend to do it, not for a moment.

However when the day came, as we were on our way to the theatre, we passed a florist stand, and Merrill said, "Don't you want to take him that rose?"  So, feeling incredibly stupid...I got the rose.  

@}--->--->---    ---<---<---{@

I decided to get the rose for David because I thought he just might like that, and then realized I could probably not throw it safely from the third row (center) seat and over the orchestra.  Besides I had asked the usher and she said I should take it to the stage door after the show...as folks in Vancouver don't toss flowers to performers.  So, first of all, during the curtain calls he looked me right in the eye and waved to me, because of course I was waving at him.  Then, M and I went to the stage door, where I left the rose and a one line note telling him that I hoped to  see him in many more musicals in the future.  When I got outside, I did stop to chat with some of the cast, "great show, guys" and stuff like that.  (That's when we met Brian Noonan, btw.)  When they had all gone, there was one gal still there, and she asked if I had brought the rose for someone in particular...and I said "David", and she asked if I knew him...and I said no...but that I had just left him a rose, because I enjoyed his performances so much.  She told me she had just put up "The Official David Burnham Web Page" (with his permission) and she would be happy to introduce us if we would wait another few minutes.  I told her "no, I would be too embarrassed."  She said I really should, because David would be disappointed if I didn't.  I told her no again...Well, we did have a train to catch, and I was sorta feeling "rumbley in my tummy" and all that...but M said we had time so we decided to do so...  

Within minutes, HE was there...gave her a big hug, said he had gotten injured during the performance...they talked a moment...she introduced us to him...he was sooooooooooo cute, and though small, he is taller than I thought...maybe M's height (5'11" or thereabouts.)  He shook hands with Merrill, and said something.  In any case he has these gorgeous eyes...and he looked right at me, with a really nice little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth...and I guess he said something, but I have no idea what...I was in my usual "dazed when in the presence of greatness state" and I was just staring into his eyes...and then I heard someone say, "may I give you a hug?"   And I guess that must have been me, because he said "I was hoping you would" and I didn't even faint dead away...but instead, I reached out my arms and he reached out his...and there we were hugging each other so tightly...and he said in my ear...."Lucky me"  and I said in his, "No David, it is I who am lucky."  and we hugged tighter...and then we stopped - and it was suddenly time to go.  

I told him that I would be visiting our son in L.A. from time to time and that since I understood he lived in southern California (thanks to Paulette of the web page thingy) that I hoped I might run into him down there some of these days when perhaps he might be at home, and he said he hoped so....and said to email him via the web page, and he would answer...and we would see what we could work out...and then M and I had to take off like crazy to get the train...and on the way, we both remembered the camera Merrill had....sorta too late, huh?...but I am glad I think, because, I would have felt so stupid to be hugging him while someone was taking photos.  It just would have been so tacky to do something so planned at such a spontaneous time I think...So there is just M and me and David the gorgeous and Paulette to ever witness our first meeting but it is enough.  M said he would never wash his hand again, so I can touch David anytime I want to :-)

And yes...the show was even better the second time...and I made plans to go back on the 17th of December and take Samantha.  M wanted to go and couldn't get the day off, so we would have to go alone, if I could get tickets and train reservations.  I planned to let David know, so he would be expecting me...and I planned to ask if I might take photos...which would be a better way to do it. 

He WILL be a star...I am convinced of it...and he is definitely nice.  Paulette says the nicest guy she has ever met...and my friends at Showstoppers and in the theatre say he is absolutely the nicest young man who has ever worked there. I was told he had endeared himself to everyone.  Watch for him. He is one terrific kid, and yes I still love Michael Ball, and adore Bob Cuccioli, and I am really not fickle...I just have a big heart...and I love the combination of talent...and their complete and open adoration of their fans.  They are truly three of a kind.  In David's case, he has the added quality of youthful innocence and being so unaware of where he is about to be or just how much he really has to give...or at least it seems to be so.  He loves performing, he loves his audience and you can tell it from the first moment he appears on stage...we are putty in his hands.  M said he would go back on the next train if he could...We were impressed to the max...can you tell?

Well, I went home and wrote my first fan letter..

I sent it via Paulette the owner of his web page, and got a note from her the next morning, thanking me and saying that she that she would get it to him.  She promised to keep in touch also...so...can you hear my heart thumping?

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Part Two

As you may have already figured out, David and I have become pretty good friends...I absolutely adore him...and was devastated when the show closed in Vancouver, as I knew I might not see him for ages.  

I know I loved him without ever having seen or heard him - thanks to lots of correspondence about him way back when David arrived in Toronto.  When I finally did see him in October...on the stage, floating down from the clouds, it was a real case of love at first sight for me.  He totally overwhelmed me.  Meeting him in November was incredible, but seeing him the third time, with Samantha was just the most terrific thing of all. 

On Wednesday, Phil took us to get the train for Vancouver...and "Joseph."  And David, of course. 

He was even more wonderful than the first time we met.  It was just too fabulous, too incredible...and he was just soooooo sweet.  He made me feel so special and so important.  When he emerged from the stage door, he was instantly engulfed in a huge crowd of children and their moms.  I could not believe it, but when he looked up and saw me standing way off beyond the back of the crowd...his whole face just lit up and he sorta pushed his way through everyone, never took his eyes off of Samantha and I, and came and just grabbed me in a giant bear hug, and held me close like he would never let go...and he kept hugging me tighter and tighter.  And we had so little time...10 minutes maybe.  I brought a "Joseph" program from the Cabrillo Music Theatre (that Linda had given me,) for him to sign, and he could not believe I had gotten that, and of course he asked where I had found it, but I just couldn't tell him that it was from a Michael Ball party :-) so I just said from a friend in LA!

I had to remind him to go back and sign more of the kids autographs...there were so many of them, and he tried to do as many for them and some calendars and stuff for me as he could....he just kept hugging me and we just kept babbling about heaven knows what...I know he kissed my cheek and I kissed his hair or his head and he said he loved me, and I said I loved him, and ladies kept tapping him on the shoulder, and pulling on his sleeve, cause they wanted to take photos of him with their kids, and I couldn't believe that they would do that since he was so obviously trying to talk to Samantha and me.  It must have been pretty obvious that he knew me.  

He had a doctor's appointment which he was already late for, (very painful ear infection) and he asked me if we could please wait for him, that he was sure he could be back in an hour, and he felt so bad that he couldn't stay longer and I felt worse probably, because I wasn't able to wait for him to come back, as we had a train to catch, and when he had to leave, he just pretty much ran to the car, and I couldn't even watch or wave, because I just felt so sad that it was over and he was gone...and Paulette (owner of his web page) hugged me, and I did cry a bit, but he didn't know.  It was just so indescribably special...and I again felt this really special and deeply personal attachment, and I know he did too...and I was both happy for those moments and devastated that it was over.  I did take a few photos, but have little recollection of having done so.  When I look into those eyes of his...I have no sense whatsoever of time or reality or anything except him.  We talk, but afterwards I cannot recall most of what we have said.  I remember his face and his eyes and his smile and the hugs...but little else.  He is hypnotizing...and I am definitely and positively unaware of anything but him when I am with him.  

I will never know what ever possessed me to go there that first day...or why I stayed or anything.  M says it was just destiny.  Maybe that is true.  I know that our hearts and souls just connected, for a moment and I knew it and he knew it, and I cannot imagine my world without him in it.  I told him in my last letter:

"You have made me remember what it is to feel young again, and made me realize once more how beautiful our world really is when it includes love and music and smiles and hugs...I like having you in my world David.  You make my heart smile."

David is very special to me. He and I just seem to have some special relationship that sorta happened in an instant, and it was like knowing each other forever.  

His next plans were to do an Aids Benefit on Jan 30, 31, and Feb 1, in Los Angeles, while on hiatus from "Joseph."  I hoped that Jeff would go.  I was almost tempted to go back to L.A. myself. 

Thank heavens that M understands and doesn't mind.  He likes David.  He says he is convinced that my meeting with David was destiny, and that he could feel the electricity himself.  He says he is glad we found each other, and that he understands, and he has no problem with that at all.  Am I lucky or what?

Later, I wrote another letter to David.

Over the intervening years, we have seen each other several more times, including at the S.T.A.G.E. Concerts and we keep in touch through our mutual friend, Paulette. 

Thanks Paulette and David - you have made more of a difference in my life than you may ever know or realize.

David's Photos    David's Credits

For More about David, see: S.T.A.G.E. 1998 and S.T.A.G.E. 2000

David's Official Website

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