
Twitter invite lands Neil Patrick Harris at Toronto's Fringe Festival
By Sarah Walker
Neil Patrick Harris isn't one to turn down an invitation received on Twitter. The How I Met Your Mother star, who is in Toronto filming his new movie, Downsizing, recently said yes to an offer that he attend a play at the city's popular Fringe Festival in his downtime.
His appearance at the production happened as a result of a tweet he shared asking for tips on the city.
In Toronto for the weekend, what should I do? Looking for recommendations: Theatre? Fitness? Restaurants? Massage? Museums? Lemme know.
— Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) July 9, 2016
One respondent was Kat Sandler, the creator of the play Bright Lights, who asked Neil Patrick to pop by one of the performances.
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“Within 20 minutes he had direct messaged me about coming to the show," she told Toronto Life. "It was totally sold out. We had to Mission: Impossible him into the theatre.”
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What that entailed, according to the report by the publication, was a covert operation that included sneaking the actor in the back door before the show started. As a result, most members of the audience didn't even know he was there.
Neil Patrick was so "lovely" and friendly, he went on to pose for a picture with the play's cast.
Guys it worked. Best ever special guest. Come see us at Best Of in August! @Toronto_Fringe@ActuallyNPH@katsandlerpic.twitter.com/wlqzIgetkY
— Theatre Brouhaha (@TheatreBrouhaha) July 10, 2016
Over the weekend, the duo went on to see two other Fringe shows together: True Blue and Romeo and Juliet Chainsaw Massacre.
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It's no secret that the 43-year-old is a theatre fan. He's hosted the Tony Awards four times and won one of the statues for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 2014 for his role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
The father of two can next be seen in the project he's working on in Canada. Downsizing is a sci-fi comedy featuring some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis and Christoph Waltz. It's set to be released in late 2017.