I just got back from the LOST Live: The Final Celebration event.  It took place at UCLA’s Royce Hall and featured live performances by composer Michael Guichinno, surprise guest appearances, and a private screening of the penultimate episode,”What They Died For.”  Note that cell phones and cameras were not allowed inside the Hall, so letters and words are all I got to offer.  So let’s dive right into the details, shall we?

Introductions: Things started off with an ABC executive reading a letter to a packed audience.  The letter was addressed to Lostexecutive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof (together known as “Darlton”) and spoke very highly of the groundbreaking series and how it related to the Star Wars franchise and how the creatives behind those films also did not know exactly where they were going during the making of the first film (big laughs!).  The letter was penned by George Lucas.  Then Darlton came out to share kind words about thankful they are for the rabid fanbase, for without them Lost simply wouldn’t be, well, Lost.  They described all those in attendance at Royce Hall special members of the Lostfamily.  They were excited to have the opportunity to end the series by sharing an event with the show’s most loyal fans.

The cast: Next, Darlton announced, one by one, many cast members to join them on stage.  According to the press statement, we knew Lost characters Richard, Ben, and Hurley would make an appearance, but everyone was surprised to see a ton more jump on stage.  Darlton welcome the following Lostcast members on stage: Young Ben (Sterling Beaumon), Cassidy (Kim Dickens), Arzt (Daniel Roebuck), Ethan (William Mapother), Abaddon (Lance Reddick), Boone (Ian Somerhalder), Rose (L. Scott Caldwell), Dr. Pierre Chang (François Chau), Walt (Malcom David Kelley), Michael (Harold Perrineau), Charlotte (Rebecca Mader), Faraday (Jeremy Davies), The Man in Black (Titus Welliver), Penny (Sonya Walger), Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), Richard (Nestor Carbonell), Ben (Michael Emerson), Hurley (Jorge Garcia), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway).  The takeaways?  Abaddon, Chang, Faraday, Desmond, Richard, Hurley, and Ben got the loudest applause, no surprise there.  And Walt got taller.  Seeing all these amazing actors standing together on stage (with Darlton nearby) was quite a sight.  A whole lot of talent was right there in front of all of us, and you couldn’t help but smile and cheer for your favorite characters you’ve come to know and love over the past six years.  (I gave a loud shout-out to Faraday, which I’m sure he heard.)  Yeah, it was a bummer main cast members Jack, Kate, Sayid, Locke, Claire, and Charlie were no-shows, but it was still a great moment to see all of these guys come together in one space for the final hurrah.  Before each cast member walked onto the stage, Darlton would describe key attributes of their characters so as to keep the audience guessing who’ll come out next.  Lotta cheering and name calling resulted.  And after the cast took a long bow, they left the stage to take seats in the crowd.  (In fact, a bunch of Lostpeople were in attendence, including producers and writers, but I’ll get to that later.)

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