Private Practice and Grey’s Anatomy Practice ‘Good Medicine’

GMMR reader and friend, Marissa, was lucky enough to attend Good Medicine – the Grey’s Anatomy/Private Practice benefit show this past weekend, and she kindly wrote up a recap of the night’s events. Sounds like it was an amazing night. But I’m with you Marissa…what’s up with Taye Diggs not singing?hey say you should learn at least one new thing every day.

The Friday one-night-only performance of Good Medicine, a concert put on by the actors from Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice to benefit their crews who had been impacted by the WGA strike, went above and beyond that and taught me several important lessons. One, people are freakin’ nuts for Sara Ramirez. Two, not only are the casts of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice gorgeous and good actors, but a good many of them have vocal talent! Third, watching actors perform fanfiction is possibly one of the most hilarious things ever. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. But let’s start at the beginning, shall we?Evening started off with a taped video message from Patrick Dempsey (aka McDreamy, aka one of my future husbands). He was in Japan promoting Enchanted (which he reminded the audience was coming to DVD soon as he sat beside his Enchanted Barbie doll). He thanked us for coming and said if it wasn’t for the amazing cast and crew of GA that he would still be remembered as the geeky teen in Can’t Buy Me Love (which he also reminded us was now available on DVD). Basically he was adorable, funny, and thousands of miles away.

Katherine Heigl came out, talked a bit (and started a running gag about not knowing what a “best boy” was) and introduced Sara Ramirez. Sara came on, didn’t say anything and just started singing “Meadowlark”. Sara had a good voice. A really good voice. I’ve never heard her sing live before, and I think I might have heard her sing a little on YouTube, so it was a bit odd to hear that kind of voice come out from our own Callie. When it was done, the audience went crazy. She got a standing ovation, people were freaking out, and they basically went nuts for her.

Next up was Ellen Pompeo. She talked about what the people on the crew do, and also claimed to not know what a best boy was, so Chandra Wilson came out to help her, but as it turns out, she didn’t know what it was either. So Ellen introduced one of the best boys she knew, TR Knight. Poor TR Knight. He looked visibly nervous, and before he sang, he warned the audience that he hadn’t done anything like this in 13 years and also seemed a bit freaked out that he had to follow Sara Ramirez. In the beginning of his songs (“Losing My Mind/You Could Drive a Person Crazy”), his fingers kept on clenching and unclenching, but soon he got into the song and seemed much more comfortable on stage.

Brooke Smith and Eric Dane came on and did a little bit about how Eric had told Brooke when she started that she needed to learn all of the names of the crew and Eric claimed he knew everyone’s name. When Brooke started quizzing him, the names he gave were things like “Baby”. “Buster”, etc. They then introduced Chandra Wilson, who sang “God Bless the Child”, which GA fans might remember that Bailey actually sang on the show.

Next up, Amy Brenneman introduced Paul Adelstein who sang “Slip Slidin’ Away” while he played what looked like an electric guitar. He was really into the performance. Then he, Chandra Wilson, and Eric Dane all read fan letters, one that suggested possible love interests for characters on PP (really random descriptions of people who have never been and likely never will be on the show), a fan letter demanding that Mer-Der get together, because we deserve that much, and then a hilarious letter read by Eric Dane saying how hot McSteamy was, how it’s not fair that George has all the sex and McSteamy has none. That McSteamy shouldn’t be dressed on the show, how they should have a spin-off where he works at a nudist beach called Naked Private Practice and at the end of the reading of the letter, he read who it was from—Eric Dane.

Chyler Leigh and Justin Chambers came out and introduced Audra McDonald who performed “Somedays”. She was amazing. I had never heard her sing before but she was singing great and was singing FAST. Crowd went wild for her too (but Sara’s first song was the only one that got a standing ovation for the night).

After intermission, Kate Walsh’s video message played. She was in Australia, promoting PP and getting massaged and said she was being worked hard. It was a funny little video, basically thanking us for being there and supporting the crew.

Taye Diggs came out to introduce Loretta Divine, and before he did, he tried to clear up what exactly a best boy was (he said he was in fact the best boy and we should remember that when we go to the poll this year). Loretta sang “I Believe in You and Me”. Fantastic.

Tim Daly and Chris Lowell introduced Paul Adelstein, Amy Brenneman and the four of them performed “California Stars”. Who knew Chris Lowell can play a mean harmonica?! I certainly didn’t and neither did most of the audience based on the reaction he got when he started playing.

James Pickens Jr. came out dressed as James Brown (wig and all) and started lip-synching to “I Feel Good”. Loretta Devine came out to scold him for not singing live like everyone else and told him that the audience paid good money to hear him sing, so he better either sing (which he said he couldn’t) or he better bring out someone who could. So he introduced his wife Gina Taylor-Pickens who sang “Dr. Feelgood”.

Then came possibly the best part of the night. TR Knight said that even though the writers had stopped writing, the fans had carried on, writing fanfic (aka fanfiction). He said some was good, some was bad, and some was dirty. Sara, Justin, and Sandra Oh acted out this fanfic where a werewolf was causing havoc, and Sandra was just so perfectly deadpan as Cristina. So freaking hilarious. Then, TR and Katherine acted out one where he was royalty, she was the lady who had captured his heart and Justin was a servant. Just as “George” and “Izzie” were about to kiss, Katherine broke character to say she remembered who the best boy was. She said it was a guy she knew in the ninth grade. TR got upset that she ruined the scene and they stormed off the stage “angry” at each other.

Audra McDonald sang a song that she said reminded her of Addison, “It’s the Christian Thing to Do”. The audience awwww-ed when she said that.

Shonda Rhimes came out, thanked us again, and introduced the mystery guest who we had been guessing about since we saw it listed on our programs. Turns out, it was Patty Griffin singing her song “Up to The Mountain” which was on the last aired GA episode.

Everyone came out to thank us for coming and then Sara closed the show with the song “Grateful”. (I liked that one better than her first, but the audience seemed to enjoy her first song better)

My only disappointment with the evening? Taye Diggs didn’t sing. Taye, I freaking love you, and I understand some people not singing if they don’t have talent/skill/experience, but you were in the original Broadway cast of Rent. Everyone else from Private Practice sang. Why oh why did you not?

Celebs I spotted: Marc Cherry (creator of Desperate Housewives) and Marti Noxon (writer for GA, PP, and Buffy). Some friends also saw Meredith Monroe (best known as Andie on Dawson’s Creek) and Liza Weil (also known as Paris on Gilmore Girls and is Paul Adelstein real life wife).

Basically, it was a fantastic night. I’m hoping maybe the GA/PP casts will make a CD of the songs they sang on Friday and sell it as a benefit CD for the crew members. What do you think Shonda?

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Thanks for the great write up of the night, Marissa. I just found this video online – it’s not a good quality, but it’s better than nothing.