Crystal Chappell with fans (Soaps.com)
At least twice the size of the groups that came for anyone else, Team Otalia was present in full force. They came from all over America, some driving for hours, some for days, just to get a glimpse of their favorite characters. Surely one of the most heartening signs I've seen for a soap in a time when the genre is in trouble. They even had banners and handed out lovely little buttons, one of which now sits on my work desk. "It's the first time in a long time that I've really seen it [the show] have a huge impact," Dicopolous said, and they were all grateful to be a part of it.
The schedule that day was heavy and myself and my colleagues only managed a brief interview with the three actors. They all seemed to be quite radiant after basking in the admiration of their fans. "People are very warm and fuzzy today. They're full of love," Leccia said. "They're grateful for the story and we're grateful for them." She even deliberately wore purple to honor the official Team Otalia colors and the fan community dedicated to them, Big Purple Dreams. "I'm so glad it's called 'Big Purple Dreams.' It would be weird if it was called 'Big Green Dreams,'" she joked. "Or 'Checkered Dreams,'" Crystal added before telling her how wonderfully she wears purple.
"It is a different story for Daytime and it's been nice to see so many people embrace it," Chappell said. Smiling, they all joked around and graciously passed compliments to each other. "This would not be working without Frank. He's been so crucial to this story and meant so much to it," she added. Dicopolous explained why he thought it was having such a wide impact: "So many people can pull something from it and it's a broader spectrum... it makes it more colorful, more full, instead of just black and white. That's magical and it happens very rarely." But the ultimate secret in the story is that it's what people tune into soaps for – a love story and one that is, "being written so naturally and so carefully."
For her part, Leccia is still adjusting to having a storyline that has caught the public's attention like this one has. "I was very used to the slow pace but now it seems that it's just bubbled into something different and I didn't expect that," she admitted. While Frank may be head over heals in love with Natalia, even the actor who plays him conceded that he had blinders on about the situation. "He's the personification, though not the only reason, why Nat and Olivia aren't together," Chappell commented. All of their relationships will change in the coming weeks, becoming ever more complex and entwined. Even Frank and Olivia will become close again, which should be, suffice it to say, awkward and fascinating to watch.
-Matt Purvis
