The Great White Way Off Base

Being a certified Theater instructor and a 40 year veteran of the entertainment industry, including owning an entertainment company that specialized in dinner theater, I thought that I had a pretty good handle on most things theater and a strong knowledge of the entertainment business. I know my way around movies, both classic and current and I have a pretty good, I thought, knowledge of theater. I came to realize, in the most embarrassing way, that that was not necessarily the case. The term “pride goeth before a fall” is more painful when it happens in front of family.

The February before Covid-19 hit, we took our son Michael, who is also pursuing a career in theater, on his first Broadway weekend. It was very exciting as it was also his first trip to the Big Apple. I enjoyed being able to relive my first experiences in the city that never sleeps while watching the look of wonder on his face as we brought him to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty, paid respects at the memorial to 9/11, took him to some of our favorite restaurants, including real NY pizza and took a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park. We tried to squeeze as much “tourist” stuff in as possible. The main events, though were getting to see two of his theater idols in their current shows. We had tickets to see Derek Klena in “Jagged Little Pill” and Aaron Tveit in “Moulin Rouge”. Of course being fans, we waited outside the stage door of each show waiting and hoping to get autographs from some of the performers. To our good fortune, we were successful. Michael got autographs from several cast members of “Jagged Little Pill” including Derek Klena and was able to speak with him for a brief moment before he moved on. He was extremely gracious, greeting his fans and signing autographs.

It was while we were getting the Aaron Tveit experience that I made my big faux pas and learned that I didn’t really know as much as I thought I did...or as much as many fans. While most of the time I stood back and let my son do the talking, as I did while greeting Derek Klena, I decided that I would impress Mr. Tveit with a bit of Michael’s resume. You see, he played the lead in his high school’s musical his senior year. The show was “Dogfight” a show that I thought sure was one that Aaron Tveit created on the Great White Way. As I caught the stars eye while he was signing my son’s program, I proudly exclaimed that Michael had played Eddie Birdlace, the role he had originated, in “Dogfight”. I don’t believe the silence hit a New York city street as hard until Covid-19 hit and maybe not even then.

As Aaron smiled through his confusion and proclaimed “That’s great.”, my son turned to me with a look of abject horror in his eyes and shook his head. I heard several divisive snickers, an out and out laugh and a bunch of “OMG’s”. Then, a young lady standing next to my son, with just as big a shocked look on her face, kindly informed me that it was Derek Klena that played Eddie on Broadway. Oops, wrong show, wrong actor. Mistakes happen, right? My son barely spoke to me the entire way back to our hotel and my fiancee giggled all the way back He got over it, and we’ve had several good laughs about my outburst, but I’m not sure I will ever live it down. It was truly a “theater dad” moment.