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So, I saw "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" on Broadway in 1996, and I was
12 years old, and my mother and I--my mother loves Broadway as much as I do, but I was
an obsessed child, I mean, like, completely obsessed--and my mother would take me a couple
times a year to see Broadway shows, and, of course, I would wait months and months and
months, and pick them out from the ABC's in the New York Times, and I also made my mother
take my picture in front of every marquee on Broadway, so on this specific trip, it
was raining, and she, of course, had her umbrella, and I made her take my picture under, I think,
all 30 something marquees, and it all culminated in seeing "Forum," and I remember that opening
number pretty vividly, and I also remember that I wanted Nathan Lane's autograph, but
it was a matinee day, and he would not be coming out, and they took us in this little
alley behind the St. James Theater where you could wait for him, and I waited and waited
and waited, and he didn't come out, but he said that he would sign a poster of mine,
so they sent a poster back with the stage doorman, and he signed it, and it's still
hanging on my childhood bedroom wall, and it's one of my most prized possessions, and
I haven't really gotten beyond that phase of being a great fan of the theatre. I still
feel like that 12-year-old who wants Nathan Lane's autograph, so it's a kind of surreal
experience to get to do this production on this very big stage in this very important
city, and make people laugh, so my only hope is that some little boy who's 12 has a similar
experience that I did, and finds the magic of the theatre.