What a fun night this was!
So, I was in New York with B, my high school theater teacher. One of her former students (and a friend of mine from my east coast days) was in Amazing Grace on Broadway. We texted him to make sure he was in the show that night. He said he was, so I said we were grabbing tickets and we had a beautifully fun exchange with a lot of question marks. “When did you get here?? How long are you staying??” etc.
After the show, B and I had a group text from him that he left our names at the stage door (oh-la-la, right?). He gave us instructions on how to get back there. Then he got paged over the intercom that he had a guest. He came running out of the theater, practically sprinting into B’s arms. It was so adorable!
The way any of her former students just light up and freak out when they see her – I don’t know many people in this world like her who just exude so much love, kindness, and wonderfulness, and therefore receive so very much in return.
They had this sweet embrace and then he gave me a huge hug too! He made me feel so special, telling me I looked adorable, and telling me later in the night he can’t believe that I’ve grown up. (It’s crazy to me to think that the last time I saw him I was a teenager! I really have grown up a lot… ish… I think. :-))
Anyway, he was just so ridiculously cute how excited he was to see B. And then he said, “Can I take you backstage?” Uh, yeah. Of course. We’d love to come backstage!
He took us around to meet everyone. He was beaming with pride as he said introduced B to everyone. “This is my high school theater teacher!” And of course with everyone being actors, they knew exactly what a special bond that was. So they all thought it was super cute, and treated B like the royalty she is. Then she, being the wonderful audience member and person she was had very specific lovely compliments for everyone. The whole thing was adorable!
Stanley took us out onstage and it was beautiful to look out into the theater. What a joy and honor to stand on a Broadway stage. He knew all the history about the Nederlander too, which was awesome – like having our own mini-tour guide.
Then he took us around the backstage area and showed us his adorable dressing room that he’d really made his own with Christmas lights around the door and pictures of loved ones taped around his mirror.
He’d even made reservations at Urbo, this cool place down the street. We went and talked forever while having fun food. (A tropical banana split? It exists. And it’s so good!)
I loved talking musical theater and catching up. It was a beautiful, precious night. And I was so lucky and thankful to be a part of it!