My Broadway Debut

My Broadway debut was a quiet affair. I walked onto the stage at the St. James Theatre on a Tuesday evening in March. The house lights dimmed. I took my mark. The first note came out clean.

The run lasted six weeks. I played the role of a junior associate in a corporate law drama. My character had three lines in Act I and a single monologue in Act II. The critics were kind. The New York Times called my performance "serviceable" and my posture "convincingly uncomfortable."

I learned two things. First, that the stage floor is colder than you expect. Second, that a monologue delivered to an empty house during a Wednesday matinee sounds exactly the same as one delivered to a full house on a Saturday night. The difference is in the silence between lines.

I did not get another Broadway offer. I did not expect one. The experience cost me six weeks of savings and a pair of shoes that never recovered from the spilled coffee in the green room. I would do it again.

The closing night party ended at 2 a.m. I walked out onto 44th Street and the marquee still had my name on it.