When one goes to a celebrity show, one can be generally confident that if the price is right one will get the chance to meet each of the adverstised celebrities that one has come to see. Unfortunatlely, when hoping to meet certain performers after shows in which they’ve performed, it’s much more of a crap shoot. Life indeed does move pretty fast, and so do celebrities who don’t want to be encountered by the likes of me – so you have to be on your toes. When I go to a live stage production or even a concert, there is always the hope that I will get to meet whichever perfomer in whom I have interest. Sometimes I get lucky. Sometimes I don’t. Win some. Lose some.
In the case of Matthew Broderick, who needs no introduction thanks to an amazing array of films that include Biloxi Blues, WarGames, The Cable Guy, Glory, The Lion King, Ladyhawke, Election, You Can Count on Me, and of course the most memorable of his career, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I won pretty darn big.
Matthew Broderick was the featured star of the Broadway musical Nice Work if You Can Get It, which was playing at the Imperial Theatre directly across the street from our hotel. In fact, the stage door in the rear of the theatre was about a twenty second walk from the front door of our building. I knew that if Broderick was classy enough to come out and greet the fans, we’d be meeting him.
I didn’t see the play Nice Work if You Can Get It on Tuesday, May 28, 2013. Bob and I saw another play that night, and you’ll be able to read about that elsewhere. We waited for some of the stars of that show, to minimal success. But my greatest success of the evening happened when we walked back to our hotel. We could see the camera flashes up in the distance, so we hightailed it to the stage door of the Imperial.
There he was, signing autograph dutifully. I snuck slightly behind the barrier and got a great photo with him(the one below). Not thinking that I’d be seeing him that night, I didn’t bring my Ferris Bueller photo with me, so I had nothing for him to sign – but I was ecstatic with the photo.
The next day, we actually did see the matinee show Nice Work if You Can Get It. I enjoyed it immensely and it was probably the most enjoyable of the four I saw that week. Since it was a matinee, I wasn’t sure that Matthew Broderick would come out again, but I waited at the stage door anyway and had a couple of other cat members sign my program. Bob had heard that cast member Estelle Parsons never came out the back, so he waited up front – and ended up missing Broderick when he in fact did come out.
I had him sign my program and my Ferris Bueller photo (which had been previously been signed by the film’s co-star Alan Ruck). Just for fun, I posed for a second photo with him, wandering if he might give more of a smile – but he didn’t. I preffered my first photo with him to this one (seen at the top of the posting). I also helped another fan get a photo with him after her first one had come out exceptionally blurry.
I do not want to say anything bad about Matthew Broderick since I think it’s exceptionally cool that he comes out and signs autographs after his performances. I fully recognize that this is an extremely nice thing to do, and that he doesn’t have to do anything of the sort. But I will say that he doesn’t spend much time talking, or smiling, or being friendly. After he had signed my photo, I thought I’d push my luck with the somewhat annoying request to write “Life moves pretty fast” on my photo – which Ferris Bueller fans will recognize as a quote spoken twice during the movie. He looked a bit annoyed and just shook his head ‘no’.
But this was all okay. I can’t stress enough how awesome it was to meet him at all.
That night after we saw our second show of the day, we again passed by the stage door as we headed back to our hotel, and sure enough there he was once again! Three times! This time Bob got his program signed since he had missed him before. I came very close to getting a third photo with him, thinking that it might make an even more interesting story. But Bob and my own conscience decided to just let it be. He looked quite tired after giving two performances – but was still a sport about signing for everyone as it neared midnight.
Matthew Broderick will have my admiration because he does his duty for his fans. He doesn’t enjoy, or even pretend to enjoy it, but he still does it. And that says quite a bit for his character. Life moves pretty fast, and it’s cool that I got to spend a couple minutes of mine in the presence of someone I consider to be an iconic actor.
Celebrity encounters in New York City will continue…
Return to Tuesday in NYC…
Return to Wednesday in NYC…
One time he came by CBS when I was still working there and he was the same way.Yes,he did sign and pose for pictures.He only smiled with the girls.I had my dvd of Ferris and he did sign that and a poster.
Raul Moreno
September 29th, 2013