The Kid Stays in the Picture

On Friday, I volunteered to help out at the Drama League awards luncheon. The job I got turned out to be a lot of fun: I was the valet to one of the Co-Chairs for the benefit, Tovah Feldshuh (the star of Irena's Vow, which I saw earlier in the year). The job was pretty easy: I had to greet Ms. Feldshuh, shepherd her and a rep from the Broadway production to the press room for photos and interviews, then take her to the Drama League members cocktail reception so that she could schmooze them up a bit (if there had been time, which there wasn't), and finally take her to the VIP reception where she and the other nominees who were to be seated on the dais could pose for a group photo and then line-up to enter the luncheon. It was a pretty cushy job, really.

In the press room, I waited along the back wall for Ms. Feldshuh and watched the stars stream past me. The opposite me was where everyone posed for photos in front of the Drama League logo backdrop but, occasionally, a photographer would turn around and take a picture of a celebrity as they were being interviewed. I was watching Marcia Gay Harden chat merrily with an interviewer when Stockard Channing, who was the next person in line, finished with her conversation and moved forward. They greeted one another and the sudden attraction of two stars in such close proximity was just too much for about 8 or 10 photographers, who turned around quickly and started taking pictures of the two together. I got out of the way as quickly as I could (no, really: I did!) but not quite quickly enough:


As cool as my assignment was, Catherine's was even cooler: she was the valet to Geoffrey Rush and it was pretty much just her and Mr. Rush going through the event together! But that's a story for Catherine to tell...