It’s a mid-1990s me (on the left) standing in awe of my one of my theater idols, Lewis Stadlen Jr. (aka Groucho, Dr. Pangloss, Senex, Nathan Detroit, Max Bialystock, Mickey Fox…)
The photo was taken at the Shubert in New Haven at the reception following opening night of the first national tour of Laughter on the 23rd Floor, in which the great Stadlen recreated his Broadway role of Milt. He later directed a different tour of the same Neil Simon show starring Ernie Sabella.
Stadlen accepted my fawning gracefully, including deflecting a fantastic faux pas I made when I started randomly raving about an actress whom I was a big fan of at the time. He listened and listened, then quietly mentioned that he’d lived with the woman for seven years. (I’d had no idea. Some odds.)
We had lunch while he was in town, wandered the streets of New Haven together a bit. I also ran into Stadlen unexpectedly in the parking lot outside the old New Haven Advocate offices at 1 Long Wharf Drive. He was staying at the Residence Inn next door and was taking his dog for a walk.
I’ve had several opportunities to interview him since, but to my knowledge he hasn’t toured through Connecticut since the first tour of The Producers nearly a decade ago.