Last night, Matt and I went to see Valhalla, Paul Rudnick’s newest play. As we entered the lobby, I saw three people standing together, and I realized that one of them was Nathan Lane. I leaned close to Matt and said, very softly, “Nathan Lane is behind you.”

We went in and took our seats. After a few minutes, I got up to use the restroom. The men’s room had a long line. As I was waiting, Nathan Lane walked out. Wow! Nathan Lane just peed in one of those urinals! I thought.

When I went back into the theater, I was going to tell Matt that I’d seen Nathan Lane coming out of the restroom. Matt was looking at me with an interesting look on his face, like he was trying to tell me something. I climbed over a few people to return to my seat, and then I followed Matt’s gesture and noticed that NATHAN LANE WAS SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. His two guests were on opposite sides of him, maybe to create a buffer zone. Matt had been trying silently to warn me of his presence so I wouldn’t start talking about him.

Anyway, since he was sitting directly in front of Matt, and not directly in front of me, I could sort of see his face. I was looking forward to gauging his reactions to the play, since it was a comedy and he specializes in comedic roles. (In fact, he had a role in the movie version of Paul Rudnick’s play, Jeffrey.)

I watching him on and off during the show. The play was fun and funny, and he laughed out loud several times. There were a few times when actors would recite lines from the back of the audience, and I noticed that he never turned around to look at them. He probably didn’t want to be seen.

And of course during intermission I went outside and called my mom to tell her.

At the end of the show, he and his companions got on their coats and walked out. I was sort of staring at him, and I think one of his companions noticed, because as she glanced at me, I saw a hint of a grin on her face.

(Here’s Matt’s account.)