The Theater Kid I Raised, and the One I Used to Be
For nearly a year now, I've been honored to call the American Theatre Wing a client. The Wing, together with the Broadway League, presents the Tony Awards. Last night, I went for the first time. It was one of the most spectacular, pleasure-filled business experiences of my life.
And, of course, my date for the evening was my theater kid.
Someone asked me what the best part of the night was. Hands down: watching my own son take it in. I wonder if this is what parents of athletes feel when they bring their kids to see their favorite team play — the joy of watching someone you love experience joy.
I'm an NYC public school kid who grew up loving theater, and I went on to raise one. So the Tonys were always going to be magical for me. But I couldn't have prepared myself for what it felt like to watch him.
Maxwell took to performing at five. His kindergarten teacher called him "a showman." The first time he saw James Monroe Iglehart in Aladdin, he sat on the edge of his seat — and I think that was the first time he could see a version of his adult self up there on that stage.
Theater people are their own tribe. Theater kids find each other everywhere; last night he ran into two friends from his summers at Interlochen.
There really ought to be a club for the parents of theater kids — because we're a tribe too. I used to warn the other parents: beware, they can break into show tunes at any moment. We took him to everything. After-school programs, Saturday programs, On Broadway training camp, Interlochen in the middle of nowhere in Michigan, music lessons at Hofstra, summer training at NYU. Every play he could be in, every program we could find. Everything.
I never pushed theater on him — but I didn't not push it either. When he was small, I filled the house with show tunes and jazz, and when he showed interest, I cultivated it. Like all parents, I wanted to give him what I didn't have, so I made space for his talents. And my mother — his grandmother — took him to shows, too, the same way she once took me.
So last night was a dream I wouldn't have known to dream: a kid from Queens, at the Tony Awards, sitting next to the theater kid she raised. Both of us carrying something my mother started.
One more gift from the evening: Vogue and EBONY both included me in their Tony Awards red carpet coverage. I'll remember that, too.
— Leilani