A short story of Broadway's Christopher Fitzgerald. Read the full story in my new book SETHS BROADWAY DIARY VOL2: http://amzn.to/1MrOpOV
Chris made his Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night. He didn't have much contact with Sondheim until the day of the recording session. Chris did one take of his song and then saw Sondheim leave the recording booth. The session took place at the Hit Factory which was an enormous studio so it took Sondheim forever to get to Chris. Chris thought it was very sweet of him to walk all the way over to congratulate him on his performance. Sondheim finally got to Chris and instead of praising him simply said, "You're not singing what I wrote." Chris was mor-ti-fied. Not only for singing it wrong at the session but, since the show had been running for quite some time by that point, for singing it wrong at every past performance! Had Sondheim been stewing the whole time? Chris stammered, "Oh! Sorry! I'll sing it correctly." He decided to show how dedicated he was, so he immediately said, "Can you plunk it out on the piano for me?" Sondheim stared and then said, "Um… I think someone else can do that for you." And the mortification is still fresh as a daisy.