Magic at TEDxBroadway

March 21, 2013

Immediately after my recent appearance at TEDxBroadway, the following quote appeared on Twitter:

I appreciate the enthusiastic response, but I assure you there was no divine intervention!

In fact, this was not even the first time that my favorite routine, Think-A-Drink, was performed on Broadway. My hero “Think-a-Drink” Hoffman himself performed the any-drink-called-for act in 1939 at the Broadhurst Theater’s original production of “Streets of Paris.” The show starred Carmen Miranda, and also featured Gower Champion, and Abbott & Costello (before they made their first movie).

I was happy to perform my version of Think-a-Drink on the Broadway stage once again, albeit 74 years later!

Another attendee Tweeted a take-away idea from my speech:

The day-long event was a delightful experience. In addition to meeting many Broadway producers, performers and creative directors, I got a chance to sit next to and speak with George Takei (Mr. Sulu from the original Star Trek series). That was cool, especially when he recited the Star Trek opening monologue “…to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Performer credentials

Backstage in the “Avenue Q” theater

I was eager to see what was behind this door

True to its name, this is indeed Avenue Q’s puppet room.

Backstage A/V engineers

You can view many of the TEDxBroadway videos on their website, and see a full list of speakers HERE. My performance is not included on their website, but here’s one more photo from my appearance:

As you can see, I invited a group of random audience members to join me on stage. They watched from up-close, and vouched for everything that was happening on stage. The remaining 300 people could see their reactions, and also watched on the large projection monitor overhead.