With a little luck and a lot of refreshing of the Shubert Theatre’s website, I had managed to score tickets – front row, center balcony – to the Saturday matinee on opening weekend of “Hello, Dolly!”, starring Bette Midler and Gavin Creel. They were still months away from winning their Tony awards, but it was already the hottest ticket in town.

The day of the show, my friend Jonathan and I queued up in the massive line, running into several acquaintances who were taking selfies with the marquee, buying merch, or sitting behind us.

After the curtain came down to thunderous applause, Jonathan and I meandered over to stage door. We considered waiting to see if anyone would come out. The Divine Miss M was unlikely to make an appearance, and we’d already been snubbed in the past by Gavin Creel at the She Loves Me stage door, but maybe Max Clayton would pop out to grab a salad for dinner.

As we debated whether it was worth the wait – it was April and not terribly warm – I spied a familiar face in a group of guys making their way right towards us.

“Hey, isn’t that your friend?” I asked Jonathan, a bit too loudly. The man gave us a puzzled look and then ducked into the stage door, which baffled me. How did a friend of Jonathan’s have backstage access? When I turned to ask him, Jonathan looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock.

“That wasn’t my friend,” Jonathan said. “That was Adam Kantor.”

We left immediately, Max Clayton and his salad be damned.