"I don't wanna talk small talk."

What is the obligation of a star to his or her fans?

That has been the question I have been pondering the last couple of days. On Wednesday, I saw Exit the King on Broadway and waited at the stage door with my friend to meet Andrea Martin and Susan Sarandon. They were both extremely gracious and nice. I got pictures with both of them, which will be nice to add to my collection of pictures I have with other stars. However, I am at the point that I would like to start meeting these stars in a professional setting as opposed to in a fan setting. But I can dream, can't I?

While we were waiting at the stage door, a HUGE Broadway star (who was not in the show and will go anonymous) randomly walked out of the stage door. My friend, who is also a big Broadway geek, and I both immediately recognized her and said her name more in shock and surprise since she was not in this show and is currently in a Broadway show that theoretically had a performance that night. The star heard us say that, mumbled "Oh, hey guys" in a rushed and rude way, and immediately continued walking towards her destination, leaving me and my friend stunned as to what just happened.

I am not going to lie. I felt hurt. This has been a star who's work I have admired for many years, a star who I have wanted to see so badly that I exchanged my tickets one time when she was out of a show. I have seen many interviews with her and she always came across very nice and down-to-earth. I wasn't expecting us to become best friends, but I didn't think I would be totally brushed aside by her either.

Maybe she was in a rush. Maybe she was having a bad day. Maybe she's actually not nice in real life. Who knows? Even if she's actually lovely in real life, this two-second encounter with her left me with a bad vibe. How unfortunate if we literally just caught her on a bad second. And she has so many seconds like this. This was one random moment in her life that means nothing, yet it meant so much to me. When you don't know someone and you have one quick impression of them, for better or for worse, that first impression stays in you and it's hard to accept that your brief encounter might not accurately represent this person.

That might be really unfair because we all have bad days. Obviously I try to be as nice and pleasant as possible to people I meet, but there's no way I can be 100% polite every single moment of every single day. We are human beings after all and we're not perfect. However, a star should get in the habit of being more polite. A star should know that their one second of meeting a fan means the world to the fan even if it means next to nothing to them. I have had enough encounters with stars over the years that I still talk about because they mean so much to me. But I'm sure Bernadette Peters doesn't remember when she signed my copy of her book at the Free Library of Philadelphia and Audra McDonald doesn't remember when I waited in the freezing cold outside the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia to meet her after her concert with Barbara Cook. They might not remember, but I do since it meant so much to me that they took the time to talk to me and pose for pictures.

I don't know how this star should have acted towards us. Stars are still people and deserve to have their own lives. If she were actually in a rush, she should not have stopped and talked to us for a while and sacrificed her own plans, but she still could have been more pleasant. I think it's the obligation to being famous. It doesn't mean your life has to go on hold to please your fans, but it's because of fans like me that this person has a career! Maintaing a good public image is one of the prices of fame. Be polite because you never know who you could be dealing with.

Obviously not everyone is nice in real life. I like to believe that Broadway is perfect and everyone is nice and loves each other, but who am I kidding? Like any job, I'm sure there is off-stage drama and not everyone is best friends. I just have to accept this. Not everyone is nice.

I know one thing, if I ever meet this star again (hopefully in a professional setting because I'm on the road to stardom!), it will be hard for me to erase this negative memory. She'll have to work hard to prove that I caught her on some fluke moment.

And I know that if I'm lucky enough to have a career anything like her's, I will remember how hurt I felt when she brushed me aside and I will treat my fans with respect.