NEW YORK -- The PG ShowPlane is a mad dash through five days of theater, but this time I got to stay over an added day to see Jeff Goldblum's quasi-documentary movie, "Pittsburgh," at the Tribeca Film Festival. The red carpet, kleig light premiere was Saturday, when I was at the theater, so I made do with the second screening Monday afternoon.

	Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette Critic Rawson and actor Jeff Goldblum converse during a break at the Tribeca Film Festival. Click photo for larger image.

My review of the movie and description of the talk-back with Goldblum and filmmakers Chris Bradley and Kyle LaBrache will be in the paper later this week. But what I won't talk about there is my encounter with Goldblum, about which I was nervous in advance, though it went fine in the end.

Here's the background. Goldblum and his young girlfriend Catherine Wreford came to Pittsburgh to promote their appearance in the CLO's "The Music Man" in June 2004. (Goldblum introduced her then as his fiancee; now, although ibdb.com lists them as married, he says they're no longer together.) The two of them and I spent a half day visiting his old haunts in Pittsburgh for a nice big PG story, and a couple of weeks later I saw "Music Man" and gave it a mixed review, then went back the second week to review it again.

Flash forward a year to last spring, when I went up to say hello to Goldblum as he was signing autographs outside Broadway's Booth Theatre, where he was acting in "The Pillowman." As I started to introduce myself he said, "I know who you are!" and looked at me like I was the grim reaper. Shaking visibly, he said I'd "stabbed him in the back ... after I opened myself up to you." I pointed out the difference between a preview piece and a review, and I told him I'd admired him for taking on the challenge of playing Harold Hill after being away so long from the musical stage. I even refrained from saying that my review had been pretty generous, as many people had told me, and I pointed out that I'd returned to review him again. "And then you did it again!" he said.

There was more. Buy me a drink some time and I might re-enact it. It was the strangest encounter I've ever had with someone I've reviewed, from amateur to pro (though you might get me to tell you some time about Julie Harris). It went on for what seemed like forever and was certainly at least five minutes, right there in Shubert Alley, while people swirled around us. I never wrote about it because I was just plain embarrassed for him, but I suppose the picture of the critic trying to console the unhappy actor that it was "only a review" is pretty ridiculous, too.

So I approached Goldblum yesterday with some apprehension. He did remember me -- but we exchanged a friendly handshake. The one objection he repeated was about my second review, when I had been able to see only the first hour. Though I reported that he had improved, he remembered only that I said he couldn't have improved in Act 2, which I didn't see. I agree that would be a stupid thing to say. But looking back at what I wrote, I think his is an overly-sensitive (duh!) mis-reading of what I left as an open question. Here's what I said:

I didn't get to see if his improvement carried over to the other side of Harold Hill, the one who falls for Marian in Act 2. I rather doubt it: The attraction of Goldblum's performance is its playfulness, so it's hard to believe he can convey sentiment, too. But maybe so -- he's obviously been working hard, to good effect. I could even see him making a go on Broadway, given the right role and lots of work.

Jeff, if anyone ever calls this response to your attention, re-read that review yourself. Or better yet, don't read reviews at all. And I look forward to meeting you again when you return to Pittsburgh for the debut of your movie here.

"Slava's Snow Storm"

	Happy kids crowd the stage for a close-up view of "Slava." Click photo for larger image.

Fortunately, the Jeff Goldblum saga wasn't the last thing I saw in New York. That night I had the treat of celebrating my granddaughter Ella's birthday by taking her, her mother, Celia, and friend Lucy to see "Slava's Snowshow," a fabulous Russian clown show in which the audience gets assaulted by snow and wind (a blizzard of confetti), drizzled by rain and bombarded by giant balloons. What fun!