Robert Peterson
When I was a teenager my mom dragged me to see “Man of LaMancha” because Robert Peterson was in town and he apparently was the “Man”. I couldn’t have cared less but the show was OK and mom never could stop talking about Robert Peterson. I was able to see him in man of LaMancha after I became an adult, and holy cow when he sings “The Impossible Dream” it’ll drop you to your knees. He got a standing ovation right in the middle of the show. He played Lancelot on Broadway when Julie Andrews and Richard Burton were the king and queen in Camelot.
Now many years later I moved into my new house with my family and guess who lives right across the street but Robert Peterson and his sweet wife Lois. I mean right across the street – my address is 1810 and his is 1811. So we got to be pretty good friends and would sit next to each other in church choir and stuff. I asked him one time if singing in church choir for him was like Charlton Heston doing a scout skit. He laughed and said no, its all great fun. My mom passed away several years before I built this house, but I swear she arranged in heaven that I would live by Bob. I know she loved my dad dearly but whoo boy did she ever have a crush on that guy with the voice.
Bob (oh yeah – I called him Broadway Bob) was at our house one time and I had him record an introduction for me that I could use in my shows. I have used his recorded intro for just about every show I have ever done since then and I plan to use it forever more. He says “ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present the world’s greatest comedy magician, (in his price range), Max the Magician!” It sounds great with his booming voice and he got a kick out of doing it for me. We did it in one take. What a nice guy. This was 4 or 5 years ago towards the fall of 2003.
Shortly after this, Bob was playing handball with a friend and had a major heart attack. They say he died before he hit the court. December 1, 2003. Very sad time for everyone. There is a large festival (Dickens Festival) that runs every Christmas season in the Convention Center, they had hired me to do a show. It was a Saturday and coincidentally the same day as Bob’s funeral. So I went to his funeral and left straight from there to the show. I was all set and standing behind the curtain when all of a sudden Bob’s voice came over the speakers announcing me with the recorded intro we had done. I hadn’t thought about the recording that day and having just come from the man’s funeral it really freaked me out. I was literally in tears when I came on stage and it took a lot of effort to get into the show. The show went fine but I will never forget my good friend. Mom’s probably got him singing in heaven’s choir now and she’s on the front row.
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