by Roxy Arecco. @roxyarecco. Brought to you by Broadway Roulette.
NEW YORK, NY - College freshman and life-long theatre fan Carl Hicks has reportedly been missing since Tuesday, when he attended a virtual Broadway Roulette Mixer and accidentally sent the eggplant emoji in the chat during a gut-wrenching performance of “Words Fail” from Dear Evan Hansen, sources confirm.
“I meant to send the clapping emoji,” Hicks wrote in an unprompted email titled “My Side of the Story.” “I’ve decided to leave the country and change my name to Jebidiah Marshall - uhh, I mean, to a different name.” It is unclear why he chose not to delete his alias from the email, which was tracked back to his home address.
The Broadway Roulette Mixer, a 45 minute virtual session including stories, Q&A’s, and performances from three surprise Broadway guests, was a belated gift from Hicks’ mother.
“I thought the mixer would make a nice gift,” explained Mrs. Hicks. “Now he’s just holed up in his closet - uhh, I mean, an undisclosed location - and he only comes out for meals - oh, uhh, I mean… OK, fine. He’s here, but don’t tell him I told you. By the way, someone’s been sending him gift baskets full of eggplants, so I made a ton of eggplant parm. Want some?”
Broadway Roulette’s surprise guests have included names from throughout the theatrical community, including stage managers, dressers, the ghost who haunts the men’s bathroom at the Shubert Theatre, and most often, on-stage performers. Past guests include Mean Girls star Ben Cook, Pretty Woman lead Samantha Barks, and SpongeBob performer Wesley Taylor. While all attendees enjoyed the mixer’s cocktail party atmosphere and performances, some were admittedly distracted by Hicks’ folly.
“He actually sent seven eggplant emojis,” said Hicks’ best friend Amanda Jamison, who was also in attendance. “There was the first one, and then six more before he finally clicked on the clapping emoji. Then, he spent the next ten minutes crying and begging the performer to make a formal statement on Instagram. By the way, do you know if he got my gift baskets?”
At press time, it is unclear when Hicks will reveal himself to the public but, if this incident bears any resemblance to the time he stage-doored War Paint and accidentally called Patti LuPone “Mommy,” he most likely won’t be seen for another year and a half.