Soap Opera Magazine
June 6, 1995
That Urchin Was Me!

Catherine Hickland (Tess) and her co-stars in Les Miserables were bursting with excitement after learning that former Disney exec Jeffrey Katzenberg--who has since formed Hollywood's Dream Team along with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen--would be attending a performance. Catherine, who plays the beautiful heroine Fantine as well as an urchin boy in the play, had heard rumors, along with her castmates, that Les Miz might be made into a feature film. "The energy of the show was like opening night. We were all performing our hearts out," bares Catherine, whose eventual meeting with the bigwig didn't go quite as she'd hoped. "By intermission I'd already changed into a little urchin boy. I had dirt all over my face and my hair was hidden under a hat. I didn't want to met him because of the way I looked, so I was standing in this room trying to avoid the situation and he walked in," recounts Catherine, who sheepishly watched as the show's stars received their accolades. "He saw me, and I just froze like a deer in headlights. He thought I was a chorus boy or something and said, 'Nice to meet you, son,'" laughs Catherine, who says she was too tongue-tied to respond. "It was one of life's moments that I thought was the funniest thing that could ever happen to me."