Life at Play

Perhaps it was because Saturday was a long day of travel or perhaps it was because it was my birthday but for some reason, I completely spaced writing my blog. My father often says, "better never than late" but I'll count this post as a make-up post for last week and publish it anyway. The stretch of school year from August to December is long, with only Thanksgiving as a break. Escaping to Brooklyn for the holidays is a good chance to kick back and play.

A couple weeks ago I was listening to my favorite radio station, WORT, and I happened along a volunteer DJ playing a bunch of showtunes. I've always loved musicals and some of the songs resonated with me. Every now and then I tend to think of life as if it was a musical. Something would be happening in my life and suddenly everyone around me would break out in song. Wouldn't that make life so much more fun? Might that not help us to get through the difficult times?

Last night Jacqui and I went to see Miss Saigon on Broadway. What a powerful show! I had originally wanted to see this play in the mid 1990s, shortly after it first came out. However, I was just starting my career, the kids were little and I never had the opportunity. Since it is had a revival, now seemed like the perfect time. As it turns out, the final show is January 14th so I'm glad we went last night. There was much to love about the entire show. What most impressed me was the lighting and the set design. We talked about the music and while the voices were amazing and the songs good, there aren't any really catchy, singable numbers. However, one song that stuck out was, "The Movie in my Mind." One of the leads sings, "A world that's far away, Where life is not unkind, The movie in my mind." Who doesn't dream of such a place from time to time? This seems to fit with a previous blog I wrote about expectations. We have this movie in our mind and sometimes it plays out but often times it goes off script. Growing up I was blessed to be part of a musical family. My father worked as a physician but for fun he was a church organist for a while. When the church was betweeen organists he would fill in until the church found someone permanent. He also was the rehearsal pianist for some shows put on by a local theater group.

For that reason, there are certain songs that are etched in my brain. When he practiced Fiddler on the Roof, I learned the song, "To Life". One line professed, "Life has a way of confusing us, blessing and bruising us." The cast also sang, "May all your futures be pleasant ones, Not like our present ones." The song, "Sunrise, Sunset" resonates more now that I am forty years older than when I first heard it. "Sunrise, sunset, Swiftly fly the years, One season following another, Laden with happiness and tears." Looking back, time seems to have progressed too quickly. Going to the play with my 24 year old daughter, I can relate to the question, "Is this the little girl I carried?"

Cabaret was another show my father was involved with. What a fun musical! When the title song begins by asking the question, "What good is sitting alone in your room?" you know that there will be some good lessons about living life. I can't say that I followed that advice much. Much of my life I've been a home body. As high school students, my siblings all went abroad to see the world. My sisters went to Norway and Chile, my brother to The Netherlands." I was content to stay put. I think I have still experienced the world and often, that can mean in the world around us, not necessarily with far away travel. Perhaps the song that I found most appealing from that show was, "Tomorrow Belongs to Me." Such a beautiful view of the world, beautifully sung, and abruptly the realities interfere. We may feel that tomorrow belongs to us but the realities of life can command our tomorrows. Sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently. While a teen, I was involved in our local youth theater, Peter Quince. Started in 1969, every summer the young people put on a show and every facet from producing, acting, directing and promoting is handled by people 13 - 21 years old. While I was involved, I was either in the pit orchestra, set construction or photography. I loved Cole Porter's music in Anything Goes! In, "Be Like the Bluebird" we are

encourgaged to be like the bluebird, who is never blue, and sings. As a saxophone player, that was a fun show in which to make music and let my sax sing. The story and music of South Pacific was also wonderful. In "Happy Talk" we are reminded that, "If you don't have a dream, you've got to have a dream, How you gonna have a dream come true?" Oklahoma is an all time favorite. Such a love of the land! "The land we belong to is grand." Indeed! We do belong to it and it is grand. I am writing this in Cocoa Grinder, a couple blocks from Jacqui's apartment while she sleeps in. After the show, we took the train back to Brooklyn and didn't get back until midnight. I adore this coffee shop with its books, delicious bakery, tasty coffee and friendly staff. If life truly were a musical, I'd be hopping up on a table right now, twirling my skirt, and perhaps my hair, singing about the cold outside and the warm, inviting air. Coffee Shop, the upcoming Off, off, off Broadway musical about a midwestern small town gal in the big city enjoying the moments but torn between the culture of this complicated world and the peace of an ecovillage in the midwest. Perhaps the songs for this musical will be part of a future blog and may include:

This Unsustainable World

Never Leave the Coffee Shop

How You Gonna Keep 'em Down in the Village, After They've Seen New York. (Apologies to Sam Young and Joe Lewis)

Plant Your Roots Where You Are

It's a Nice Place to Visit Leaving the Rat Race Kindness Knows no Geography

What songs would be part of your musical?