I just finished watching the pilot episode of "Smash" on NBC. It's a show about the start-up of a Broadway musical production and two girls competing for the lead. To say that I loved it would be putting it mildly. I was grinning through all the musical numbers.
I don't even know when it started, but I have always loved live theater. Especially musicals. I remember seeing my first play when I was in fifth grade. Our class went on a field trip to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire to watch a play on campus. I don't remember what the play was about, but I remember being fairly transfixed by the stage, the way the audience sat in the dark, the way the lights shone on the actors, the way I was watching a story unfold in front of me...live. I guess that's where my fascination with theatre started.
In high school I went to Chanhassen Dinner Theater for the first time, saw my first musical, and fell in love with musicals. What's better than watching actors live on stage? Watching actors SING on stage. The band, the lights, the dancing. Seeing "42nd Street" got me hooked on musicals.
I went to a very small high school. Musicals were not ever performed. But plays were. The high school always performed a play in the spring. My freshmen year I was on the softball team and at the same time was an extra in the school play. It didn't take me long to choose drama over softball. After the season was over, I asked my dad if I could skip the softball team the next year. It was the only thing he ever let me "quit" (although I did finish out that first season...so I didn't technically quit). The next three years of high school I was in the spring play. And I was not very good. I knew that. But it was a small school, so if you wanted to participate, you just had to show up. I gave it my best effort my Sophomore year with just a few lines. My Junior year I had a larger part...I played the roommate/sidekick of the main character. My Senior year I was the lead...by default. The girl who had the lead decided to participate in another event and was going to be gone during our performances. Like I said, I wasn't very good. When I went to college, I had no delusions of being good enough to be involved in drama...at least not ON the stage. And I had no interest in being behind the scenes. So I did other extra-curricular activities.
But then, after college, I got one more chance to be in a production. It's a long story I don't feel like explaining, but I was in a "musical revue" that was performed as a fund-raiser when I was about 25-years-old. I got to sing in a trio...just one song, but it was so fun. My parents and sisters came to the University of St. Thomas campus to support me in my silly little role.
Even though I can't sing and I can't act, I still love theatre. I've been to New York City twice for a weekend and I've seen six shows on Broadway. I go to Chanhassen Dinner Theater whenever I get the chance. If I could afford it, I would go to a theatre production once a month. I'm super-close to the Twin Cities, which has a ton of great theatres. I wish I could take advantage of that more often.
I love movie musicals...both old and recent. They just make me so happy. "White Christmas," "Singin' In the Rain," "On the Town," (really any Gene Kelly movies) "The Wizard of Oz," "High Society," "Chicago," "Hairspray," these are my favorite movies. And, I'll admit, more than once I've recently danced around my living room to a song from a musical, imagining I was performing it on a stage in front of people (hairbrush microphone not included). My favorite pretend performance is to the song "Seasons of Love" from the musical "Rent." Even though it will never happen, I can still dream and pretend to be on a stage. And probably will until I'm in the retirement home, sitting in a chair with an afghan on my lap, remembering the days of when I was the young whipper-snapper in my 30s prancing around my house in an imaginary spotlight.
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