Last week I went to New York City and got a bit of my soul back watching some wonderful Theater. Hopefully I'll find it in me to talk about all my experiences, but I wanted to take this time before Thanksgiving to say thank you to a certain group of people that through the years, have, without knowing, made life wonderful for me. Who are these wonderful folks? Well easy to guess, actors, stage managers, producers, dancers, set designers and all of the other wonderful and talented folks that make theater happen. From Broadway to small professional to student shows, theater brings me joy and energizes me in a way I guess nothing else ever has. I've shared moments with types of families, individuals and events during centuries I'd never really ever know or be near (unless I had a Tardis that worked!) thanks to the magic of Theater. So on this Holiday, I do thank my family for making me a little crazy, but most of all I want to thank all of those who create those wonderful magic moments on Stage.
There's a huge list of performers I've enjoyed through the years but here are some highlights: Douglas Sills in The Scarlett Pimpernel ,whose pure joy of performing I have never seen matched on stage (well maybe Hugh Jackman this past weekend, but that's another blog); Elaine Paige in Sunset Boulevard who with the 2 1/2 decent songs she had to sing worked a miracle and created one of the most intense, "hair rising up on the back of my neck" moments in musical theater I've ever experienced; Mark Rylance and Martin Shaw respectively in Jerusalem and An Ideal Husband for showing why Brits really do have a monopoly (for the most part) on amazing actors. The set design team and director Nicholas Hytner for creating for me what is the most beautiful and haunting first 10 minutes of a musical theater piece ever with the 1994 revival of Carousel; Janet McTeer and Harriet Walters in Mary Stuart, Robert Cuccioli in Jekyll & Hyde for making trash electrifying, and Hugh Jackman (I'll always get back to Hugh) for making dreck (worse than just trash!) like The Boy from Oz watchable. Ah how can I not mention Patti LuPone in her one woman show and Gypsy; or Brian Stokes Mitchell in Ragtime (for that matter the entire amazing cast of the original production) This just scratches the surface, but you should begin to get the idea, so thank you to all. With it being Thanksgiving, let's make sure to give a little thanks to those that help bring a bit of magic and wonder in our lives! Happy Gobbles everyone!!!
