LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU!!!!

Once upon a time, in a ' hood called Child, a little girl decided that she was born to be an entertainer!! She made her first stage debut when she was about five years old. She was playing the part of a tree or a bush, but as the curtain came down, she lifted it up and took one more peek at the audience. Her mother was mortified, but she wasn't----she had just met her self and her passion---the theatre!

If you're interested in theatre, then perhaps you watched the Tony award show a couple weeks ago where New York theatre is celebrated---Broadway, where "the play is the thing . Nobody does it better, ---and once you've seen a Broadway play, all else pales in comparison. The sets, the costumes, the lighting, the acting are all done to perfection and set the standard for theatre everywhere. "To be, or not to be, that is the question---" . To be without the arts is not even a question---how sterile and unbelievably dull this world would be without it. They give flight to our imagination, or lack thereof, they mirror our humanity, and they offer entrance into other worlds and understandings not otherwise known. Imagine a world without "The Sound of Music", or "Madame Butterfly", or "Casa Blanca", or "Cats" or "Lion King". My world was made happier and softer and richer because of all the stories I saw on stage or screen.

The first time I saw a Broadway play was as a girl of about nineteen. I was a flight attendant and on a lay-over in New York and thought I had died and gone to heaven as I sat, completely enthralled, in a real theatre. "Gypsy" with Ethel Merman was playing. I think I paid around $ 5.00 for my ticket! A musical comedy fan and " wannabe" actress, I loved every second . It brought back memories of my one big claim to fame, when in college, I got to play the lead in "Call Me Madame", originally done by Ethel Merman. I still remember opening night and my pre-show nerves, as I launched into my first solo number, standing in the spotlight alone on the stage, the orchestra playing the introduction-------I went absolutely blank and forgot the words! Somehow I kept singing and the words returned. As the show went on, I found my voice and my connection to the audience. I received a standing ovation that night and I was hooked, hopelessly devoted , and---Hello, Dolly, here I come! It was not to be. Later, after moving to the "big apple" to pursue a life in the theatre, and also to be near a boyfriend, I actually secured an audition for a musical comedy. Let's just say, it did not go very well. Neither did the romance. But the theatre was my career dream, and it was fun to chase for awhile. I was often told I looked too young or too innocent to play the roles. I began to lose faith in myself and my dream eventually faded. I learned to glean vicarious satisfaction sitting in the audience, telling myself that if the play was the thing, then the role of the audience could be ---well, the second best thing. But real passions never die---they wait to live another day.

Not long ago, I found myself once again, for the first time in many years, on a very tiny stage, in a very tiny local theatre, doing a reading for a "Reader's Theatre" group. I did three readings, playing three different parts, one even requiring a cockney accent. I wasn't very nervous this time---age has its rewards, and self confidence had finally arrived. I was only interested in making the characters come alive for the audience. Asked how I felt, after so many years, doing what I had always wanted to do, I answered; "Like I had finally come home". And it was true---I had returned to my very first love. To finally do what one's heart desires is like no other feeling---like quenching a long and begging thirst. Would I do it again? In a heart beat---but roles for "more mature women" are hard to come by. I was told recently that I was "too elegant" for the parts I was auditioning---excuse me, isn't that code for "too old"? "Yes you are a bit older than what we are looking for", I was told. Irony bites hard sometimes. During the Tony award's show, one of the actors gratuitously gushed that we all should follow our dreams, and that anything is possible if you want it badly enough---I beg to differ---not all dreams come true---making a living, lack of talent or breaks, or not enough ambition interfere, and before you know it, life is almost over. But the dreams linger on in one's memory, weaving into the tapestry of one's life. Occasionally I have performed in wa-a-a-y off Broadway venues to friends, family and business associates. They have very kindly indulged me and "let me entertain" them. And I have delighted in watching their faces light up with surprise at this usually hidden part of me. There have been no lights, no orchestra or even standing ovations, but there has been great fun.

Sometimes you recognize your dream in someone else's life. Last weekend, we attended a dance recital , in which my 6 year old grand daughter danced. She lit up the stage with her smile----as though that was exactly where she belonged at that moment. I asked her mom if she was nervous about being on stage---she said, "No, she loves it". Ah, yes---she looked right at home---run, Ashlyn---some dreams can be caught.

Now, I know you all have your own stories and mine is only one in a world of stories---the point is: May we live our dreams, and if we can't, then may we make peace with that. Because perhaps the play really isn't the thing---perhaps the more important thing is how we play out our lives and how well we play the roles we either choose or are assigned. "To be or not to be " isn't really the question---we are, that's the answer. We are part, large or small, of a very big show, which must go on---and if you forget the words for awhile, just keep singing---they'll return!

Some stories end where they started. Once upon a time in a 'hood called Adult, there lived a woman who dreamed she was young again and went to New york to be------and then she woke up!! The end.