For some people living on the edge means mountain climbing, deep sea diving, or getting a tattoo. For me, nothing is quite as exciting as when I pack a single evening with a little too much to do, where things are timed just so and one miscalculation or mishap could mean disaster. Not that I recommend this for the faint of heart. . . and not that I seek out such dangerous cliff-skirting on purpose. Such situations just seem to find me, somehow, especially when that little two- letter word “NO” eludes my grasp.
Tonight was such a night, when I was wanted and needed for two different concerts and just couldn’t say ‘no’ to either. One was the second annual gala fundraiser for SEWPA- the Southeast Wisconsin Performing Arts group- which is best known for its high school opera program called Opera A La Carte. The other was the 4th annual Real Men Do Sing concert at Carthage, created and organized by my father-in-law to get young men excited about singing. The SEWPA gala wanted me back as master of ceremonies and to sing an opera aria of my choosing, while the Real Men concert needed my piano playing skills for the finale and to perpetuate what’s become a Real Men tradition. . .me singing “Old Man River.” The two concerts were the very same night, and both approached me almost simultaneously (practically to the minute) – and with a little creative shuffling, I knew I could do them both. Call me a nut, but I told them both Yes.
And here’s how it worked: The SEWPA fundraising gala started at 7:00, and if everything went as expected, I would be done by all of my most essential narrating by about 8:20. (The director of SEWPA, Kathryn Peperkorn, was happy to announce the concert’s finale.) The Real Men concert started at 7:30 and it would be at least an hour before they’d get to the finale for which I was playing and singing – and since the site of the SEWPA gala was a 7-minute drive from Carthage, it felt doable. But as if to teach me a lesson about overbooking myself, the SEWPA gala began ten minutes late- and then a technical mishap halfway through ( which I’ll explain in a moment ) necessitated the repeat of one performance. I stood backstage agonizing over the time and envisioning my logistical house of cards tumbling down before my eyes. But fortunately, the SEWPA gala tripped along more quickly than expected, so that even with a late start and one repeated piece, I was still done by 8:22. . . . and because the Real Men Do Sing concert was just a touch behind schedule (those barbershoppers so often get carried away, lucky for me) I got to Carthage with 11 minutes to spare before I was sitting myself down at the piano to do my accompanying duties and then to sing Old Man River. No Sweat ! 🙂
I had a blast singing both Old Man River at Carthage and an aria from The Marriage of Figaro (Se vuol ballare) for the SEWPA gala. . . and it was fun hearing all of the talented singers on both concerts . . . but without a doubt the most memorable moment from either concert occurred on the SEWPA gala when a group of ballet dancers from Kenosha and Racine (high school age) were performing a routine to Bach’s Air on a G string. All was going fine until 4 and a half minutes into their 5 and a half minute routine, when the CD to which they were dancing got stuck . . . and despite the best efforts of the technical guy backstage, they could not get that CD unstuck, no matter what they tried- but all the while the dancers on the stage held whatever pose they were in when the music froze. . . and it wasn’t until their director from backstage whispered to them “bow” that they reluctantly broke their pose and bowed to one of the most enthusiastic ovations of the night. The story has a happy ending in that a solution was found when they laid their hands on a different CD deck which played the disk perfectly- and “take two” went perfectly and garnered an even bigger ovation from the appreciative and admiring crowd. And what a lesson not only for these young dancers (I almost said “young ladies” except that there was very talented young man also dancing) but for all of their colleagues watching from the audience and witnessing their calm and professionalism under such trying circumstances. Here’s one more way that live performance can be such an incredibly valuable experience and teaching tool. Because as they say, The Show Must Go On.
pictured above: some of the young ballet dancers from the Classical Dance Studio in Kenosha/ Racine – offstage immediately after their truncated first performance – being complimented by their director for handling the situation so professionally.