So this is the story of my 8-year-old niece Lorelai’s surprise appearance in my faculty recital this past Sunday. I suppose the story started at last year’s recital, when she was delighted to have been mentioned in the original song with which the recital began. (It was a song that chronicled all of my failings in terms of sports, personal hygiene, etc.- and at one point I sang “and when I & my niece arm wrestle, she beats me nearly half the time!” – and then said to the audience, “she’s seven but she’s spirited!” The place erupted in laughter, and Lorelai found it to be pretty cool to be mentioned, albeit briefly, in her uncle’s faculty voice recital.) And after it was all over, as I was saying hi to her and thanking her for coming – and for staying through the WHOLE thing – I told her that if she wanted to, I would love for her to sing something with me on my next recital. I remember her eyes swelling to about twice their normal size, and she didn’t nod her head ‘yes’ all that quickly or all that energetically. But she was willing …. and on some level, eager and excited.
Fast forward to the late summer 2013 … and Lorelai was still willing, if a bit nervous, about singing something on my recital. But she and her Aunt Kathy put their heads together and came up with a song that they thought would be lots of fun: “Popular” from Wicked. And we also decided together that Lorelai’s appearance on the recital should be a total surprise.
At this point, I need to confess that there are a handful of musical theater songs that I have played a few too many million times- and I don’t mean songs from the truly classic shows that have been around forever. I still love every song from King and I, My Fair Lady, etc. But there are some songs from more recent shows that by now give me a mild case of hives every time I have to hear them – and a major case of hives if I have to play them: “Astonishing” from Little Women, “My New Philosophy” from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and …. you guessed it ….. “Popular” from Wicked. But if this was the song that Lorelai was really excited to sing with me, then so be it! I would paste a smile on my face, feign enthusiasm, and have a great time even with this song.
So on the last Monday in August, when Kathy and I had the pleasure of babysitting Lorelai for most of the day (I wish there was a better word than babysitting to describe taking care of someone who hasn’t been a baby for a long, long time) we knew that this would be the perfect opportunity not only to practice the song a bit, but also to give Lorelai a pep talk and try to address any nervousness or hesitancy which she might be feeling.
Fear? Hesitancy? What was I thinking?!? From the moment Lorelai joined us that day, she was in full-press Impressario mode, mapping out every detail of what she thought should unfold. We talked through what she would wear, what props she would carry, and even how we would get those things to Carthage without her parents noticing- and exactly when and where she would change out of her normal clothing into her performance garb. As for the introduction before the actual sung would be sung, Lorelai’s ideas just poured out of her like a veritable flood …. and one funny line would immediately generate another and another and another. It was like attending a Saturday Night Live writing session, except that instead of a roomful of writers, it was just Lorelai, making us laugh again and again. If she hadn’t been coming up with potentially funny stuff, it could have been very awkward, and we would have found ourselves having to let her down gently. (“That’s a nice idea, Lorelai, but I’m not sure having you do cartwheels across the stage would work that well.”) But no, the stuff she was coming up with was really funny – and after awhile, we just sat there saying “that’s great! What do you think should happen after that?”
Of course, there was also the matter of actually singing the song- which is not all that easy, plus it’s pretty lengthy- but we concocted a plan in which Lorelai would listen to the song every chance she got (with headphones, so her folks wouldn’t suspect a thing) and sneak as many looks at the sheet music as she possibly could. We did practice twice, including once in the recital hall so Lorelai could get a feel for the room and (we hoped) maybe work out any new nervousness. But again, we had underestimated the moxie of our little niece, who was not intimidated in the least by the recital hall or the little spotlights. We couldn’t believe how confidently Lorelai sang, and we just hoped that she would be just that confident when the room was full of people.
Well, it sounds like Lorelai did a pretty darn good job of keeping her appearance a secret from her mom, but they knew something was up when she was asking some odd questions about how her hair would look Sunday if certain things were done to it on Saturday. (A strange thing for her to be asking about.) And Sunday morning, when Lorelai was first awakened, the first words out of her mouth were something about being so incredibly excited about my voice recital. Yes, Lorelai is a very musically-inclined little girl, but there was no way that she, under normal circumstances, would be excited at the prospect of listening to her uncle sing art songs and opera arias when she could be playing. So at that point, Polly and Mark were all but certain that she must be doing something for the recital – but they had no idea what…. and I suspect that they never dreamt that she would be doing a full-fledged, full-length solo.
So here’s how it went down, the day of the recital: I sang the first half of the recital, and then took a ten-minute intermission. At that point, all pre-arranged, Lorelai asked her folks if it would be okay if Aunt Kathy took her back to say hi to me … to which they agreed (fortunately.) Little did they know that this was to give Lorelai time to change into a beautiful pink sparkly dress, attach magic wings, and place a tiara on her head, to make her look like Glinda the Good Witch. (We had hoped to find a evil witch’s hat for me, but fell short. And actually, the tiara wouldn’t stay on Lorelai’s head, but she liked Plan B- putting the tiara on her bear instead.) I walked out onstage and began the second half by saying that a strange person had come to me and begged to be part of the recital – and I didn’t know how to turn them down. At that point, Lorelai walked out on that stage like she owned the place! And after a bit of light-hearted banter, she proceeded to deliver a really fine performance of “Popular.” Perhaps the most impressive thing about the performance was that whenever the audience erupted in laughter, Lorelai had the presence of mind to wait for the laughter to subside before saying or speaking her next line…. like a pro! And she had the lyrics to her song written out on several sheets of paper (thanks, Fletcher Paulsen, for your help with that!) and even though she had never practiced the song using those particular cheat sheets, she did a masterful job of turning the pages in time and keeping them in good order. (Her Aunt Kathy was onstage and off to the side, ready to jump in at a moment’s notice, but she wasn’t needed. Lorelai had it all in hand.)
In a nutshell, she did GREAT, and I’m incredibly happy that we were able to pull this off and that it turned out to be a surprise for her folks (mostly)- which is what we wanted. And maybe best of all was the thank you note I received from her a couple of days later, which said:
Dear Uncle Greg, thank you sooo much for building a bear with me and letting me perform in your recital! My mom said I might be the first ever 8 year old to walk on that stage! Oh! By the way, get well from your soar throat. Love, Lorelai (and Glinda)
Glinda is the name of the multi-colored stuffed bear that we created together at Build-A-Bear, the day we put this little extravaganza together. I built a miniature version of the same bear for myself, and it’s proudly displayed on my piano at Carthage…. as a reminder of this very happy collaboration with my niece Lorelai – and I hope it’s just the first of many more.