I was barely out of bed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday- doing my level best to wrestle this nasty bronchitis bug to the floor, although it has proven to be a tenacious foe. I did have Kathy drive me to Tremper Thursday afternoon for a 15-minute rehearsal with her top choir on a piano-four hands piece, something for which ‘winging it’ at tonight’s Choral Fest concert was simply not an option. And Thursday night, she brought me to Carthage so I could get some music in order for Friday’s musical theater workshop. It was a clear indication of how sick I was that each of those modest little escapades drained me as though I had just competed in the decathlon, and after each I was back in bed, curled up in a ball under the covers, feeling more like 81 than 51 years old. But slowly and surely my lungs have begun to feel normal again- not like the heavy-laden bags of sand which they sounded like and felt like when all of this started. (Boy, you come to a new and profound appreciation for the simple yet essential act of breathing when your lungs are caught in a nasty case of bronchitis.)
By Friday afternoon, I was feeling far from completely well but at least feeling like a member of the human race – and so glad to be breathing without sounding like I was sanding furniture or grinding coffee beans. And that’s when Kathy and I decided that we should go ahead with our plans to see the Lakeside Players production of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. We knew almost everyone in the cast, plus co-directors Joe and Melissa Cardamone, so missing it was inconceivable- and this was our one and only chance to take in the show and cheer on our friends/ former students/ former cast mates.
And I am SO glad we did this; nothing could have made me feel more like I was back in the land of the living than to take in this hilarious and occasionally moving bit of live theater. And it was especially a pleasure since it was performed with such assurance and skill. Make no mistake about it; this is a very complicated musical score that should not be underestimated. But they sang the daylights out of it. Even more importantly, they threw themselves into these memorable characters with a wonderful sense of abandon and fun.
What was especially fun for Kathy and me was to see people we knew from two different worlds up on that stage… current Carthage students Mark Bracken (a former voice student of mine) and Krystin Taggert & Carthage alumni Briana Voss and Vanessa Schroeder joining forces with Racine Theater Guild colleagues Chris Burgess, Patrick Schneider and Zak Keil. (And Vanessa belongs on both lists since she was Belle in the RTG’s “Beauty and the Beast” several years ago.) It was sort of like the experience one has at one’s wedding when you find friends from every chapter of your life suddenly gathered together under one roof. There’s something peculiarly exhilarating about that and Friday night’s performance was a little taste of the same thing- of how fun it is to see different circles of one’s life intersect. It’s almost like a blood transfusion. Or maybe it’s the liberating feeling of having the compartments of one’s life dismantled for a brief instant. I got a great taste of that back in September when I sang my faculty recital for an audience which included Carthaginians, Holy Communion members, various friends from the community, and some family. . . a rich stew of just some of the people who have meant something to me, who have helped to shape me and energize me, and to whom I mean something. It was neat to get a taste of that last night, and it also reminded me that this is one of the neatest thing about live theater in one’s own community. . . to look up on that stage and not see a bunch of talented strangers but to see friends, neighbors, colleagues, proteges, mentors. . .
Nothing could be more fun or invigorating. . .or a more effective means to kick bronchitis in the rump, once and for all.
pictured above: the final tableaux at the end of the performance.