I learned quite a lesson Friday night in how we can be SO wrong about what we really want and need. As my week ended, I was completely and utterly exhausted- depleted by a combination of things that had really made the last few days very challenging- and battling a bad headache to boot. So as the clock struck 6:00 and the dress rehearsal for Carthage’s “Lift High the Cross” finished up, I wanted more than anything to just drag my butt home, draw a hot bath, give myself a leisurely soak as I read a couple of new magazines, and then head off to bed. It sounded like heaven. But instead, I had to rush from Carthage to Walden School in Racine, so I could join my wife in the audience for the final performance of Walden’s production of “Rent.” There was no question but that’s where we needed and wanted to be, because our dear friend Kate Potter Barrow had been the driving force behind this incredibly challenging production and needed and deserved our support. And one of the leads in the cast was none other than our goddaughter Anneka Barrow, and we couldn’t possibly miss her performance. If one or both of us had been on our deathbed, we would have somehow gotten ourselves there, without question. But I for one was there without bells on, to twist a familiar phrase…. more like a good soldier doing his duty…. but thinking to myself that what I needed more than anything was that long, hot bath I’d been wishing for.
How wrong I was! It turns out that my weary body and soul needed RENT! This high-energy yet thoroughly thoughtful musical is one of the most intriguing masterworks of its day, and almost from the first measure of music, I felt truly privileged to be hearing this show in person for the first time in my life. It’s a show I had taught about in a Heritage course some years ago, so I knew the plot- knew the score- knew its relationship to Puccini’s La Boheme- and knew the tragic story of its composer Jonathan Larsen, who died the day before the show’s now-historic off-Broadway premiere. The show already had an amazing mystique surrounding it, but that only deepened the public’s sense that this was a work like none other. And because the story is about the hard life of young artists in the city, it feels very right for high school students to do this show. And in a weird sort of way, it feels sort of appropriate that anyone mounting this show should find it to be an almost overwhelming challenge… in keeping with the challenging lives of the characters on that stage.
We had heard bits and pieces from Kate over the last few weeks about what a ferocious challenge this production had been for everyone involved in it (and Kate deserves some sort of splendid medal for all she did to bring this production to fruition) but we had heard that the opening night performance 24 hours earlier had been a smashing success, so as the lights came down we had high expectations that all of the work put in was about to pay off in something very special. And indeed it did. It was one of those performances where time pretty much stood still and the outside world pretty much faded into nothingness. . . we were that caught up in what unfolded on that stage. Which is not to say that it was a night of perfection. There were musical issues here and there and technical glitches galore – but it’s incredible how little those sorts of difficulties matter when there is such passion in the room . . . such joy . . . and such heartache.
And there were some stunning performers amongst the cast, but the only one I want to single out by name is Anneka…. that’s a godfather’s perogative. I was going to say that over the last few months, Anneka has blossomed beautifully as a singer, but that doesn’t begin to describe it. I prefer a verb like exploded. As she got done with her act one show-stopper, “Over the Moon,” I think both Kathy and I were thinking to ourselves “where the heck did that come from?!?!” It was absolutely spine-tingling, both in how she belted the heck out of this piece but also gave herself over to it with almost ferocious abandon. I should say that in this piece, her character Maureen is doing a bit of Performance Art, which tends to be pretty bizarre- and I don’t think there are too many young woman Anneka’s age who would have been able to give themselves over to a piece like this as freely and joyously as she did. As audience members, we were mesmerized. And as proud godparents, we were overjoyed that she had this opportunity to stretch her artistic wings like this and show the world what she is capable of doing.
On the drive home, I couldn’t help but think of how much I would have missed if I had opted for that bath and the chance to head off to bed nice and early. What an irretrievable loss for me that would have been. But fortunately for me, duty called. . . and duty yielded a night of amazing energy and excitement, for which I will always be grateful.
pictured above: The cast sings a reprieve of “Seasons of Love” at the end of the night. That’s Anneka in the front row, looking at her good friend Alex standing next to her and beaming with that wonderful smile of hers.