Yesterday afternoon, I took the girls to hear Russian cellist, Alexandre Bouzlov in recital. He was fantastic -- and for an encore, where he could have held our attention with Yankee Doodle, he gave us Paganini Variations! "All on one string," observed a fellow patron. BRAVO!! BEAUTIFUL!! How did he make his cello sound like that? I think it's called 'harmonics.' One has learned a few on her violin.
After the performance, and at my inquiry, the recital organizer took me and the girls backstage where we got a picture with him and an autograph for each girl. He was generous to sign for all three.
After the recital, I raced home to get ready for the real event that day! Thanks to Husband's thoughtfulness in bringing home comp tickets, and willingness to take on the household chores solo for the evening, I was going to dinner and the thee-ah-ter with my friend Sarah. She's a hoot! I really enjoy being around her. I think she brings out something good in me -- I can talk about the Lord and my love and responsibility to Him without feeling stifled, judged or otherwise uncomfortable in my own spiritual skin. She's very real, and that's rare and refreshing.
We went together to see Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. I had done the production at Phoenix Little Theater back in the mid-eighties and it was a blast! This production though was much bigger, brighter and all around splashier. As well it should be. After all, this was the Broadway touring company production. The cast was much more athletic than we were ever called to be. There were also modern gag elements that weren't in our show: laptops and cell-phones!
I'm glad Sarah was with me, laughing and making me laugh because I could see myself falling into a melancholy nostalgia about the show otherwise. It's always a little bittersweet to be face-to-face with the reality that something I used to do and enjoy -- something that so defined me in the moment -- is gone, gone, gone! (Well, maybe not totally gone. If I could find my way into a choir at this age, maybe I'll find my way into a musical someday. Only, instead of playing Maria in the Sound of Music, I'll have to be content to play Mother Superior; instead of one of the virginal sisters in Fiddler on the Roof, I'll be Golda. Ugh.)
After the show, we saw a couple of the ensemble characters crossing the street to a local restaurant. One of them was the man who played Judah. A few blocks down the road, I told Sarah (I'm not sure she knew I was serious) that if I could have figured out how to get back there and park again, I would have liked to share with that cast member something I doubt he knows -- that in portraying Judah who was willing to take the place of Benjamin in prison, he was bringing to life (albeit through calypso music) the history of an important moment of foreshadowing of Christ! When I did the show, I don't think any of us got that. At least I never heard a breath about it from anyone in the cast.
Sarah asked me if, once I knew the Lord, I had felt repentance over having done the show and lived the lifestyle that I did at that time. "No," was my honest answer. Surely there is much to be repentant about, but with regard to the show, I was mostly awed at just how strong are the blinders keeping an unbeliever from faith. There I was, night after night, rehearsing and performing a key story from Genesis and it never, ever crossed my mind to care.
No comments:
Post a Comment