I am a theater critic on a short vacation, so
naturally I saw two shows today. Well, technically, one was just a
rehearsal (or, as Phil put it, a "stumble through") and the other was a high
school concert, but nonetheless, they were both shows.
After Walt and Jeri took Lester for a long
walk, Jeri went off to work and dropped Walt and me at the Boston Center for
the Arts, where Phil was working.
Phil works with a program under Partners for
Youth with Disabilities. This particular program is Access to Theatre,
which gives young people with disabilities the opportunity to be in an
original production featuring drama, improvisation, movement...and more.
We met some amazing people, including Donna, who runs the program.
Steven has cerebral palsy and is a wonderful
musician, who plays music with his toes on his iPad. (He is also an activist
for rights for the disabled)
These two did a dance to "Proud Mary" (Rollin',
rollin', rollin' on the river).
Even Phil got into the act playing a tree in
two different skits (one of which I dubbed "Midsummer night's tree").
But the performer who impressed me the most
was Linda, who has been part of this program for several years and each year
does an original dance.
She closed her eyes and she danced. She
didn't care that her belly was hanging out or that she didn't necessarily
get the steps right, she was loving every minute of her dance and she was
transformed. It was a beautiful thing to see. Apparently one
year she did a Harry Potter themed dance. It was stormy out that night
and at the end of her dance, she raised her wand up high just at the moment
when a huge crack of lightning lit up the glass ceiling. Apparently it
was quite an effect, though she modestly told me it was just a coincidence.
After we left the BCA, we came home, briefly,
and then got back on the bus to head downtown to meet Jeri. The second
show was the culmination of a five week program Berklee College of Music
runs in the summer for high school kids from all over the world. Jeri trains
the orchestra that accompanies the Musical Theater Showcase. Her 16
piece orchestra included kids from 5 countries, as well as kids from all
across the United States, from California to Maine and one from Alaska.
We went out to dinner with her after the
final rehearsal and then Walt and I waited at the entrance to the theater.
No cameras allowed inside, so there are no
pictures of the performance, but Jeri's group was awesome and they
accompanied musical numbers from Side Show, Assassins, Jekyll & Hyde
and Wicked. Great fun to watch and listen to.
The show had started with a Middle Eastern
Fusion Ensemble and a huge Chorus. It ended with the "Five Week
Singers' Showcase," the five featured singers chosen from 150 who
auditioned. The first four were very good (well...I wasn't pleased
with one of them) but then Quinton Monteiro came on to sing an arrangement
of "Over the Rainbow" that literally brought down the house. If this
were a venue for making stars, one was made tonight. Absolutely
incredible performance, and though this bore no resemblance to the
Judy Garland original, his smile and huge eyes at the end as the audience
leaped to their feet cheering, was every bit as memorable.
We are now packing up and getting ready to
get to the airport in the morning to catch our flight home. I hate
travel days, but at the end of it, there is home and the dogs, and no
more trips in the foreseeable future!
I'm going to have to check the TV and see if
anything of import happened in the past few days.
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