Saturday, May 31, 2025

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2006. Mattie was four years old and I know exactly why he was holding a balloon and where we got it. That day, we went to our local grocery store. That particular store used to give the children visiting a balloon and a sugar cookie! It was brilliant, because Mattie was always eager to go shopping with me! I only wished every store did this! Just loved that smile! On an aside, can you see the shoes on each step of the staircase? Mattie used to love putting his shoes on the stairs, rather than the closet. I naturally went with it, and after he died, when I eventually removed all the shoes, the stairs never looked the same! 

Quote of the day: Where words fail, music speaks. ~ Hans Christian Andersen

This morning I received a text message and within the conversation I was having was the mention of the Andrew Llyod Webber musical, Song and Dance. This musical was on Broadway in 1985 and 1986. By that point in time, my parents already had moved me across the country to Los Angeles. However, because myself, my mom, and grandmother were home sick, we would fly back and forth from LA to NY often for the first several years. In 1985, I was lucky enough as a teenager to see Bernadette Peters in Song and Dance. This was my first encounter with her, and I immediately fell in love with her stage presence and incredible voice! 

Song and Dance is a VERY unusual Webber musical! Why? Because there is NO scenery and basically no memorable costumes! In fact, there are ONLY two people in the entire musical! The musical was broken down into two acts. Act one, was "Song." Featuring one amazing vocal number after the other performed by Bernadette Peters. The songs highlighted her tumultuous journey with many bad romantic relationships. Keep in mind, she was walking her audience through her journey and there was NO one else on the stage! There were no backdrops or props! Nothing! That is the telltale sign of an amazing performer. Yet as an audience member you are hearing the perspectives of others in her life through pretend phone calls and letters! I am telling you it was clever. I have to admit as a teenager, the true content Bernadette Peters was singing about was over my head! As I had no personal experience with betrayal, lies, infidelity, and abandonment! Nonetheless, even as a teenager, the emotions of what she was expressing caught my attention. That was act one. Act two of this musical was all "dance." Performed by one man. The man happened to be her love interest that she sang about in act one. Through his dance, the audience gets to understand his perspective on what happened and how he was feeling! 

At the end of the musical, SONG and DANCE unite, meaning..... Bernadette Peters and her love interest reconcile on stage and realize that they made a mistake walking away from the other. 

I can't tell you how many people I introduced to Song and Dance and this morning's text message was a THANK YOU for bringing this musical to her attention over all these years! Below is one of the SONGS from Song and Dance. It highlights one of her break ups from act one, and she was singing about how she would prefer hearing the news!  Of course this song has a much more profound impact on me now. As I now know, first hand, all the relationship tragedies she highlights.

Frankly I am not sure this musical could be performed and appreciated by today's audiences. First off, it requires immense talent but second, audiences are used to sound effects, costumes, and scenery. But if you are looking for PURE human dynamics, emotions, and the struggles and pains HONESTLY faced in relationships.... then this your musical! 

Tell me on a Sunday:

Here's another great one.... an Unexpected Song (the actual song starts at 2:00):