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Unique

April 26, 2011 admin Leave a comment

There’s a quote of Martha Graham’s in “The Art of Possibility” that I wrote down a while ago. It sits in my stage make-up box. I read it before every performance.

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

I sat down earlier today to write a brief synopsis of “Carmen and the Bull,” a little children’s opera that I created for Union Avenue Opera’s educational programs with Springboard St. Louis. In the middle of writing the summary, it occurred to me that the heart of that quote was all over my silly made-up opera lyrics. Little Ferdinand and his new friends spend a lot of time understanding and fully appreciating what it is to be unique…and, though they use other words, they are definitely “keeping the channel open.”

Maybe not so silly after all. Thanks, Martha.

Okay, maybe a little silly

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In step

January 4, 2011 admin Leave a comment

The Last of the Red Hot Mamas closed last Sunday night. It feels like it was a month ago. The next day, I made my way to Quincy, IL to start rehearsals for Muddy River Opera’s production of Pirates of Penzance. When we walked into the Quincy Starbucks, my friend and traveling companion remarked that we clearly weren’t in St. Louis anymore. The orders were placed slowly, the orders were taken slowly, and the orders will filled slowly. If folks moved at that pace in the Central West End, there would be annoyed comments from the peanut gallery. Let’s not even think about what would happen in New York City.

Michael Kelly, from Country Cork,
lost his sweetheart while on holiday in New York.
Last of the Red Hot Mamas, New Jewish Theatre
Photo by John Lamb

I went home for New Year’s, and on my way back up to Quincy, I listened to the fellows on Radio Lab. The story was about cities: how they live and die, and what makes them feel the way they feel. Do people make the city, or the city make the people?

They did some experiments.

They recorded the pace at which individuals from different cities delivered information: how fast they talked. And then, they recorded the pace at which individuals moved down the street: how fast they walked. Not surprisingly, people in bigger cities covered more topics and more ground in less time than those in smaller ones: the pace was faster. And apparently, we all have an internal tempo that agrees with one pace more than another. I wonder if the people who absolutely love NYC have an inherently faster internal tempo, or if they naturally adjust when they get there? And if they can’t adjust…

Regardless, I feel my internal tempo slowing down in Quincy. I don’t know if that fits into the Radio-Lab-guest-scientist theories, but it’s true. Red Hot Mamas feels like a month ago, and I’m okay with that. I’m enjoying the pace. I’m happy to enjoy the resting time before I head back to St. Louis, the city that sets my metronome a few ticks higher–but not too high–day in and day out.

Cabaret

November 16, 2010 admin Leave a comment

I tossed my get-up for this weekend on my bed earlier today. It’s important to be sure the pieces are in order, you know. After all, it’s almost go time.

And underneath it all, my pink, homemade-with-love, childhood blanket waits for me.

You can dress a girl in fringe and red, but she’s still a softy deep down, I dare say.

Out of the Box

sticking with the theme

October 5, 2010 admin Leave a comment

I almost felt like it was a professional development workshop when I arrived at the base of the Washington Monument this past Saturday. I huffed and puffed and looked in front of me and behind me at My Nation’s Capital and thought, “Wow, I feel patriotic right about now.” And then I remembered that I get to sing the National Anthem again, and soon.

The thought accompanied me as I ran the 5k back to my friends’ house in Capital Hill.

As I inch towards the mic this Saturday morning before a bunch of people who are Pedaling the Cause, I’ll surely hold that view and feeling in my mind…and then I’ll sing about it. Not a bad hour of professional development, eh?

Out of the Box

My National Anthem

August 21, 2010 admin Leave a comment

Not surprisingly, participating in a production of Man of La Mancha can make a person spend some time both on and off stage in serious consideration. Yes, consideration of intention, body language, facial expressions, lines, lyrics, and other actorly things, but also consideration of things like freedom of speech and religion and dreaming big, big dreams. Don Quixote may call them Impossible Dreams. Others might venture to label them American Dreams.

Laura Ernst, Conor Dagenfield, Elise LaBarge

Insight Theatre

photo by John Lamb

After Thursday night’s performance, when provoked, I explained that I couldn’t be out late because my next day’s activities included singing at a Naturalization Ceremony. A friend of a friend’s ears perked up. He had been to Naturalization Ceremonies before. He understood how powerful they can be. He even repeated something he overheard after one. “My favorite part,” this new citizen said, “was when they got to the National Anthem. I’ve heard it plenty of times, but for the first time, it was mine.”

Armed with that story, my Man of La Mancha considerations, and my collection of America’s Favorite Songs book, I walked into the Federal Courthouse on Friday morning. I’d already been to several Ceremonies, and knew the joy of singing the Star Spangled Banner to 50-something new Americans. The audience is like no other. They seem to listen with a distinct kind of open heart.

This Friday, though, I started to sing, and very few people were listening. No, not listening, but singing. They had considered seriously, made an oath, and now they were singing. The man who announced to the court minutes before, “I am from Ukraine. I start new life now,” and the Bosnian housewife, and the Indian engineer and the Moldovan couple…they and all their fellow citizens were giving it a go. They were making it their own. They were singing the National Anthem with me. And they should, oh, they should have been singing. Starting that very moment, it was, after all, theirs.

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Turning heads

July 16, 2010 admin Leave a comment

I spent a few days earlier this week visiting dear Chicagoland friends. We had the week off in between Pirates of Penzance performances, and there was a newborn baby to see. Friends are a strong lure, but a baby, well, she has pull. After a couple of days with the new parents and child, I can honestly say that no one turns heads like a stretching, yawning, sleeping 8-pound girl.

It’s true that I observed heads turning all the time in Italy last month. Italian men don’t apologize for turning and looking, much to the delight of the married-with-children women on our choir trip, but it’s not like that here in the States (except in locales that I don’t frequent.)

And yes, heads turn with (mostly) great precision on UAO’s set of Pirates. Even if a chorus member turns his head at the wrong time, he must do so with conviction. A crisp head-turn on the wrong beat is better than a slow and sloppy one at the right time. There’s not time for apologies.

The only time I see heads boldly turn stateside, and not involving jazz squares, is when there’s a newborn involved. I saw it on the L, in a busy restaurant downtown, at a coffee shop in Oak Park, on a bench by the Chicago river. No apology necessary for staring and smiling at a baby girl who’s been kicking outside the womb for a mere 6 weeks.

Occasionally when I’m away midweek, I feel like I need to have an excuse for why I’m not at home and working. Everyone else is, so shouldn’t I? Never mind that I am working all weekend and that I miss important events during the year because I have nighttime rehearsals, Christmas Eve services, and non-negotiable performance dates. Yet, thanks in part to all of the hardworking professionals around me, I feel like I should be at home and working.

This week, however, that little baby taught me to let go of the apologies, turn my head with conviction, and enjoy the free time on a Monday and Tuesday that lets me stop and stare and smile.

The maidens who fear pirates, right before a big head-turn.
Photo by Ron Lindsey

Soprano | Teaching Artist