I finally finished 
Barbra's 48-hour long audiobook
I didn't want it to end
It was astonishing 
Fascinating
Infuriating 
Even at the height of her career
The unrelenting sexism
But the people she met
The projects she worked on
The songs she sang 
The relationships she had 
Extraordinary 

An unexpected early shift 
​Being gifted a lovely workshop
Filled with timely reminders
And uplifting content 
Watching a concert from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Sobbing as Audra closes the show with
Climb Ev'ry Mountain 

To be able to bear witness
To a friend's story 
To hear their voice 
Not just in song
But how they see the world
How they interpret it
How they navigate it 
What lifts them up
When life keeps threatening a downward spiral
An honor, and a joy. 

In the rear mezz of the theatre
There is a big burly bear of a man 
At intermission
He keeps trying to say "Eurydice" out loud 
It's a new word for him
This whole theatre thing is new for him 
But his kid loves theatre
And when the school announced a trip to NYC
He thought, "Why not?!"
He loves any chance to spend time with his kids 
He wants to be supportive of their loves 
Even if he doesn't really get it 
But tonight something has shifted 
The whole trip has been fantastic
Traipsing the length and breadth of New York City with all the kids and the other chaperones
It has been fun
Bit more costly than he was expecting
But that's what it's all about, isn't it? 
A trip of a lifetime 
Can't beat those memories 
He has heard that the kid from the Harry Potter movies is in a play called 
"Merrily We Roll Along" (also new to him) 
He wants to see it before they leave 
But tonight at Hadestown
He leans forward in his seat 
Checks the song titles in the Playbill during each applause break
He is trying to memorize it all 
He applauds loudly with his giant hands after the trombone solo 
"Fantastic stuff. Wow, that dude can play." 
When Hades and Persephone find each other again
He weeps and uses the inside of his shirt to wipe away the tears
He glances over at the other chaperones
"Can you believe this?! Amazing!" 
When Orpheus turns around, he gasps 
Squeezes his own arms tighter around his chest 
He didn't know theatre could do this 
What a place, this New York City! 

Staying up late to watch Waitress
Realizing the clock has ticked over past midnight
And you have inadvertently watched a musical about making pie
On Pi Day 

Driving out to Asbury Park 
Burgers and chips on an empty beach
On a warm late-winter day 
Seeing Sunday in the Park with George 
The color and light 
The way they used the dancers
Floating across the stage on pointe (on pointe! haha!) 
The way the colored dots gently rained down on the stage
And parasols 

The way the score has seeped into my bones 
And makes me weep every time 
Stop worrying it your vision
Is new
Let others make that decision -
They usually do
You keep moving on

Dinner and scrabble in Brooklyn 
Watching Fences by August Wilson 
Being in awe of the lead who stepped in at the last minute
​And who is almost completely off book 

A day full of theatre 
Sitting in darkened rooms and watching stories 
Of laughing and crying and being transported 

It’s a chilly, grey and dismal
Day in New York City
But you’re walking uptown in Harlem
With your dear friend
And you're singing 
The opening refrains of RENT
Together
Like no one is listening
And your heart feels big and bursting
And you don’t even feel the cold
And your 16-year-old self
Can’t quite believe
This is her life

Bless the theatre kids 
On a Broadway field trip
The way they leaned forward in their seats
Whispered to each other 
Look at how they do that! 
Do you see?
The raw emotion 
The sheer excitement 
At the end, the kid in the Les Mis school show jacket
With Thenadier emblazoned across the back
Was weeping 
His classmates were just as moved 
"Did you hear his falsetto?! It was crazy! We have work to do!" 
"My life has been forever changed!" 
Remember that rush when you first started seeing shows 
Remember that feeling of possibility 
Remember the feeling of wanting to do that
It hasn't gone away
Though it has been tempered a little 
By auditions
The reality of the business 
Having cancer 
The cost of New York
Being formerly married to someone who didn't support your dream 
But watching the theatre kids watch the show
It reminded you of you
The kid with RENT and Chicago and The Pajama Game on repeat
And her heart and soul
Were beaming. 

A last minute email
Tickets available today! 
Free! 
A sitzprobe 
(Sit and play) 
of Dreamgirls 
Conducted by Seth Rudetsky 
At the New York Library for the Performing Arts
Featuring musicians from MUSE 
Musicians United for Social Equity 
An organization with a mission
To diversify music in theatre 
And a starry cast of performers 
Sharon Catherine Brown
J Harrison Ghee 
Brenda Braxton
Among many others   
Attended by a small but mighty audience 
Who spent the afternoon in the rapture 
Of a 35-piece orchestra
Playing a fabulous score
With some of Broadway's best
Belting to the rafters 
It almost felt like church
It was glorious 
And in between the songs
Seth regaling us with stories from the original production
How the show was made
The work of the actors and dancers 
The decisions to include songs and cut others 
Michael Bennett, Bob Avian, Henry Krieger, and Tom Eyen
The devastation of AIDS on the original company 
The devastation of AIDS on the artistic community of NYC 
The power of the music
Sharon Catherine Brown absolutely slaying 
"And I'm Telling You"
The way the other leads held her in an embrace as she wept at the end 
The way Seth asked her to describe what it was like
To sing the song with a full orchestra instead of a 
GarageBand of tracks 
The way the tears streamed down her face and she said
"You cannot replace what is real" 
You cannot replace what is real. 

Tonight, after a performance of The Connector
A truly wonderful new musical about 
Writing and truth and story-telling and fact checking
(It's so good in fact, that I saw it twice in one week) 
The composer and musical director 
Jason Robert Brown said 
"People like musicals, enough talking about it." 
And I wanted to shout
PREEEEACH! and
​LOUDER FOR THE STUDIO EXECUTIVES IN THE BACK!!! 

The luxury of being taken out to dinner
In a beautiful restaurant
With charming waiters and a live piano 
The loveliness of spending time with David and Katherine
The delight (and utter luxury) of seeing a Broadway show 
From the third row of the orchestra
Being able to see the actors faces up close
The details in the costumes 
(I want that dress... and that one! And those shoes! And that brooch! 
Stunning!) 
Seeing Chip Zien deliver a masterclass in 
Musical theatre performance and
Feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.