2019 has arrived. It’s been very cold this week with a polar vortex settling over New England and many parts of the mid-west.  We didn’t do very many weekend outings throughout the month of January due to snow and cold weather. I spent a good deal of time getting this blog caught up so that I could start posting current events. Today is my first post of an event that happened within the last 24-48 hours.

Let me start this post by noting that I am a performance artist. I have a degree in music education, and studied voice and tuba in college. My musical experiences include solo work, small vocal ensembles, large choirs, church choirs, bands and orchestras. Though I haven’t received any formal training in acting, I’ve participated in many theatrical productions both on stage and backstage for over 40 years. Including singing, playing, and acting I’ve performed for more than one thousand audiences.  Needless to say, I love to perform. As much as I love being on stage,  I also appreciate watching expert singing, playing, and acting. This weekend was perhaps one of the most exciting performance viewing events of my life.

We began the weekend on Friday afternoon. I picked Janet up at work and we drove to the Colonial Theater in Keene, NH to attend the Broadway and Main St. concert by our favorite a cappella group, Voctave.  If you’ve never heard them, check them out on YouTube! They are simply amazing.  One of the distinctions of their group is the part the  sopranos play in defining their sound. Kate Lott’s descants often soar to C’s, Ds, and an occasional Eb. For non music readers, that’s up in the piccolo range. The other soprano, Tiffany Coburn, joins her in many obbligatos, but is more often heard belting out solos with passion and energy. I love everyone in the group, but in the words of Voctave producer and arranger Jamey Ray, these two are the engine that drive the train.

They sang most of my favorites including Tiffany’s awesome version of The Impossible Dream. One of the best moments was the encore piece by Charlie Chaplin, Smile, which was not only a cappella, but unplugged as well. Simply perfect.

After the concert they sat at a table in the lobby to greet fans. It was late and Janet and I didn’t really care to stand in the line, so we just walked by on the other side of the rope. We got to the end, where Kate and Tiffany sat. I looked over at them I mouthed the words we love you guys. They said thank you, and I said aloud to Kate that Janet would love to be her. Kate got really excited and asked if we were in line. We said no and she said, that’s OK, I’m going to give you a hug. She walked over, and gave Janet the biggest hug. When Janet told her she was an alto, Kate responded that she’d always wanted to be an alto. We talked to her for about a minute or two, but that was enough. It was truly the cherry on the top of a ten foot wedding cake. We weren’t allowed to take pictures at the table so you just have to believe my story.

We spent the night in Keene, and rose early to drive to New York for the next leg of our adventure. Most people find it difficult to believe that I’ve never seen a live opera performance, including my friend, and opera major, Maria. Last fall we decided to end that streak and the four of us booked tickets to Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera. Getting Janet to attend felt like a miracle. I’ve sung in many choral groups that concentrate on “classical” repertoire. Janet has only attended one concert of my dozens of performances. Even last weekend when our friends, Dillard and Laurie, asked her to join them attending my concert with the Andover Choral Society, she passed.  She agreed to attend the opera because it was a new experience. It helped that there is a story, characters, and scenery.

We arrived at the Met and were totally blown away by this magnificent venue. If there were a god of music, this would be the national temple. From the snowflake chandeliers to the 54 ft tall proscenium, there is no mistaking that this hall is designed for the grandest of productions. The opera itself was larger than any production I remember. There must have been 50-75 singers on stage, and a full orchestra in the pit. The scenery included thirty to forty foot rounded walls revolving on a turn table. I wouldn’t want to be the cast members traveling down the stairs while singing. I could just see myself tumbling all the way down.  The leads were top notch. Carmen, of course, stole the show. But her gypsy friends were equally impressive. Janet actually enjoyed the experience, thanks to the libretto translation viewers on the back of the seats in front of us.  I don’t know if she’d ever enjoy Wagner, however we’ve decided we need to do this again! Maybe next time, Madame Butterfly.

I’d made reservations for dinner at Michael Feinstein’s 54 Below. When I reread the reservation, I noticed we would only be able to dine there for an hour. I went back to Open Table and found an equally impressive restaurant, The View. Sitting on the 48th floor above the Marriott Marquee hotel, the restaurant does a 360° revolution with views that include Times Square and the mid-town neighborhoods. Sharing dinner with our friends, Mark and Maria is always a pleasure.  Mark’s grandparents lived in the city and he shared many stories of his numerous visits throughout the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.  Our dinner was the perfect meal to connect our opera experience with our third and final performance of the weekend.

To Kill a Mockingbird, starring Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch, was one of the most powerful Broadway productions I’ve ever seen, and the perfect ending of our trifecta performances. Aaron Sorkin did a masterful job reinterpreting Harper Lee’s classic story of racial attitudes, making it relevant for today’s audience while still retaining all the plot elements of the original. The roles of the children were all played by adults and Celia Keenan-Bolger nailed the part of Scout. Daniels inhabited the role of Finch as if it were written for him. And LaTanya Richardson Jackson’s performance as Calpurnia was masterfully executed with power and grace. Thankfully there were many humorous moments to balance the weight of the subject matter. We were all moved by the message of the play, and how our country still has a long way to go to achieve equality for all its citizens.

This was an extravagant weekend to be sure. It required many months of planning, and paying for tickets in advance. The stars all seemed to line up for us to see these fantastic productions in one brief period of time. As always, we feel blessed that we live so close to such outstanding opportunities.

February is a short month, and the first weekend is already gone. We have a cruise planned for the last week aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas. Maybe I’ll be able to squeeze something close and inexpensive into one of the next weekends!

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller