March 10th, 2008
Music has always been important in my life. My mom always wanted to be trained in music, but her family was not interested in supporting her. She sang, but never studied. All of her brothers play guitar and sing.
I began my study in elementary school, when I started singing solos with the elementary choir. I continued as a clarinetist and woodwind player. By age 13 I was doing theater in school, and at 15 I started in community theater (where I would ultimately meet my wife.) I am a veteran of nearly 50 theatrical productions. I have conducted orchestras, bands, and choruses, including a performance for Pope John Paul II. I have sung at Carnegie Hall, The Boston Garden, Walt Disney World, and The World’s Fair. I toured the US as a performer, and Italy as a conductor. I recently conducted the world premiere of a new musical.
With all of those things to speak of, you can imagine how proud I am. These things, however, are not what brings me the most pride.
My son (left) was chosen recently for a unique honor. At age 14, he is part of the first east-coast High School production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic “Phantom Of The Opera”. The folks from The Really Useful Group (ALW’s production company) saw it on Friday, and were pleased.
Opportunities like these are incredible. These are the galvanizing moments. The moments that lead you to say “I want to feel like that all the time.” I’ve never encouraged my kids to go this route, into performing. It’s a difficult route that can be rewarding and frustrating, crushing and spectacular. Even so, without my encouragement, both children appear to be headed down this path.
Needless to say, I sat in the audience at the show (4 performances this weekend) and I cried. Numerous times. He was so big. So mature. Working so hard to get it right. He caught crap from the Asst. Director for the mistakes he made. I might have told the guy where to stick it, but my son is so wrapped up in the part, he wants to do it better. He takes each criticism (and I specifically did NOT use the word ‘critique’) personally. That may make this a hard life for him, but it does show he is truly serious about the whole thing. (He’s not ready to hear it right now, so we’ll have the ‘don’t take it personally’ discussion another time.)
I’ll be taking this week to recharge for the coming weekend, for I shall again shed tears of joy as he performs his part 3 more times.
Posted in Father-Son, Fatherhood, Education, Reflections | 2 Comments »
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