Birthmonth Day One (and Musical Monday #76)

Welcome to The Birthday Month.  Birthmonth.

All Month.

This month I shall be magically transforming from The Laidback Youth…

Okay, I've never been laidback.

…to a panicky hurtling-towards-middle-age.

And since this month has as many days as years I have been alive

I’m going to post every single day.

DAY ONE.  AGE ONE.

And I’m going to tell you about some other magic.  Not the nasty magic that is making me old (although people seem to drop dead of shock whenever they find out how old I am – apparently I don’t look my age, despite the increasing amount of silver hair (which I’m totally fine with because three of The Greatest Heroes have grey/white hair

Rogue, Sam Beckett, Dash-X

and I don’t care that none of them are ‘real’ as The Stupid Housemate told me)) but a magic that has made me happy many times throughout The Life.

The Magic Of Theatre

It’s kind of weird that although for many years I wanted to be an actor

Other things I wanted to be when I grew up:

·         A Housewife.

·         A Teacher.

·         A Genius Inventor.

·         A Geologist.

·         A PI.

·         A Guitarist Rock Star.

·         A Firefighter.

·         A Cartoonist.

·         A Veterinary Nurse.

·         A Writer (ding ding ding ding).

I never found the magic of theatre from the inside.  I loved acting because I loved creating worlds and characters from The Imagination and

that entails, and how I could actually speak up and be The Self instead of being freaking ignored by everyone like usual.  None of which is really anything to do with acting.  Clearly I would be just as happy writing and directing a play as being in it, in fact, I would only enjoy it if I was writing and directing it too.  I certainly didn’t give a hoot about the audience.  Probably over half the plays I devised were never seen in front of anyone anyway.  And if I’m in control of something, then I know it isn’t magic.

But as a member of the audience, I have been swept away many times.

A great live show can be magical.  Because it is unlike anything from our day-to-day lives. 

·         For a start, if something is live, it is unique.  Every performance will be a little different.  So it’s special. 

·         It’s also weird and exhilarating, watching people play fantasy, something we haven’t really done since we were children. 

·         And it’s a shared experience, happiness and humour are infectious, and a good show with a good audience can generate warmth and camaraderie with complete strangers in an uplifting experience. 

·         Plus, the stuff people can do on stage often appears to be magic – something that is lost on TV, when we know they can add special effects in later. 

·         And then, just one person can give a performance, a really great performance, that can utterly mesmerise you. 

It doesn’t happen very often.  But when all these come together, then a magical time is born, something that will live with you forever.

This month, I’m going to remember those times and wallow in The Magic as long as I can.

…

Also it happens to be Musical Monday, so here is a little number from the longest film in the world which I watched yesterday (it's a great one because it's entirely women and comical):

Matchmaker from Fiddler On The Roof
Performed by Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, Neva Small, Elaine Edwards and Candy Bonstein
Written by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick

 

What magical theatrical shows have you seen?