“Why do I pay for all these lessons? Dance for grandma, dance for grandma!”

So it occurs to me that last week was a heavy week post-wise (does anyone else add the word -wise to nouns a la the characters in The Apartment?) and I thought I would put an end to all the craptasticness, because really, way to eliminate your tiny readership by being such an effin’ downer.  So let’s start again  on a high note, shall we? 

A Chorus Line is coming to Hamilton, people!  And I am freaking out.

I am, and have always been a complete geekoid of the musical theatre variety.  What?  You didn’t know this about me?  I shall educate.

When I was eight, I started taking dance lessons.  Just at a local community centre, nothing fancy.  My parents were pretty practical, and while they wanted to give me the experience, signing an eight-year old who, on a whim, says “I want to dance!” to a studio that may require a a big commitment monetarily, was not in the cards.  So I started with jazz, and after the first year I was all “meh, it was fun but what I REALLY WANT TO DO IS TAP!”  So my parents were all “um, ok”.  And so I was enrolled in tap – and 17 years later I was still dancing, and also teaching tap. and even did a stint as the director of the community centre dance school.  I was a hoofer.  And then I retired.  So yeah.

Of course, musical theatre is all about the singing and the dancing and I ate that shit up.  It was my crack.  I owned LPs – yes I said LPs – of every musical I could think of and I loved them all.  South Pacific and Evita?  Bring it.  My Fair Lady and Guys & Dolls?  Hells yeah.  Westside Story and Sweet Charity?  Of course.  Not to mention the movies – OMG the movies!  Fred and Ginger, Gene and Cyd, Donald O’Connor, Ann Miller.  I can probably still recite Singin’ in the Rain word for word.  Love, people.  That is love.  They are ridiculous and over the top and filled to the brim with like 50 kinds of cheese, and I have watched them hudreds of times.   I cannot get enough. 

I’m not sure what it is – sure the dancing, I was all over that.  But there’s also the fantasy aspect of it too, isn’t there?  People don’t just break into song and dance for no reason, gangs of street kids don’t just bust out into perfectly choreographed fight scenes just like that.  But damn, wouldn’t it be a better world if we all did?? 

I think the last live musical I saw was 42nd Street, about 15 years ago.  And man, that was the shit.  And so now, 15 years later, A Chorus Line is about to rock my city.  Not only a great musical, but one of the best musicals EVER.  And I need to go.  Even if I have to use up every Christmas, birthday and mother’s day gift from now until I’m 50, I really think I need tickets to that show.  I do.

Who’s in?  I will buy the pre-show drinks.  And choreograph a routine to get us home afterwards.