Leah had her first real audition yesterday. It was to get into the “Master Class” at her theatre school. She was nervous about it but nailed “The Wizard and I” from the Broadway show “Wicked” and also performed a monologue from the point of view of Cinderella’s stepsister. She talks more and more these days about wanting to be an actress. I wonder how I’d feel if she really decides to go for that when she gets older. We know so many incredibly talented people who struggle like hell in the often insane world of show business that seems to chew people up and spit them out on a daily basis. But we’ll see—of course if Leah really decides to pursue that later on I will support her decision. I wonder how much of Leah’s love of musical theatre was implanted into her brain as a baby when I used to sing to her endlessly and then worry about the hideous messages I was imparting. “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” was a favorite of mine back then. When I think of the words I was singing into her ear every night I want to arrest myself for child abuse:
You wait, little girl, on an empty stage
For fate to turn the light on.
Your life, little girl, is an empty page
That men will want to write on.
Oy. I surrender, officer. I just like Rodgers & Hammerstein, I didn’t think I was doing irreparable damage to my daughter’s psyche. On the other hand, the Leah I know today is NOT thinking of her life as empty page that men will want to write on so I guess she cleared that one. There’s probably way more damage being created with her two favorite musicals of the moment, “A Chorus Line” in which she just appeared and which includes the lyrics every parent of a ten-year-old dreams of hearing:
Tits and ass, bought myself a fancy pair
Tightened up the derriere
Did the nose with it
All that goes with it…
Okay, the director did change “tits and ass” to “this and that” but left all the other words the same so it was still rather creepy!
And now she’s really into “Avenue Q” and loves the song “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” with lines like:
The Jews have all the money
And the whites have all the power.
And I'm always in taxi-cab
With driver who no shower!
Yikes. Better keep Child Services on speed dial.
Hmmm, if all these showtunes weren’t enough to get my online ramblings listed in a gay directory, does posting a photo of Idina Menzel in “Wicked” automatically generate a rainbow flag onto my blog's banner? Reading my sister’s comment about how gay my blog sounded, my colleague Lisa Barnett (Heinemann drama editor extraordinaire and co-author of several fantasy/mystery books) pronounced it “queerer than queer, my dear.” Why am I surprised? Kendall and I got married in May at BCC, the coolest (and oldest) gay and lesbian synagogue in town. We are one of the few straight couples there and yet I can't say we bring any kind of “straight sensibility,” if such a thing exists, to the congregation. The Friday before our wedding we had our aufruf at which Kendall and I had to each interpret the weekly Torah portion. I told our rabbi Lisa Edwards that my interpretation of that week's portion (which was all about adultery) was going to be the gayest thing that has ever been uttered in that synagogue. (I think I mentioned Hedy Lamarr three times in my speech.) And at our ceremony Kendall walked down the aisle to Doris Day’s “Que Sera Sera” sung by BCC’s cantor Fran Chalin.
Oh well, I’m comfortable enough with my sexuality to admit that when we saw Idina Menzel in “Wicked” and she hit that sustained high note during “Defying Gravity” at the end of Act I, it moved me so much that I burst into tears.
Danny!!
It's really frightening isn't it? THis parenting thing? Thank you for having a daughter older than Rae so that I can watch you do it first!
Fran
Posted by: Fran | January 23, 2005 at 09:57 PM