Paper #3--A Simple Joy

    A few things that bring me joy...when did they become “joys”?  Reading good books: for as long as I can remember; Saturday afternoons at  Duck football games: during college; a cup of tea every morning: post college; following March Madness basketball games: 4 years ago when I joined an “office pool” and won; making chocolate chip cookies: age 3; and going to Broadway musicals: summer 1982.
    It was early that summer when my Aunt Val announced, “We need culture in our lives.”  “Culture? Oh great... “ my cousins and I thought. She already woke us up every morning by playing John Phillip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” as loud as she could get the old record player to go. Wasn’t that enough “culture”  for us? We definitely thought so. My Aunt ignored our rolling eyes and didn’t seem to notice the way we put our heads down on the table. “Next month we are going to Portland to see a musical!” she proudly announced.
   

I was fourteen, and spending the summer with my aunt and cousins in Philomath, Oregon. I had never heard of a musical or been to any kind of play. At home, we rarely went to the closest movie theater over an hour away. There were no drama classes at my high school and the idea of a theatrical production was new for me. Even being told it was a “Broadway  Production” meant nothing to me at the time.
    My aunt was a single mom supporting three children and putting herself through college. She had been saving money all year to make the Portland trip possible. She was always looking for ways to bring culture into our lives each summer. She took us to symphonies, insisted I read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and tried very hard to get us into nearby museums. The summer we went to see The King and I starring Yul Brenner in Portland was the summer we all started to realize how enjoyable such culture could be.
    The whole day was a treat. We drove to Portland, had a picnic in the Rose Gardens, had dinner out and then arrived at the theater. I remember being in awe of the theater itself. We sat up at the top, in the third balcony. I marveled at the seats covered in velvet, the gorgeous curtain hanging in front of the stage, the formal attire of people everywhere, the “ding” signaling that the show was about to begin, the dimming lights and then the orchestra beginning to play. I was mesmerized before the curtain even opened.
    The play was spectacular. The music was wonderful, the acting superb, the costumes gorgeous, and the sets like nothing I had ever seen. I sat through it all entranced on the edge of my seat, never wanting it to end. We  were one of the last groups of people to leave the theater. As we made our way to the car, we sang and danced through the parking lot mimicking one of our favorite scenes from the play - “Shall We Dance”. In the scene, the two main characters dance the polka, gliding and twirling around the stage. It was magical. I relived the entire play in my mind all the way home.
    The next day we listened to the soundtrack nonstop. My aunt lived in a farm house with a huge living room. I remember pushing back all of the furniture to create a big open space and my aunt teaching us to polka. We played ‘Shall We Dance’ over and over again, polkaing around the living room for hours. Dancing the polka was one of our favorite summertime activities that year.  We had a wonderful time and though it was over 20 years ago, the memory still makes all of us smile to this day.
  I’ve seen many Broadway musicals since The King and I and hope to see many more. I don’t sit up in the third balcony anymore, because I think it is always well worth the extra money to sit closer. I still get “swept away” like I did that very first time whenever I attend a show. Thank goodness my aunt decided my cousins and I  needed some “culture” that summer. The experience introduced me to what has become a life long joy.

Comments

[Nat Teich]

Very good evocation of the new joys from child's point of view. Theatre is so much fun. Cheers --nt