Doing Dad Proud

If you are a parent, you will remember those first stirrings of parental pride when you watched your progeny up on the stage of their first school play, Christmas pageant, or summer camp production. I know I do. I can even remember their lines! “Be still, gentle cow, and do not moo,” said my son, making sure to take an extra long pause after “cow”, which had me panicked that he had forgotten the rest. And I can never forget my daughter’s many roles onstage, though I must admit that her hilarious portrayal of Mama in “Bye, Bye, Birdie” was my favorite. Those moments of heart-bursting wonder and enjoyment in my children’s performances are treasured memories for me.
So I can only imagine the thrill it must be for a parent to see his son up on a Broadway stage, performing in a musical which that son and his friends have created. I got to see a glimpse of that last Saturday evening, when my daughter, a friend, and I went to see “[title of show]” yet again.
You may, faithful readers, remember my raptures about the show which is about the writing of show, starring Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell, who are responsible for the music and lyrics and the book, respectively. The show is very “meta”, as they say, and I find myself inspired by Jeff and Hunter’s exploration of the creative process and the joy, pain and rewards of staying true to yourself.
But the real joy of watching the show for the second time was our serendipitous meeting of Hunter’s father, Dr. George Bell of Virginia. Dr. Bell overheard my daughter Liz talking to the person next to her about how much she loves the show, and he couldn’t restrain himself from turning around in his seat and letting us know that he was Hunter’s dad! Talk about a proud papa!
Dr. Bell told us all about opening night, when the cast was in tears at the end of the show. He also told us about the show’s journey from off-Broadway to the Lyceum Theater. It was obvious that he loved his son and was thrilled by his success. And who wouldn’t be?
It was heart-warming to watch Dr. Bell during the show, thoroughly enjoying the production and just aglow with love and pride for his son and his friends, whose talent, hard work, and perseverance had helped them accomplish the dream of a lifetime.
Dr. Bell’s experience was one of unalloyed joy, and as the audience reacted with laughter or tears or applause or, finally, a standing ovation, his smile only grew wider. His son had helped create this marvelous production and had persisted in his efforts to see it reach Broadway. What greater gift could there be for a parent than to see your child achieve his or her dreams? And to be there, at the moment when those years of striving and hard work finally pay off in a moment of triumph for your child—with a standing ovation to boot--for a parent, that is surely a dream come true.
Congratulations, Dr. Bell. Hunter has done you proud.

[title of show] Rocks!

Last Sunday night my daughter Liz and I went to a preview of a Broadway musical entitled [title of show]. And before this turns into an Abbot and Costello routine, let me quote the show’s blurb. “[title of show] is a musical about two nobodies named Hunter and Jeff who decide to write a completely original musical starring themselves and their attractive and talented ladyfriends, Susan and Heidi. Their musical, [title of show], gets into the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and becomes a hit. Then it gets an off-Broadway production at the Vineyard Theatre, and wins three Obie Awards!”
[title of show] took its name from the form that Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen had to fill out for the NY Musical Theatre Festival. According to them, it was either that or “Rent with two t’s.” The show is funny, smart, and moving, a paean to musicals, Broadway, fame, and friendship. It celebrates the struggle, joy and pain of remaining true to yourself while trying to create something original.
So the show is about the show. And Jeff and Hunter are Jeff and Hunter in the play, and Heidi Blickenstaff and Susan Blackwell play Heidi and Susan. And, in real life, they are all besties. And the show is about their journey from all that blank paper to words and music, from an apartment to a festival to off Broadway to the Great White Way.
It is a show for anyone who loves musicals, who has ever been on a stage, however small, or who ever put on a show in the backyard when she was a kid.
Internet troller that I am, I had heard about [title of show] when it was downtown, and it sounded interesting, but it was one of those things that I just didn’t get around to doing. You know how it is. Even though Liz and I had a long-running love affair with the off-off Broadway production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and have enjoyed many an offbeat production, what can I say? We were busy!
But then, last week, I got the email from Theater Mania, and I checked out their site, and lo and behold, there was the little engine that could, [title of show]! It was in previews on Broadway (!) and there was a lovely discount available! Irresistible! And so the love affair began.
The real beauty of [title of show] is that Jeff and Hunter have remained true to themselves and their original vision. One song in the play says that “they would rather be nine people’s favorite thing than a hundred people’s ninth favorite thing.” In the Playbill, Hunter says that they realized that a lot of their jokes were self-referential, but it seemed that the most specific they got, the more people loved it. Go figure.
It remains to be seen just how [title of show] will fare on the GWW (Great White Way), but the audience was beyond enthusiastic at our performance. It actually reminded me of the audience at the first time we saw “Rent.” Ninety percent of those in attendance were beyond themselves in raptures, while the other ten percent had wandered in unawares and had no idea what they were watching. I think the show has legs, kids.