Today I woke up thinking about concerts, plays, and musical productions I have seen in person during my life. I remember the following, but the list is probably incomplete and the items are not presented in chronological order:
1. Liberace in concert at TCU in Fort Worth. His brother George was there too, playing violin.
2. The First Piano Quartet at TCU in Fort Worth.
3. South Pacific at the Texas State Fair Musicals in Dallas. It starred Mitzi Gaynor as Nellie Forbush and Kay Armen as Bloody Mary.
4. Victor Herbert's operetta Naughty Marietta at the Texas State Fair Musicals in Dallas. I can still hear Patrice Munsel singing "Ah, Sweet Mystery Of Life, At Last I Found You".
5. Amahl And The Night Visitors by Gian-Carlo Menotti at Arlington State College (now UTA) in Arlington, Texas.
6. Man Of La Mancha starring Jack Cassidy at Midnight Sun Dinner Theater in Atlanta.
7. The Rainmaker at Harlequin Dinner Theater in Atlanta.
8. The Fantasticks in 1975 at the
Academy Theater in Atlanta.
9. Hello, Dolly! starring Carol Channing at the Fox Theater in Atlanta.
10. Don't Drink The Water, a non-musical play by Woody Allen, at a theater in Manhattan in 1967. It starred Lou Jacobi, Peggy Cass, and Anita Gillette.
11. Evita at a small theater-in-the-round in Atlanta around 1988.
12. You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, a play based on Charles Schulz's comic strip Peanuts, at (I think) the Strand Theater in Marietta, Georgia.
13. The Great Divorce, a play based on the book by C.S. Lewis, at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta.
14. The Screwtape Letters, a play based on the book by C.S. Lewis, at the Ferst Center For The Performing Arts in Atlanta.
15. My Fair Lady starring Noel Harrison (son of Rex Harrison who originated the role of Henry Higgins) at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
16. Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, and Gerry Mulligan all in the same evening at the Fox Theater in Atlanta during an Atlanta Jazz Festival around 1979 or 1980.
The 16 items above were all professional productions. Items 1-5 occurred during the 1950s. I have seen many amateur productions as well, including:
17. Oklahoma! at the Murray Arts Center in Kennesaw, Georgia.
18. Fiddler On The Roof at the Murray Arts Center in Kennesaw,Georgia.
19. Little Women at the Murray Arts Center in Kennesaw, Georgia.
20. Our Town at the Murray Arts Center in Kennesaw, Georgia.
21. H.M.S. Pinafore at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama.
22. Cabaret at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama.
23. Beauty And The Beast at the Murray Arts Center in Kennesaw, Georgia.
24. Handel's Messiah in Omaha, Nebraska; Boca Raton, Florida; and a few other places.
25. Bach's Magnificat in Arlington, Texas.
26. Mendelssohn's Elijah in Atlanta, Georgia.
My daughter saw Cats on Broadway and has seen national touring productions of Les Miserables several times.
Everyone's interaction with the arts is unique. I'm sure my list pales in comparison to what or whom some of you have seen.
Speaking of seeing, I once saw Ronnie Millsap walking down a concourse at the Atlanta airport, and I once saw Angie Dickinson and Burt Bacharach eating dinner at a restaurant in Manhattan, and I once sat in an auditorium not far from Irving Berlin. I suppose those don't count since the people mentioned were not performing their craft at the time. Oh, I almost forgot that I also breathed the same air as Dick Clark when I was 17 and spent an afternoon on American Bandstand at a television station in Philadelphia. Just one more sign of advancing age, I guess; my memory is starting to go.
I would love to hear about your concert- and play-going experiences in the comments section.
