It's a very nice beginning

I went to the theatre this evening, to see "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." Gosh, it had been far too long since I'd seen a show. And money plays a big part of that.

Sure, this city offers a lot of pay-what-you-can performances, but they're not always the ones I want to see. And anything playing in the big theatres is so freaking expensive, even if you want to sit a block away from the stage.

So the thoughtful boyfriend (Same person as the other one I mention, just with a preceding adjective this time.) gave me a gift certificate towards this show at Christmas. (He didn't want to buy us tickets, because then he'd have to go and see the show. And while he has indulged my love of music theatre many times, this just wasn't going to be one of them.) I went with a friend, who is also an ex-theatre professional, and we laughed our asses off! It was very, very funny. They had four members of the audience in the show! Priceless. Sadly the theatre was a bit barren, which is such a shame, but we used it to our advantage and moved down into much more expensive seats than we'd paid for. Score!

I'm not good at breaking the law in any way, though, so I did worry the entire time that they were going to bust us.

They totally didn't.


Anyway, while I was getting ready this afternoon, I grabbed an old cast album to listen to. It was this show called "Once on this Island," which was on Broadway a couple of years after my love affair with the art form began. The first couple of numbers are really upbeat and fun, so I was putting on my makeup, feeling the joy of blasting my music. (The boyfriend was not at home. I try not to torture him with too much Broadway.) The third song caught me off guard. I mean, I know it's third on the CD and have known forever, but I just didn't think about it today.

It's called "Waiting for Life," and it was my song in 1994. I sang it for my theatre school audition and for my final recital in Ottawa. It's a big sing and has this optimistic message that perfectly fit who I was at 18. And this afternoon I felt like reliving it.

So I turned the volume up even higher, pushed thoughts of the neighbours right out of my head, and sang my heart out.

It was awesome.

For a moment or two, I could actually feel what it felt like 14 years ago. I could remember seeing my entire life ahead of me, full of possibilities. That's what I get out of music theatre. I can only hope that everyone in this world has a passion for something that can make them feel like that.

When all this is said and done, and I've finally paid everything off, I am going to become a theatre subscriber and see a whole bunch of shows. It's going to be great.

As for spending money, I wandered through Eaton Centre with the boyfriend, helping him pick out some new clothes, but I bought nothing. I can't say it was easy or that I didn't pity myself, but I stuck to my guns. We did, however, have dinner out before the show. But we shared, so it was pretty inexpensive. (Mmmmm...coconut shrimp...)

Total debt: $10,500 plus a bit more.
Spent today: $12