We opened the Spelling Bee last Wednesday night and everything was perfect....except for that fact that I was the sickest I've been in like, well, ever.
By Geoffrey Kidwell (actor)
If you are a dedicated reader of my blog posts here at Crazytown, as I'm sure you are, then you know that I've spent the last ten or so days working on a production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Well the good news is that we opened the show on Wednesday and it was a tremendous success.
The bad news is that I spent the wee small hours of Wednesday morning in the ER because I was covered in disgusting red hives and my throat felt as though I had swallowed a knife.
Turns out I had strep throat and - wait for it - Scarlet Fever.
(In case you've never experienced Scarlet Fever, because you weren't born in a log cabin somewhere out on the prairie, click here for a description.)
Suffice it to say that I was feeling less than my best.
But, as they say, the show must go on.
And on the show went. By what I can only assume was some divine force - perhaps the ghost of Ethel Merman or Judy Garland - I rallied and was able to make it through the performance.
To be clear, it wasn't the most beautiful singing I've ever done. My chords were clearly tired and swollen from the evil strep bacteria that had set up shop.
It made me feel like such an amateur.
But after I thought about it a bit more, I realized that deciding to get on that stage and just give it my best for the sake of myself and all the other people involved with the show actually made me a pro!
I came home Wednesday feeling pretty tired and ill but also proud.
It all turned out to be a great lesson in releasing control over things you just can't control.
I believer our job as artists - and as people, for that matter - is to do the best we can do on any given day. We cannot control the outcome. All we can do is prepare and hope for the best.
Life may have thrown me a curve ball this week but I can rest assured knowing that on opening night I was as prepared as I possibly could have been.
The rest is out of my control.
AND NOW...THE WEEK IN WHITNEY HOUSTON!!!
Remember when you were a little kid and you felt sick? Your mom would make you a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup and it made you feel better. Right? Well, I'm not feeling too hot right now but I don't want food. I want to watch old clips of Miss Houston singing her face off. Like this one: Here's Miss Houston singing, All At Once at the American Music Awards in 1987. Enjoy!
GEOFFREY KIDWELL Geoffrey is an actor/manny in NYC. He spends his days just trying to figure it out.
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