Storm Time

from http://www.wfsb.com/ 

I love storms.

The smell,

The fizzle crackle in the air,

And the sound of rain.

But tonight I was nervous. 

Warnings of flash floods and tornadoes across the state,

And being a grown-up in a place of children,

I felt a responsibility. 

A couple of the campers I work with

Are afraid of storms,

And I came across one of my theatre babies

In the theatre,

Huddled over

Tense and barely breathing.

I sat with her,

Offered my hand

And she clasped it tight.

And every time the thunder roared

She held her breath and shivered.

We sat together,

And chatted through the storm.

I joked about singing My Favorite Things

It seemed appropriate. 

And we giggled at the thought of becoming the cliche. 

And to help her breathe

I told her breathing deeply would be like practicing diaphragm exercises. 

If she wanted to play Elphaba, she’d better get practicing. 

It made her laugh. She breathed, and trembled a little less with every thunder clap. 

The storm passed. 

I ended up sitting in the Music Shed with a couple of campers

And my friend with a beautiful wooden flute.

Occasional patters of rain danced across the roof.

My friend played his flute.

And I felt calm. 

And I felt that this is what being a grown-up must be like.

To be put your own fears aside

And help the smaller ones around you. 

The end. 

Beyond My Wildest Dreams

There once was a little girl in Sydney

And she used to dance around the living room

And it never occurred to her that she wanted to do anything else but be an actress 

But other things got in the way

Like school and boys and 

Other People’s Expectations About What Is A Good and Proper Life 

And so the girl went on her way

And skipped through life

And soon found she was very sad

Because she wasn’t doing what her heart told her she needed to be doing 

And one day she said, “Ohmygod, enough!”

And she packed her bags and hopped on a plane

And found herself on the other side of the planet

And traveling in peak hour and crammed into the tube

With all the three piece suits and briefcases

And people commuting to offices

And the girl thought, 

“These poor unfortunate souls!”

How many of them get to do what she does everyday?

Run around a room and play games and sing songs 

And dance 

And Live The Dream 

Dear People! 

It’s okay to live your dream! 

Why hold onto those doubts all those worries?!

If I don’t I just know I’ll turn back

I must dream of the life I am seeking

I am seeking the courage I’ve lacked

The courage to live life without reliance 

Face my mistakes without defiance

Show them I’m worthy,

And while I show them

I’ll show me! 

Because it IS so exciting

To be out in the world to be free

My heart IS wildly rejoicing

There is nothing the matter with me! 

I made a choice to be happy 

To let go of the angst and the pain and the worry

And I made a choice to go out into the world

And do whatever it is I’m meant to be doing

And hey world, here I am. 

A little girl from Sydney living in London

Spending her days learning all things musical

And it is wonderful.

The end. 

The Life I Lead

to dance around the living room

to watch cyd with her legs up to eternity flirt with gene

who danced in the rain laced with milk

so it would be more visible on camera

to watch yul and deborah

one-two-three-and across the royal palace of what is now Thailand 

but used to be called Siam

etcetera etcetera etcetera!

to have tea with jam and bread on the mountains of austria

maria and mary are your nannies

julie is magical because she sings and dances and appears in two different movies with different coloured hair and rescues the children of europe and england from their sad fathers

just a spoonful of sugar and imagination and pop into the pavement to win races

singing makes everybody happy 

even retired grumpy sea captains

yes sir!

to want to be a part of that world

to be a strong princess

to be like barbara and fiercely independent and capable

just leave everything to meeee

hello dolly, hello dolly, it’s so nice 

to one day find yourself transported

from the land of oz to the rooftops of london 

and all you have to do is click your shiny red shoes together

and wish and pray your life could be enchanted

the end. 

My Favourite Things

When you find yourself in times of trouble, Mother Superior tells you to turn around and face those troubles, climb every mountain, and ford every stream until you find your dream. When you’re feeling down and out, nothing lifts your spirits more than sitting in one of Sydney’s most beautiful theatres surrounded by twelve hundred obsessed fans of “The Sound of Music”. And as luck would have it, this is exactly where I found myself earlier this week, sitting in the third row of the mezz in the State Theatre for the annual “Sing-a-long Sound of Music”. Part of the world famous Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, the Sing-a-long Sound of Music is an event for die-hard “Sound of Music” fans. It is an event that makes me feel that I am not alone in this world. There are countless others, of all ages and backgrounds, who like me, have watched “The Sound of Music” so many times that every word, lyric, tune, inflection, and dramatic pause has been committed to memory and stored in the heart, ready to burst open on a night such as this. 

The night commences with a fashion parade. The small children go up first, dressed in party dresses or traditional Austrian costumes, they are the Von Trapp children (or as one poor child proudly announced, the Van Trapp children... The fabulous female host laughed and said she must have lived next door to the Von Trapp’s). The children are followed by a motley conglomerate of nun’s. Traditional nuns in black and white habits with large crosses around their necks, naughty nun’s with red stockings beneath their habits, nuns with short skirts and a business man who has miraculously transformed his suit jacket into a rather convincing habit. The third group are people are dressed in traditional leiderhosen, girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, brown paper bags tied up with string, Maria’s, baronesses, Captain’s, an older gentleman fresh off the Mardi Gras float last Saturday in the most stunning cupcake wedding dress, and even a giant raindrop clutching a bunch of roses. 

The screening begins. The host talks us through the gorgeous opening shots of Austria. The field appears, and Maria is a tiny speck in the distance. The audience, with great excitement, shouts, “She’s coming! She’s coming!” Maria spins into view and the audience goes wild. The lyrics appear at the bottom of the screen (not that this audience needs help with lyrics), and along with Julie Andrews, we sing to the rafters, “The hills are alive!” We each have a showbag, containing 5 “magic moment” items. For magic moment number one we have two picture cards with an image on each side of the card - a question mark, a picture of Maria, the word “flibbertigibbet”, and a will of a wisp which looks like a  “manic sperm.” When the nun’s sing “How do you solve a problem like Maria”, we flash the appropriate cards towards the screen. Magic moment number two is represented by a square piece of floral fabric. After “My Favourite Things,” (throughout which every time the line “girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes” is repeated, the people dressed as such jump up and cheer), Maria and the Captain have an argument regarding new material for play clothes for the children. The Captain leaves and Maria angrily flops into an armchair by the window. We, the audience, shout “BEHIND YOU!” and wave our curtain strips  to encourage Maria to realise the curtains behind her will make PERFECT play clothes for 7 children, and when she does, oh the ripples of joy throughout the crowd! 


Magic moment number three is an invitation to the Captain’s Ball. When Gretel skips out of the parlour room, following the decision to have a party in honour of the Baroness, announcing “it will be my first party Father!”, we madly flap our invitations shouting “To the ball! To the ball!” Magic moment number four is a party popper. Maria and the Captain are in the gazebo. The Captain has told Maria there isn’t going to be a baroness, you can’t marry someone when you’re in love with someone else. The light is shadowy and blurry in the way that only classic love stories on the silver screen can be, the Captain and Maria lean ever closer and closer toward each other, and then, just when you can’t handle the suspense any longer, they kiss! And several hundred people pop their party poppers toward the screen. Fabulous. The final magic moment is when the Von Trapps sing Edelweiss at the Salzburg Music Festival, and with little plastic edelweiss flowers, we all wave the Von Trapps farewell. 

There is honestly no time in my living memory when I haven’t seen “The Sound of Music”.  I have watched it a thousand million times, and still every time I see it, it raises my heart, and lifts my soul. And on this magical night, with twelve hundred of my closest friends, I cheered for Maria, hissed the Baroness, booed the Nazis, fell in love with the Captain, and sighed for Gretel. I sang every note from Do to Ti, sobbed my eyes out during “Climb Every Mountain”, and swooned at the glorious rich sumptuousness of one of the most definitive all singing, all dancing, all technicolour musicals ever made.  And watching it on the big screen, surrounded by people who love it as much as I do, is truly one of my favourite things.