Saturday, February 20, 2010

A Boy Like That..Will Kill Your Brother!!!

So happy!! Finally went to see West Side Story with a couple of my best friends today at the Palace Theater in NYC! The first time I saw West Side Story I was a child watching the movie on television starring Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno, with my family. I was deeply moved. If I remember correctly, it was the first movie that made me cry. I loved it all: the singing, the dancing, the music...the whole musical was just magical! Leonard Bernstein, the composer of the musical, was a GENIUS!! I remember the lasting impression made on me in the movie was a song called, "A Boy Like That!" The anger, passion in the song just left me breathless. And if you're a close friend of mine, you know I sing the song all the time, and make believe I am Anita AND Maria at the same time. And as far as musicals go, it is still one of my all time favorite musicals.


As I went to the will-call window to pick up our tickets, the man at the window smiled at me. I smiled back, and as I walked away, I told my friends, "Ooh, he was cute." And he heard me! OMG - I was mortified. But then my friend asked me, "Is he looking at you?" I looked back, and like a dork I blushed, "Oh, my God..he is!!" LOL... As we slowly made our way into the theater each time I looked back, he was still looking, still smiling.

We got to our seats, and I began to badger my friend. "You gotta help me...help me meet him." My friend suggested the obvious: "Why don't you just go up to him and say hello." But I had sort of made this promise to myself that I wouldn't make the first move anymore. The reason? The last 4 boyfriends I've had began because I approached them first. Generally, there is nothing wrong with that, but since these last 4 relationships didn't work out, I figure I should try a different approach - and NOT approach. But for a moment, I behaved like a giddy girl in high school asking a friend to find out if the boy likes me. We went to buy souveniers before the show began, and my friend was gracious enough to get the scoop. He came back smiling, and said, he said you should go over and say hi. Smiling, I approach and introduce myself, and he tells me his name. Then he made a comment like, "I’m always here." Suddenly, something stopped me. After all, he didn't ask me for a number. Nor did he ask where I was from and all the useless trivia questions people ask when interested. So I said good night and walked away. No regrets at all. At all. I did apologize to my friend for putting him in the situation to begin with. LOL

Let's get back to the show. At first I was frustrated that the musical calls for Puerto Ricans, but there weren't any. Or so I thought. As I looked through the Playbill, I saw an Argentinian, a Venezualan, 9 Latinos (who didn't mention their descent) including one who danced for Aventura, and Jennifer Sanchez who quoted in her mini bio, "Para mi Mama. Si se puede!" (For Mom. Yes you can!) and Tanairi Sade Vazquez who calls herself 100% Boricua! Yea! There IS ONE BORICUA!! That makes me happy.

If you have never seen a Broadway musical, you must! Broadway musicals stir up something within my soul that I can't explain. It makes me feel so alive. It gives me the enchantment and wonderment of a child. It makes me laugh, cry and wonder what life is all about. And finally it leaves me with a craving - a craving I have not yet explored enough - to be on Broadway too. What no one knows, well at least those who don't know me personally, is that my BIGGEST wish on this planet, more than doing what I do now, is to be on Broadway. I want to feel the hot spotlight on my skin, I want to see the many nameless faces in the audience and I want to move them, the way I am moved. I want to sing out loud, proudly, and be someone else in someone else's shoes for a few hours...that would be AMAZING!

Well, I'm going to go now...I have to listen to West Side Story Soundtrack while I wear the t-shirt to bed. Go see West Side Story...take your children so we can have more Latinos on stage!!!

1 comment:

  1. I CAN JUST SEE YOU ON BROADWAY!!

    If you are given the opportunity to audition for something in broadway...TAKE IT!! I believe in you...and I know that you will do GREAT!!

    Love yah!!

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