Pikes Peak Center for the
Performing Arts, May 5, 2012
“Not that row,” Jasmine whispers. She and Mindy are walking down the dark tan
carpet of the right side aisle of the main ground floor auditorium. “That guy’s wearing a cowboy hat.”
“You think he’ll take it off before the show begins?”
“I hope so. We’re
always told to silence our phones. Do
they tells us to remove our hats too?”
“They should. He’s
too far back for us anyway. Tony said we
should sit at the right front.”
“Too bad we can’t sit up there!” Jasmine, wide-eyed, points up to the half
moon shaped balconies in rich red maple.
“That would be fun, and a little more comfortably further
back. I don’t want to be too close. Fifth row?”
Jasmine nods, and the friends find open seats; they’re cushioned,
spacious, with generous leg room and the complement the carpet in dark tan, while
the red maple wood seat backs complement the balconies. As Mindy sits, she takes a deep breath.
“Nervous?”
Mindy nods. “I
feel like I do when I am on stage, not in the audience like tonight. I’m even feeling the Opening Night
butterflies.”
“Breathe,
Mindy, and enjoy watching Tony in South Pacific,” Jasmine coaches. Have
you seen him since he sang to you
on your birthday?”
“Twice.”
“Really? Colorado
Springs is a small world. Twice?”
“I was bold,” Mindy blushes. “I asked Kristina to join me for lunch at Crave
Real Burgers, hoping he’d be there.”
“And?”
“He was. He looked
at the hostess and nudged his head over to one of his tables. When he arrived with our waters, he asked,
‘How are Mindy and her friend doing today?’”
“He remembered your name.
Good sign.”
“On our way out, he rubbed against my arm and whispered
into my ear, ‘Are you coming to’ then he pulled back and sang, ‘some
enchanted evening’?” Mindy leans in
to Jasmine. “He has a voice. Could that be his part?”
“You don’t know? Let’s
see.” Jasmine pulls out her program to
the Cast list, grins, and passes it to Mindy, while pointing to the top line:
“Emile: Tony Bandara.”
“Damn, are we reading that right?”
“I think so,” Jasmine chuckles. “When was the next time you saw him?”
“Last week. By
fluke.”
“By synchronicity.”
“Synchronicity?”
“Divine coincidence.
You were supposed to see him.”
“Divine coincidence?
We ran into each other at the gas station.” Mindy chuckles. “Could that be divine?”
“Why not?!” The
two friends laugh.
“While we
were both pumping gas, he asked if I’ve eaten any food as ‘delicious’ as the
food he serves, and he lingered on the word, ‘delicious.’ I played along, imitated his linger on
‘delicious,’ and asked how it could be possible to have eaten food as ‘delicious’
as his.”
“Bold again.”
“Yeah, and it seems to be paying off. That’s when he said
we should sit on the front right.”
The lights
dim, and the trumpets of the orchestra shout the audience into attention. The trumpets are joined with cymbals, then trombones,
and then the bold percussion of timpani joins the trumpets, cymbals, and
trombones to open the overture in power.
A chorus of violins emerge; they slow; they dim; cellos are added;
flutes come in; then the violins break forth again to lead the full orchestra
to into the show’s classic, “Some Enchanted Evening.”
*
* * * *
Costuming for South Pacific, set during World War
II, is simple, with most of the male characters in Navy costumes. Those playing the Pacific Islanders wear more
interesting costumes, including grass skirts, in the bright colors of yellow,
purple, red, and bright green. Bloody
Mary’s attire is the most colorful, with a purple and yellow blouse, a green and
orange skirt, and a beaded necklace of red, blue, yellow, green, and purple
beads. Her hair is pulled up in a bun
and wrapped in an equally colorful scarf, accentuated in purple, yellow, and
red. On anyone else, the attire would
clash, but on Bloody Mary, it’s just right.
She wears her colors confidently, and she shines.
Lead character, Emile, an officer, played by Tony, is
dressed quite the opposite, in basic khaki pants and a white, button down,
short sleeved shirt. Nellie, the show’s
heroine, a naval nurse, is wearing a straight navy skirt that comes down about
half way between her knees and her ankles, and a V-neck white blouse tucked in.
In the third scene, at an evening dance party at the
local pub, Emile meets Nellie and asks her to dance. They dance a brisk and brilliant Charleston, dancing
like they’ve been partners for years; they laugh; they dance slow and close;
they meet one another’s eyes, and they fall in love. Rogers and Hammerstein style. Just like that. In one enchanted evening.
Jasmine thinks back to the time when she fell for her
husband Tim. They were both summer camp
counselors, and Jasmine recalls doubting herself. Could she be up to the task? I can do this, I can do this. I can do
this, she kept telling herself. She
must have been muttering it aloud too.
When she sat down for orientation at the campfire, Tim came up, pointed
to the spot next to her and asked if it was free. She nodded; he leaned over and whispered,
‘You can do this.’ Jasmine blushed. ‘It’s OK,’ he said, and asked if it was her
first summer. She nodded and he said it
was his second. He introduced himself
and then said, ‘The counselors have almost as much fun as the kids – and we get
paid.’ He grinned wide. Jasmine was taken.
Her memory is interrupted when Tony’s booming voice
bellows out his famous lyric, “Some enchanted evening, when you find
your true love.” He’s at center
stage singing to Nellie, then gaits toward the audience’s right, stands in
front of Mindy and sings to her, “Once you’ve found her, never let
her go.”
Jasmine looks
over to her blushing friend, chuckles, and passes Mindy the program. “Here, put this in front of your face.”
*
* * * *
Emile and Nellie are sitting at a small, circular, wooden
patio table, and the backdrop set shows the Pacific in the background with the
sun setting. Two Pacific Island
children, a boy and a girl, about seven and ten, bring out drinks on a round
tray, carrying the tray first to Nellie, then to Emile, to take their own
drinks. Emile introduces Nellie to the
children as his own, the children of his wife who has passed on, and then the
children depart.
With a ghost
white face, Nellie pulls away from Emile.
He pulls her back and tells her he loves her. “I love you too, I really do!” she cries. “Please let me go!” she cries out as she breaks
away and runs off stage.
Emile is left
sitting at the table alone. Jasmine’s
heart falls as she feels his heartbreak, and the audience is left in suspense
with their hero, as the curtain closes for Intermission.
*
* * * *
“How could she leave like that?” Mindy asks, astonished.
“’You’ve got to be carefully taught,’” Jasmine
tries to sing.
“You mean, ‘You’ve got to be carefully taught’?”
Mindy sings, then chuckles.
“You are the singer between us, Mindy! What a song. Can you sing more of it?”
Mindy begins the chorus from the start:
"You've got to be taught
to hate
and fear
You've got to be taught
From year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be taught
to be afraid
of people
whose eyes are oddly made
and people whose skin is a different shade
You've got to be carefully taught."
Jasmine shudders. The two friends pause in silence.
Turning
reflective, Jasmine whispers to Mindy, “Though it wasn’t about racism, my
family seemed to think we had to be ‘carefully taught.’ Did you know my family mocked me for ‘thinking at
odds’?”
“You’ve mentioned this before. What did they mean by that?”
“I guess that my mind raced passed the Church. I was that troublesome middle child, who kept
‘thinking at odds.’ I was mocked for it
since 5th grade, until I shut up, forcing myself to ‘think at evens.’”
“When did you do that?”
“By high school. I
think it happened slowly. Without realizing
it, before I knew it, I was giving away the real me. I let myself be ‘carefully taught,’” Jasmine
sighs. “Part of me died then, and I
didn’t even know it.”
“It’s good you’re coming alive again.”
“It took a
while. I was still trying to ‘think at
evens’ when I found Tim. Did I ever tell
you how he won me over?”
Mindy shakes her head.
With the memory still fresh in her head, Jasmine relays
the day Tim began teaching her archery.
“He drew me close into his own body, and I took a breath. He must have noticed, since he said, ‘It’s
OK, I won’t hurt. Stand right in front
of me and we’ll do this together.’ Tim picked up the bow and told me to turn to
the left. He was standing so close I could
feel his warmth and smell his aftershave.
He lifted my left hand, placed the bow into it and held both the bow and
my left hand. Then, with his right hand,
he picked up the arrow, lifted my right hand, placed the bow into it, and used my
own fingers to draw the arrow into the bow string. I felt it like it was in slow motion. While holding both of my hands and most of my
right arm, Tim said, ‘Now simply observe how this feels as we aim for the
target.’”
Jasmine chuckles.
I remember thinking, “I observe
very well how this feels!”
Mindy smiles.
“Then he said, ‘Now observe how it
feels to release the arrow.’ The arrow
flew strong, perfectly straight, and into the center. ‘You just shot a bulls-eye!’ I cried out. ‘We
just shot a bulls-eye,’ he replied, then said, ‘We make a great team!’ I looked into his eyes and smiled big. Tim shook
my hand, said, ‘Well done, my friend,’ and smiled back.”
“Cool story, Jazzie.
Does Tim get credit for your great tennis aim?”
“He should, yes. Too
bad he won’t pick up the sport. He says
it messes with his baseball game and he has enough sports with archery,
baseball, and skiing.”
“How about that spark that drew you in? Do you still have it with him?”
“We don’t hit the target as much these days. He thinks like a good archer, trying to shoot
a bulls-eye with his beliefs. Mine are
so complicated that I can’t get my thinking arrows to even hit a target, let
alone a bulls-eye. He mostly follows the Church. Thankfully, not as much as Mom and Dad. Tim’s not closed. He’s just not open.”
“What do you mean?
He’s not ‘closed,’ but he’s also not ‘open.’ What is he then?”
“He’s not closed to new ideas; he just doesn’t come up
with any himself. He mostly accepts
whatever he was raised to believe and only challenges whatever he’s challenged
on. At least when he is, he’s willing to
re-consider.”
“You’re
starting to challenge everything, though.
What made you start doing that again?”
“Davie. He thinks
like me, the real me. He goes against a
lot of what he was raised with. Not
everything. He became a youth
pastor. But many of his beliefs are
unique in his family, and he stays confident in them. He’s not defensive when people disagree with
him, like I am. He doesn’t try to force
himself to think at evens.”
The lights dim; the orchestra begins to play; the two
friends quiet themselves.
*
* * * *
Just after Nellie ”washes that man right out of her
hair,” Emile finds her walking alone
along the beach. “It was you, Nellie,
that I’ve been waiting for,” he says, declaring his love and then asks her to
marry him. Nellie breaks into song:
“Born
on the opposite sides of the sea
We
are as different as people can be
It’s
true
And
yet you want to marry me”
Emile
sings, “I do.”
Nellie solos
again,
“I’ve
known you for a few short weeks and yet
Somehow
you’ve made my heart forget
All
other men I have ever met
Who
can explain it?
Who
can tell you why?
Fools
give you reasons
Wise
men never try”
The solo shifts to Emile singing, “One enchanted
evening.”
Once he departs,
Nellie sings her brave choice to let herself be mocked, because she “is in
love with a wonderful man.”
*
* * * *
The audience finds the show a hit and stands in ovation. Mindy clasps her hands together. “I’m glowing.”
“Yeah, you’re red too,” Jasmine teases.
“Uh oh. I’d better
change that before we congratulate the performers.”
“Breathe, Mindy, breathe.”
“Ok, I’m breathing.
Time to get my mind back on the show.”
Trying to help, Jasmine says, “In perfect theater, the
heroine is redeemed.”
“She is. We watched Tony on Opening Night, and we
watched Nellie open her mind.”
Jasmine smiles.
“Love can do that.”
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2021 by karina. All rights reserved. Please
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