Music

I met you at an open call for casting of a musical review - both of us young, inexperienced, but hard-studying and fiercely intent on becoming successful, well-known and sought-after actors and singers for the legitimate stage. As I remember, we sang our hearts out that day, revealed the very cores of our vulnerable, naive souls; but, at least, with good results. You won the role of a loud-talking, swaggering rogue, and I, the somewhat fair maiden whom the rogue pursues (or woos, if in fact, he knows how).

Anyhow, as the show's run progressed, our vocal skills saved us when our acting floundered, and vice versa. Oh, we had our moments of dramatic mishaps, downfalls, and hilarity. Once, in a state of genuinely earnest haste, the rogue, on his way to seducing the maiden, tripped on the scenery and fell flat on his face, kissing the floor rather than the object of his affections. On another unfortunate occasion, I, as the maiden, was late responding to my cue, and in my haste to make my entrance, caught the heel of my shoe in an off-stage floor grate, losing it, and thus hobbling on stage as I sang a lover's lament, leaving the audience to wonder by whom or what I had been attacked and ravaged behind the scenes. The next night, while doing our peasant's dance, we lost our sense of timing. Twirling at the wrong moment, I caught my ring in your hair, dislodging your long, curly wig and revealing your red spiked punkish cut beneath. Startled, you retaliated (accidentally) in impulsively attempting to redirect my twirl, by smacking me in the forehead with your elbow, thus sending me careening into the broad backside of the village butcher's wife, who in turn fell forward into the crowd of supporting cast. A whole group of them keeled over like a chorus line of dominoes. Another night we embraced and began singing our lovers' duet just as the music for a duelling scene started. We had to quickly ad-lib and parry our way out of that one! Well, all these mishaps and foibles brought us laughs and encouraging applause from the audience, but less than cheerful response from our director and coaches, and needless to say, from the press.

However, by the last night's performance, all involved had perfected their roles, and we ended in unison on a high, clear note with approval from fellow Thespians, critics and audience alike. But, by that time the rogue and the maiden, you and I, were engaged in a real-life romance, and it was time for us, sadly, to go our separate ways. You were flying off to California to start work on a gangster style film, and I would soon start work on a TV mini-series here in New York.