Blessing Blackburn Musical ~ Installment 5

“Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him – for this is his lot.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18)

Guest Blogger ~ Marie Sheahan Brown

Tuesday, 3/27/12
7:30 pm at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

We have entered kairos time.

Of course, I am not actually typing away on my laptop during the world premier opening night performance of The Susan Boyle Musical, I Dreamed A Dream. But the experience is surreal enough that it’s hard to tell chronos from kairos time. They are sharing space at the beautifully renovated Theatre Royal in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Lead actress Elaine C. Smith employs “fairy dust” and finger snaps to move simple scenes, actors, and audience from the present to the memories in Susan Boyle’s early and recent life. What I feel most surreally is the awareness that we audience members who have actively supported Susan since April 11, 2009, are genuinely a part of the story unfolding on stage.

Many of the very same people are with Susan in both times and places at once. We were there in 2009. We are on stage or operating behind the scenes. We are in the plush maroon seats laughing, crying, cheering, fishing Kleenex out of our pockets.

We are here on opening night – either in person or eagerly awaiting reports launched into cyberspace.

We are here on opening night – and, as Elaine C. Smith dons a beautiful long red coat symbolizing “Susan now,” many of us wear red crocheted roses of support.

We are here on opening night – and at least one of us sits in the Happy Valley with his father when Susan “stops the room” nearly 30 years ago with her first-ever public karaoke performance.

We are here on opening night – and the April 11, 2009, audition fills our and millions of other computer screens as, one after another, we discover and send this must-see YouTube link to our friends and family.

We are here on opening night – and we find and post links to television news reports projected on the creative TV-screen stage backdrop.

We are here on opening night – and, horrified by the unconscionable conduct of some media, we arise in verbal protest in the comment sections of the online bully-press.

We are here on opening night – and we huddle around our computer monitors watching the heartbreaking finals of Britain’s Got Talent.

We are here on opening night – and we are on stage as the helpful souls during Susan’s dark few days at The Priory who tell her how much she means to us, how she has unwittingly soothed our own sorrows and rekindled the God-given passions of our lives.

We are here on opening night – and we are among the millions who treasure the albums featuring some of the musical’s songs.

We are here on opening night – and we are the awaiting adoring crowd at Rockefeller Plaza on that crucial crisp dark morning when, according to the play, Susan chooses to embrace the startling new life that has come upon her.

We are here on opening night – and the real Susan Boyle takes the stage to greet the real people who are part of her story.

“Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work – this is a gift of God.” (Ecclesiastes 5:19)

Blessing Blackburn Musical ~ Installment 2

“I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God.” (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13)

Guest Blogger ~ Marie Sheahan Brown

Monday, 3/26/12
12:00 noon on the train to Newcastle

“Notice serendipity and report it” is one practice of living in kairos time.

Serendipity illuminates yet another gift Susan brings.

My lovely seatmates on the packed B747 flying from SFO to LHR were an attractive young woman and her mother. I normally don’t socialize on airplanes, but something about their casual, practical attire; their fitness; their ease with the crowded conditions, reminded me of Oregonian relatives and friends. They looked friendly and, after stowing my backpack under the seat at my feet, I said, “Okay, now, here we go.” And the conversation began.

Jessica, a fifth-year student at the University of Oregon in Eugene, is majoring in theater arts with emphasis on costume design. Janet, a former actress, is a theater professor in Eugene who teaches Shakespeare to at-risk and to gifted students in grades 6 through 12.

The London-bound duo obviously enjoys each other’s company. Jessica will live with a host family for the next three months and will participate in a special course offered by a knowledgeable University of Oregon professor. The group will visit historic and modern Meccas of theater. Janet will settle her daughter in at her temporary home then visit Shakespearean sites for the next few weeks. For each, this theatrical pilgrimage is a dream come true.

All of this I learned in the first 30 seconds.

So, I took a deep breath and revealed, “I am joining nearly 100 friends from 15 countries and 20 American states who are going to Newcastle for opening night of the musical, I Dreamed A Dream, about the life of Susan Boyle.”

I reported on the positive tweets beginning to pour in after the first preview, just hours earlier in real time.

The pair – who of course knew of Susan and actually knew something of her life – was delighted that a new live theater production was attracting a worldwide audience. “We would like to think that theater is not a dying breed,” said Janet.

Between catnaps during our 10-hour flight, Janet, Jessica and I discussed their passion for live theater.

Janet reported that many of her students have difficulties in the regular public schools and so are transferred to alternative schools where Janet teaches. “Learning Shakespeare is like learning a second language,” she said. “It engages their brain synapses in new ways, and their overall test scores improve.”

She also told of one boy who found it painfully difficult to speak up in class. However, playing roles of Shakespearean characters, he could speak fluently and comfortably, using different accents, because the persona – not himself – was on display. That improved his general self-confidence.

I posited that, perhaps, the camaraderie that develops among cast and crew producing a play could serve as a healthy alternative to young people who might be drawn to the pseudo-community offered by gangs. Janet affirmed this, citing experience with some of her students.

Jessica’s passion for theater costume design began as a young child, when she would draw elaborate costumes for fun. She, herself, was born one month prematurely, before a certain aspect of vision could develop. Fortunately, her parents sought and found vision specialists that trained the parents to work with Jessica to overcome this barrier. She speaks enthusiastically of her mother’s ability to engage young people from all walks of life in the theatrical classics.

I felt uplifted by these two women, who found their passions – their “who I was born to be” – early in life and are following them for the benefit of other people. Quoting a Susafan Facebook friend who wrote to me recently, “I just love goodness!!!!”

This airplane-seat education gave me even greater appreciation for Elaine C. Smith and the other professionals who have invested their talent and energy into a classic art form. Now, they have risked directing this creativity to a brand new musical about the early life and budding career of one of the most inspiring women of our time.

Indeed, I would like to think that I Dreamed A Dream will demonstrate that good theater, far from being “a dying breed,” can serve the world in unexpected beneficent ways.

“I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere Him.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14)