MUSICAL MEMORIES
From 'Annie Get Your Gun', 'Fledermaus', 'South Pacific', 'Showboat', 'The King And I', all those great productions in Stanley Park's Theatre Under The Stars. The magic of a live musical, the orchestra, outside, at night, absolutely terrific. For some of us kids, it was about as 'fer' as you could go, like on a different planet, like Mars.
At Stanley Park's Malkin Bowl, that old wooden stage is still there. Recently walking by there, early in the morning, the atmosphere was so quiet. That shell still stands, and yet you can almost feel all those lyrics and melodies, everywhere. From 'There's No Business Like Show Business' to' Pinafore', after the ball is over, like magic they unfurl.
The experience of the spotlights, the programs and the excitement that so inspired. Remembering Robert Goulet in 'Annie Get Your Gun'. Of course, in the middle of a show, Vancouver’s nine o'clock gun fired. Some squirrels often upstaged the stars, stealing their limelight, on the stage they’d go for a run.
If you ever find a TUTS program of 'The Merry Widow', 'South Pacific', 'The Mikado', 'My Fair Lady', treat it as a treasure. Read its traditional print of yesterday's past. Back to a different time, by different values life and priorities we used to measure.