Forty Years Ago, This Halloween Night......................................................

                                                    It is hard to believe how time has best, nor this all happened to me, but it did.

                                                    I had just started working at the library, a month ago. I was also in graduate school, getting my Master's at NYU.  I first heard about "Merrily We Roll Along," while working in the school's bookstore, as one of my coworkers was auditioning for it.  Then she was cast, and all of us were so excited for her.  And for all those who had been cast.  A Prince-Sondheim show, a Broadway debut in one's teens or twenties, it could have happened to so many of us (if only I had auditioned!) and I expected their lives were made.  At the very least, as an already established Theater Queen, and a Sondheim devotee, I was so psyched.  I mean, this was going to be THE show of the season, right?  It was going to win TONY Awards for everyone,  right??????????????????

                                                       That is what I thought.  But, then, at work, and school, I kept hearing these adverse comments.  "Oh, it's like 'COMPANY'," one would say.  Or, "I hear people are walking out on it."  This last began making the papers, and I was crushed.  I walked  to the Alvin Theatre, where it was playing and stood outside one day, and there was a photo with my coworker in the show.  "My God!" I thought.  She had arrived.

                                                         But those comments.  I had to see this right away, before it slipped away, as I feared.  Now, this was 1981, and Halloween was on a Saturday, then.  I  was working that day, till 6, and I decided, with the parade and festivities, landing a ticket would not be difficult.  And so, I scored a ticket for that night's performance of 'Merrily.'  Behind me, was a gentleman also seeking a ticket, and we began chatting.  His name was David Semonin.  Thus began a friendship that lasted for 29 years, until, sadly, he passed.

                                                  As for 'Merrily,' the overture lifted me  out of my seat, the show, especially the performers and score, clicked with me, and I was a 'Merrily' fan.  I still say the main problem with the show was it had no real visual concept, which shocked me, considering it was being staged by Harold Prince.  But that cast--let me tell you, I have seen and heard many renderings  of the show, but none have sung it as well as the Original Cast!  They will always be the Gold Standard.

                                                    After the reviews came out, where I thought many of the critics either did not get the show,  or took it  out on the youth of the cast, I knew I had to see it one  more time, and fast.  So, about two weeks later, I went, right before it closed, and was as captivated as ever.

                                                        At this time, I was at  the same  point  as the cast--starting out.  I was 26, and just beginning my path in New York.  I never expected it would include meeting many of the 'Merrily' cast, seeing Ann Morrison in concert, or Lonny Price's documentary film.  Lonny, by the way, was in another flop favorite of mine--"RAGS."  I wish something would be done with that.  As I look  back  on these forty years, are there regrets?  Oh, yes.  But I also realized that, had  I strayed from  the path I was on, it may not have led me to the greatest thing of all--my beloved, David, (Spegal) whose presence I thank God for every day, and enlivens me each and every one.

                                                         All because of a chance Halloween  four decades ago.  So, Happy Halloween  to all  you original "Merrily'-ers.  You were the turning point in my life I didn't recognize, but now do.

                                                           As the shows says, "dreams don't die."  Rather, they mutate into something you never thought you wanted or would get.   The best often turns out to be different from  what we expect.