Darlings, Can You Believe It Has Actually Been Thirty Eight Years???????????

                               "A Chorus Line" had its first public performance, a preview, at the Public Theatre, on April 16, 1975.  It opened there, to the critics and public, on May 21, then moved uptown on Broadway, on July 25, 1975, playing at the Shubert Theatre, for the next fifteen years.  Three months to the day, from the Broadway transfer, I got to see what the fuss was all about, accompanied by my father.  It was a memorable day for us both.

                               I had been anxious to see this show since word got out.  At that time, I was so naive, at
age 20, that my parameters of New York City, back then, were confined from Port Authority, from where I
arrived and departed, to Lincoln Center.  Nothing further uptown, or down.  Had I tried to get to the Public
on my own, back then, I might have ended up in Bedford Stuy, Brooklyn.  Today, the very idea makes me laugh.  Not so, back then.

                                The day I went in to get the tickets, my father gave me some money, and told me to get him one, too.  This was interesting, for "A Chorus Line," at that time, was the most expensive ticket on Broadway, a whopping--are you ready, girls????--$15!!!!!!!!!!!  Try going to a movie in Manhattan on that, today!  It is not easy.

                                Our tickets were for the matinee, on Saturday, October 25.  How could I have known it was to be a turning point in both our lives?

                                 It was my first awareness of seeing something I knew instantly was groundbreaking, and would go on to make history.  Especially, when the dancers turned to face the audience, that first time,  and the house went wild!!!!!!!!!

                                  Donna McKechnie upped my dance interest considerably that day by  giving what I still feel to be the greatest performance on the musical stage.  I had never seen anyone dance like this before, and haven't since.  I certainly wanted to be Donna, but knew I could never dance like that...ever!  Even my morning walk is like a dancer workout for me!  But Donna inspires me.  My father, now 98, is probably the only person his age, who knows who Donna McKechnie is, thanks to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    There was a tension in the air, watching Sammy Williams do the Paul monologue.  It wasn't just the brilliance of his performance, or one of the first times (which it was) that homosexuality was being dealt with, on a commercial Broadway stage.  It was the secret I was carrying--that that week, at college, I had had my first sexual experience--and, darlings, it was not with a woman!!!!!!!!  Oh, come on; would you expect it to be????????  But--did it show?  Would my father know???????  I kept wondering about all this through this portion of the show.

                                     And the show solidified my goal to get to New York, where I knew I had to be, to live--what ever life that turned out to be!  And here I am, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It took me several years from
this date, and a great deal of heartbreak, to get here, but I did, and have not regretted it since!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What else could I have done?????????

                                       So, every day, on this date, I remember this event, which changed my life in so many ways, and cemented, for my father and I, an experience we both remember!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                           Now, some of you out there may be wondering--what was it like, to see this show, with its now Legendary Original Cast????????  Well, darlings, I can now give you a taste!  Here are Donna, Kelly, Sammy, and Company doing the opening number on the 1976 TONY Awards Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                            And get out those dancing shoes, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!