I WANNA SING, SING, SING...

I signed up for the Pop Choir during the first leg of the trip (to Los Angeles), where we just split into men and women and sang some pop songs like California Dreamin’, Oh What a Night, Isn’t She Lovely? and Eye of the Tiger (yikes!), and just had the words printed out for us. That was a fun little use of my time, and we had a concert in the main plaza the day before we docked in L.A.

The view from the stage for the Pop Choir

A new choir director came on, and the next segment has been a Harmony Choir. Really fancy arrangements, sheet music with sections for all the different voices, and LOTS of harmony. We are singing songs like When the Saints Come Marching In, The Rose, Climb Every Mountain, You Raise Me Up, Can’t Help Falling in Love, Somewhere Out there, Bali Hai, Music of the Night. This one is work. But I’m having fun hanging with the other altos and keeping my voice low to not throw anyone off-key.

Rehearsal

Our big performance was the other day, in the main theater under the lights to a full house. I had recovered my voice enough to fake it, so I joined in. I had a great time, and some of my friends were there to watch me. I felt like I was back in grammar school with a recital the way everyone was waving to their significant others and taking video while we nervously shifted onstage.

The Big Show

While onstage waiting to start we all started sweating. We looked at each other and asked if we were having a group hot flash, or if the lights were REALLY HOT. We used our sheet music as fans.

* * *

That Business we call "Show". One of the enrichment talks was a “meet the cast” session, where we got to hear the theater cast (singers and dancers) talk about how they got the gig, ask some questions, and then tour backstage.

I hadn’t realized how much I missed creating that magic backstage. There is a universal smell in theater that is hard to describe – a spoonful of dust, a splash of hot lights, a smidge of old costumes, heaps of energy and a dash of nerves.

* * *

Where in the world am I? As we travel south and west, we keep falling back an hour at a time. My sleep schedule has gone completely out the window. My phone still thinks I am in LA, so I am just blindly following the ship’s time. I was 7 hours behind Eastern time, but then we crossed the International Date Line and we skipped a day, so now I think I am about 13 hours ahead of Eastern time. Eventually, I will get back to the East Coast, but I don’t get any days back? I’m so confused – my brain hurts. All I know is that I have to watch the Super Bowl live on a Monday afternoon.

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