It's enough to make a grown man cry

Marching music has a few standard descriptors used for the uninitiated (or unconverted!), one being "Broadway on a Football Field." Last night we again scurried up to NJ - four of us on this trip - to snag a train into The City that Never Sleeps to see Phantom of the Opera at its home for 20+ years, the Majestic Theater on Broadway. (No football fields in sight, unless you count my glimpse of the Meadowlands in the distance!)

Phantom has been featured many times on a football field, from Santa Clara Vanguard in 1988 to Severna Park HS in 2008 (see photo far upper right). But occasionally we band geeks need to go back to the source of the inspiration. And I was, well, inspired!

First, Howard McGillin, the Phantom ... ohhhh, my. What -- a -- voice. He made this grown man cry. (Our group had a little connection to the cast, as the current Christine went to school with one of our directors.)

Second, when constrained by an 9 to 11 minute time limit in a show, some music gets left on the design room floor. We band geeks forget that other music is supercool ... I appreciated again Notes/Prima Donna, and on the train home wondered how that sound and music (especially with the 6/8 feel) could be conveyed on the football field.

Third, while shows I've first seen or music I've first heard on the football field (far too many to list) have sent me to the original, there is a reason to return from the familiar to see and hear the original compositions as they were meant to be performed. The visual effects were dynamic! We forget that while our stage is, in essence, a 110 x 55 yard canvas, the limitations of the theater require a lot of creativity as well.

But, really, what struck me was a question asked of a few of the cast members our group was fortunate enough to have some Q&A time with after the show (arranged via our cast connection and a contribution to Broadway Cares). Some of the cast have been in the show almost as long as the kids have been alive, you see; and even those who haven't are still performing the show night after night after night. It was asked, "How do you keep it fresh, night after night, year after year?"

These weren't the exact words, but this is what I remember: "Sometimes it is like a job, and you wake up and you think, I really don't want to do this again tonight. But then you remember that someone in the audience has never seen this before, and someone else may have seen it 12 times. You have to give them what they came for, what they are paying for - a performance, from you. They are giving you something, and you give back. It's all about the performance."

Last fall I told my son, "You guys are hitting the notes, and hitting the sets, but you are not yet performing." I hope, after last night, he "got" what I've been saying. Perform! And one day it will hit you just how utterly cool it is that someone is going to want to actually give you money to perform what you absolutely love to do, day in and day out, for 20 or 30 or 40 years.

Whether it is music or not, when Dads can help sons learn that, well ... it's enough to make a grown man cry.