The Magic of Musicals, Triggers, & Dreams That Don’t Look Like We Thought They Would

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Triggers are a funny thing.

They can affect you in a good way that leads to growth. And they can also affect you in a way that rips your heart out. And hopefully also leads to growth.

Tonight, my trigger was a musical.

I have always loved music and musical theater. My family didn’t have money when I was growing up, but I remember my friend, Betsy Curtain, taking me to the closest thing resembling musical theater to me at a young age…a live performance called Ice Capades. It doesn’t even come close to the Broadway shows I’ve been privileged enough to see throughout my life, but when I was a tween…that was magic on a stage to me.

I don’t even remember what the show was, but good lord how it made an impression on me. The dazzling display of artistic performances set to beautiful music. I was sold. And I’ve had a love for live performance art ever since.

When I was in college, my boyfriend lived outside of New York City in a small Connecticut town and we went to see The Phantom of the Opera. On Broadway. With Michael Crawford. There is no more breathtaking performance, I’m sure. I know I saw Starlight Express at some point before that…I think with that same boyfriend, but I’m not 100% sure. And you know what? It was not the most critically-acclaimed show, but I didn’t care at the time. Because it was Broadway and I was entranced.

When my ex-husband and I were newly married, we spent a lot of time going to sporting events. At some point, I convinced him to also come to some events that I loved as much as he loved sports, and we bought season tickets to the Denver Center for Performing Arts. We saw Phantom, Beauty & the Beast, Miss Saigon, A Chorus Line, The Lion King, Rent, and Cabaret, among many others.

He fell asleep in Miss Saigon. He really disliked Phantom. But the one that hurt the most was Cabaret.

There is a song in Cabaret called “It Couldn’t Please Me More (The Pineapple Song)” and it made such an impact on me. It was a beautiful song between two people in love and the love they demonstrated when one gives the other the simple gift of a pineapple.