I may have spent more of my life's share in the Midwest than I would have liked, but I am a Jersey boy born to Jersey people. In those very early years that I lived there, my parents would go to see a Broadway show every year for their anniversary. They have a program from Fiddler when they saw it (Bette Midler was in it!). They had one from A Chorus Line (Anne Reinking was in it! My parents never rushed to see something while it was still the original cast, except for Chicago and Promises, Promises, I think).
In the summer of 1981 my parents went to see Evita. Then came home raving about it and my mother declared it to her favorite musical ever and she still holds that opinion to this day.
They immediately bought the cast album and I spent that entire summer listening to the thing every single day. When my birthday rolled around in September and my parents asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I said without hesitation, "I want to go see Evita." They seemed a little taken aback, but since it was literally the only thing I wanted and because they knew I'd been in love with the album they finally agreed.
And so, for my seventh birthday, my mom took me to see a Wednesday matinee of Evita. I think it was more that my Mom was fielding to see it than it was to indulge the burgeoning little gay boy in me they were trying so hard to steer straight, but I was happy either way, because I wanted to see that show something crazy!
At first I was going to have go to school for a half day, but the day before my mom told me that I didn't have to go to school at all. We got up that morning and took the bus into the city. Before the show we had lunch at Burger King near the theatre. We got the show and my bought me a souvenir program. I pored over it, as it was full of pictures of what until then I'd only imagined in my head while listening to the album.
As my mom it, a think a few people gave us the side-eye, because I was so young and Evita was so over my head. I got that it was about an actress and Argentina, but so much the fascism of the myriad sexual and other adult references that went way over my head. But it was the first truly transcendent experience of my then very short life.
To this day I try to make sure to take her to any production of it we find anywhere. Once, when I was living in Chicago, I took her to see an incredible production with a tiny cast in a tiny cafe in Rogers Park. She pretty much loves every stage incarnation of the show, but the movie, not so much.
To this day we still go, and because she loves free stuff more than anything and her company often gives away tickets to theatre here, both community and professional, we go to an interesting array of shows these days. In the past year we've seen a professional regional production of Ain't Misbehavin, Jennifer Holliday doing Dreamgirls at the Muny, and production of Annie by the Variety Club, which not only had Julie Pikarski (Sue Ann from season one of The Facts of Life!), but also like a hundred children, many with some severe physical and/or mental disabilities, and it was on of the most uplifting nights of theatre we spent in our lives. I wanted to so badly to win that trip to LA to see Follies last year, because my mom has only seen one production of it (one I was in a few years back), but anyone who knows me at all knows how I love that show (even in a less than perfect production). Like her taking me to Evita, that one would have been as much for me as it was for her. We didn't win (and I don't think it would ever be a favorite of hers anyway, as her tastes run a lot less esoteric than mine), but it's something nice that we still do together. I'm grateful to both my parents for helping to cultivate a love for theatre in me, and I'm always on the lookout for the nearest production of Evita.
Updated On: 5/13/13 at 11:46 PM
