An "I'll Always Remember This" Moment

Who says moving, history making entertainment is only for the rich?

It's been a crazy month, with travel and some amazing performances, hence my long hiatus from blogging.  But this last Saturday was an "I'll Always Remember This" moment.

I performed at Symphony Space in Wall to Wall Broadway with the likes of Donna Murphy, Rebecca Luker, Martha Plympton, Liz Calloway, , Michael Cerveris, Terrence Mann, Raul Esparza, Julie Wilson, and many more, all with an orchestra conduced by Paul Gemignani.  

Now I perform regularly at Symphony Space with the Thalia Follies, a Political Satire group, so I'd heard of Isaiah Sheffer's Wall to Wall concerts (Wall to Wall Sondheim, Wall to Wall Stravinsky, Wall to Wall Mozart, etc.).  They last 12 hours and are completely FREE to the public and feature educational interviews as well as dozens of amazing performers.   But when Isaiah asked me to sing the duet, "If I Loved You" from Carousel with Gregg Edelman to end the first half of the orchestra section in the evening and then to sing Cunegonde in "Make Your Garden Grow" from Candide with Alex Gemignani as Candide, I couldn't have been more honored.

What is wonderful about this free concert is that you can come and go as your schedule (and saturation point) allows and the program is varied, with obscure works as well as favorites, old and new.  Even Sheldon Harnick (who signed my sheet music of "Tell Me I Look Nice"!) wrote and PERFORMED a rap with Lin-Manuel Miranda (composer of "In the Heights")!   

Pictured above are Kathryn Markey & Mary Brienza (aka The Chalks!) who performed some obscure but hilarious comic songs with me earlier in the evening  so while I  should have been posting about this last week so that everyone could experience this wonderful New York bargain, I was literally downloading and memorizing three songs I'd never heard before in a matter of days. It's also worth mentioning that Kathryn and I both found these dresses at The Salvation Army and my shoes were Payless (This season!  Go!  Now!).  I wore a dress and shoes in the earlier segment (I was there for eleven hours.  Whew!) that I had bought last week with my friend Chad in a resale shop in Seattle (Crossroads in Capitol Hill.  Very cool!).  Always the Renaissance Girls...

When you hear about a Wall to Wall Symphony Space concert again, go!  You just might have an "I'll Always Remember This" moment.