…And Bells on Her Toes

He had one job to do tonight.  One.  I even made it easy for him.  I went to see the Symphony with Michael Burgess tonight (more on that in a bit) and I set up the recorder to ‘tape’ three shows for me, “Flash Forward”, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice”.

I told him, just turn the TV to Channel 18 by 8:00.

“OK”.  He said.  “Put the reminder on the channel”.

I did.

I called him after dinner tonight.  Don’t forget to change the channel.  “OK” he said.

I called him before the concert started at 7:30.  Don’t forget to put the correct channel on for me.  “OK” he said.

I get home from the concert, he comes up stairs looking rather sheepish.  “I think I recorded the hockey game”.

“Pardon?”

“Yeah, Greg called just when it started and I forgot.”

“I gave you one job.”  I said, miffed.  That’s it, no more UFC recordings for him … *sigh*  Seriously honey, one job …

Time to get a PVR… 

——————

Back to my earlier comment.  I had a fabulous night tonight, it was so great to get out.  One of my favourite tenors, Michael Burgess was singing with the Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra.  He did a selection of music, mostly from Andrew Lloyd Webber, and it was fantastic.  The Symphony was amazing, our seats were amazing (thank you Jacqui!) and I even got to meet him after the show and received my very own autographed photo

The first act was awesome, Michael came on after the Symphony played a selection of songs from “West Side Story“.  So good.  I love the score from this musical.  The Symphony also played Gershwin’s “An American in Paris“, which was great too but I’m not familiar with the music.  Some of my favourites also were the selection of Beatles music.  Who knew that music from four guys with guitars and drums would translate so magnificently into a fully orchestral piece?  Awesome.

The best, however, was saved for last when Michael sang from “The Phantom of the Opera”.  His rendition of “Music of the Night” was powerful, his voice filled the theatre – an incredible range of deep tenor and soft falsetto.  His version of Gethsemane from “Jesus Christ Superstar” was inspiring.

But oh. my. god. when he sang “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables, I was in tears – practically from the first note.  I’ve seen Les Miz about ten times, seriously.  It’s what I measure all other musicals against, to me it’s sublime perfection.  I know every word, every note from that play intimately, but I had forgotten how powerful that song was.  The words made me think about my husband “Bring him peace, bring him joy, he is young, he is only a boy”, the prayer a “father” makes to save his dying “son” (althogh Marijus wasn’t Jean Valjean’s son), thinking of all the things my husband is going through – I lost it.  I was sobbing.  Unashamedly.  My friend Elizabeth, who joined me for the evening, knows what I’m like and she was dreading the song for this reason.  Her friend, reduced to a pile of jello.

Tomorrow night’s performance is sold out, which is fantastic for the Symphony (who apparently are homeless by the way – kind of a wandering minstrel they are).  For those of you going to tomorrow’s performance, enjoy, it’s fabulous.  Michael could have probably sold out many more shows if given the opportunity.

I’m thinking of getting more tickets to later performances, they were so wonderful – and local too (Markham and Sheppard).  They have Welsh Tenors coming up and some other amazing guest musicians.  Go see them, you won’t be sorry.  If you want to know more about their upcoming shows, go to www.ontariophil.ca.