OK – so I should be used to it by now. I’ve been — as I often say, a walking demographic Baby Boomer as long as I can remember. But on this morning after the re-opening of THE FANTASTICKS* – which ran off-Broadway for 42 years, I read "adults 55+ adapting online." Of course they are — sooner or later whatever I’m doing becomes part of a generational wave.
Don’t worry – there IS a connection.
I saw THE FANTASTICKS with my college room mate and her mother during fall vacation of my freshman year. That was 1964 – four years after it opened. At the end, all of 18, I was crying so hard that the woman sitting next to me – probably 25 or s0 – handed me the rose her date must have given her at dinner. I kept it on the wall of my room for years.
El Gallo — the irresistible seducer and originator of the "hurt’ without which "the heart is hollow" — was first played by Jerry Orbach. [hear him sing Try to Remember here.] I met him when I was close to 50 – and told him I’d seen the show when I was 18. His face just changed – not a trace of Lennie Briscoe but a combination of affection, nostalgia and pleasure. We spoke a bit more and then I apologized for approaching him at a reception and acting like a groupie. He replied "You saw the Fantasticks when you were EIGHTEEN! That wasn’t an interruption that was a pleasure." So I guess the story had the same impact on the cast that it had on girls like me. "Please God please," the young girl ("the girl") cries out – "don’t let me be NORMAL!" That was me alright. Please let me be singular – not like the others!
Well it hasn’t turned out that way. Whatever I come to, my peers hit within a year or so. It made me a great talk show producer – never a visionary too far ahead to be relevant, just enough ahead to know what story to do next. I guess that’s why I accommodated to my role as close enough to normal but with an edge — rather than the downtown woman I had once wished to be.
I knew about this headlong Boomer journey online because my older son, in the industry, had read a similar study. Last weekend I told him that I seemed to be getting a lot more online consulting work and his theory was that companies need boomer consultants more because more "civilian" boomers are finally hitting the web. I always knew we would; the tribe that is the baby boom loves to be connected. The web was a perfect home for us. Just like THE FANTASTICKS.
*OK Feminist friends, there’s an element of sexism in this original fairy tale (they’ve rewritten the only really troubling song) but I have chosen to ignore it. It just can’t trump the wonder and poetry.
What a great way to catch up on your life. Sounds like you’re still doing lots of interesting things! If you’re ever in Boston – give me a call. My daughter Aine’s entering kindergarten in a couple of weeks! I highly recommend motherhood.
This is a great analogy – so glad to have found your new blog.
I saw the Fantasticks in 8th grade and remember how moved I was by it as well. And then we performed it. But because I can’t sing to save my life, I had some crappy walk-on role. I still get “soon it’s gonna rain” stuck in my head from time to time.
Wonderful to hear from you! I don’t think you can imagine how happy it makes me to see you a part of what I still consider “my” TODAY SHOW. Since, as you know, I hold you in high regard, it’s very moving to be “sharing” it.
I left almost 20 years ago but will always be so proud of my 9 years there.
And The Fantasticks? Well. We got married in September almost 45 years ago. Can you guess one reason why?
OH thanks for noticing my “new” blog. Moving from Typepad to WordPress was liberating. Don’t know what took so long but I’m back to writing often – or more than a couple times a month…. Great to have a platform again. ALSO your girls look just great.