A star? I feel more like one about to go super nova on your ass.

I did my afternoon concert yesterday. I sang two solos and two duets with one of our house sopranos. When the woman announced who we are, she raved about Saskia, saying that she was in this and that and then mentioned as an aside that I am from the Opera Chorus and that one could hear me as a soloist in Fidelio. She made a nice big pause in her speech for Saskia’s applause. Then, she completely skipped over me like some kind of footnote, not even pausing to allow my many loyal fans to applaud me. Just kidding. She could have at least skipped a beat after mentioning my name to give people a chance to see me as a person and not as a fixture. That was kind of embarrassing.

Anyway, the concert went well. I wish I had been better prepared with some of the stuff, because Saskia (she is German so this stuff is sort of in her blood—German Operetta, that is) had everything memorized and I was standing there for some of it glued to my music. Won’t make that mistake again. She is such a wonderful performer and develops an instant connection with the audience when she sings...a real joy to sing with, needless to say. But, she certainly does raise the bar. After one of her solos where she walks into the audience and flirts with all the men (one of Adele’s arias from Die Fledermaus), the audience clapped and cheered. How nice that my one aria came next. “Tough act to follow” became a living, even if cliché, idiom for me in that moment.

Before I went up, I made a pact to remain concentrated and to pay attention that I was doing at least a minimum of technique that I have learned. I also thought about Chris as this is a love song (“Dein ist mein ganzes Herz”) and I am so in love with him. And, I thought about that discussion that I had recently with Monica, that my job was to present the material as best I could, but that, in the end, the audience would be the ultimate judge of the work. I felt that I sang the aria ok. It could definitely have been better. I was absolutely scared out of my wits, as it has been forever since I had to do anything soloistically to this extent.

The audience loved it. They just clapped and clapped, forcing me to come back and take another bow. I was, quite frankly, very, very surprised. But, even today, I am thinking about that applause. I felt like little Sally Field making her unforgettable social faux pas after she won that Oscar...”You love me! You really love me!” But, mine was more like “You love me. Huh... You love me?”