Five Years Later . . .

Five years ago last week, I was in a production of Godspell at my church in New Jersey. Let me tell you how I know it was a fabulous show: when the lights came up for the curtain call opening night, my husband was the first one on his feet. And he told me later that it was one of the only times he had ever given a performance a standing ovation because he believed it really deserved it. Yeah, it was good.

Yet, when I watch the DVD of our show (which I just did last night, in honor of the five-year anniversary), the flaws are obvious. Some bad dancing, some awkward pacing, some weak harmonies, some poorly delivered lines (including a few by me) . . . heck, we even hit some seriously ugly clunkers on several songs. But it was still a great show. You know why?

Because this cast clicked -- I mean, we connected in a way that I haven't ever really experienced before, which was pretty amazing considering how different we all were. Different in age -- different in background -- different in stage experience and life experience. But there wasn't a diva among the twelve of us, and we genuinely enjoyed each other and looked forward to every minute together. (And interestingly enough, as our director pointed out, we were the only twelve people who auditioned.)

And that director was amazing. Randy took full advantage of our differences and what we each brought to the cast. He let us play, and the show grew organically out of who we were, individually and as a group. The method made me nervous; for the first month or so of rehearsals, I was afraid it was never going to come together. But together it came! Randy taught me so much--I couldn't be doing what I'm doing now without his influence.

There was so much joy in that cast! We SO loved what we were doing that summer and who we were doing it with. I don't know how anyone could have watched the show and not have felt the passion we felt. And that's why it worked, clunkers and all.

I know the phrase "God moment" is a pretty tired one, but it's also quite fitting. Godspell 2006 was a God moment if I've ever known one . . . and I feel so privileged to have been a part of it.