A friend of mine from when I was younger just googled his name and found my blog. Keep in mind, it was my wish and my dream that I could somehow get back in touch with people from my past because I had a yearning to return to the passion and the fantasy of the stage, but this was a dream that I never thought would or could happen.
I was influenced by the Phantom of the Opera movie which a close friend bought me for my birthday present, where Emmy Rossum played Christine. What excited me was that she sang at the Metropolitan Opera just as I did, only a few years after me. Her mentors were my mentors. She trained with Elena Doria just as I did, just a few years later. My mom once asked me what I wanted to do with all the singing and acting I was doing. I didn't know, I was a child. I was just enjoying the experience doing what I loved to do.
The farthest I got in the acting world after the MET was making it through to the last stage of a movie audition. It was 1990, and I was auditioning for the part of Ralph in Lord of the Flies. There were many stages to the audition, and I remember the number of people I was auditioning against went from hundreds to tens to just a few of us all the way down to me and Balthazar Getty. We looked almost identical at the time. I remember being sure that I had the part because Balthazar couldn't swim and I could, and swimming in the ocean was supposed to be a big part of the role we were auditioning for. Plus, as far as I remember, he was into sports and I remember wondering, "How can anyone who is into sports have any affinity for the arts?"It was the last audition; whoever made the casting decisions wanted us to act impromptu in front of video tapes doing whatever we wanted to do. They were testing our character to see who fit best with the role of Ralph from William Golding's story. I sang "I was a shepherd" from Amahl and the Night Visitors and Balthazar did a comedy strip on sports. They videotaped us, and that was it. Against my mother's better judgment, I sang the sad song about poverty. Perhaps I was showing off my soprano voice and its range. My mom wanted me to sing "Some day I'm gonna murder the bugler" which had a more upbeat tune, but I suppose that I thought I knew better. Well, he got the part and I returned to being a regular kid and I grew up.
That's how it all ended. Now I'm grown up and I'm in my last year of law school. I often thing back to how life could have been versus how it all turned out. I took a look at Balthazar's movie record and I wondered what would have happened if I took that same route. Imagine how different life would be if that movie list consisted of movies I was in. Balthazar's career pretty much started from that movie. I don't regret not being chosen one bit -- it's just fun to think about. Okay, that's not true. I remember really wanting that part and that the phone call we received telling me that he got the part hurt really badly; it was then when my parents gave up on my acting career probably because their relationship at home was deteriorating from all the time they spent bringing me into the city every evening to perform at the MET, or at whatever opera or play I was performing in at the time.
Anyway, all this acting business is a pipe dream; it is a fantasy for me. I considered getting back into acting this summer while I was in China, but logistically, I couldn't figure out how it would ever fit into my law school life. Somehow I've taken the normal route to life and I've lived a pretty regular life.
Adam Plotch, I was Amahl at NYU with a guy named Buddy the same year you were Amahl with Barbara Elliott. I was Amahl with Barbara Elliott the year before that. I am excited that you wrote me, and I have no idea how I can get back in touch with you and possibly become your friend again after all these years. The e-mail box to respond to your message has been open for over an hour now and I don't even know what to write back to you. I'm actually scared to write you because you are a link to my past and to my childhood which I left behind me years ago. I wouldn't even say we were friends; we were actually more competitive than anything -- well, our mothers were at least. We were always up for the same parts and involved with the same people at the same time. I hope you write me again and perhaps we can get together and share past experiences since from looking you up online, our pasts have more in common than just our singing voices.
4 comments:
so, did you reply?
Not yet -- The e-mail screen is still open. I've been formatting and editing the blog entry, fixing a word here and there. I do this for most of my blog entries because the grammar and image placements do not always line up.
Responding to him is an important thing to me and I want to give him a proper response. After all, it must be hashkacha protis (divine providence) that he wrote me after all the things that have been going on. His timing is too perfect for me to think that it was just random coincidence.
It's 4:30am and I'm getting tired, so I'm going to sleep on it and write him as soon as my thoughts are clearer in the morning. If my head were a gas tank, I'm operating now on fumes and I need to refuel before I can think clearly. Good night, and thanks for writing. :)
WOW! That is so amazing! I hope you rekindle some semblance of friendship. That would be amazing. I was in a youth orchestra when I was a child. I miss the competing, I miss the feeling of working together to perform a masterpiece. I think it's great that you've found him again.
It's two days later, and he didn't respond to my e-mail. I think I scared him away.
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