NEVERLAND STAY WITH ME

Long ago and far away in a kingdom by the sea, I was a pirate in the service of Captain James Hook. It was glorious. I had many tattoos, a harpoon, and a sense of magic coursing through my veins. This was in a land called The Western Stage, more of a dimension than anything else. A world where we all could fly, cast spells, and dance between the raindrops. I had gotten lost on my travels, and sent out a distress signal to an old friend. He answered, gave me a position on the Jolly Roger, and my fate was set.

For those who don't speak theatre, or Kelly, that means I once was in the musical Peter Pan at a theatre called the Western Stage after my first attempt at being a starving artist in NYC. It was a show that in many ways set the tone, the style, the theme of my life. We leaned into the story. We gave it our all. We came up with idea after idea. Some worked, some didn't. But we all knew we wanted to do something special. And we all had each other's back. We all trusted each other implicitly and completely. We were all part of it. There were over sixty people in the show, and another twenty or so in the crew, and then there was the orchestra, the front of house, the costume shop, the scene shop, and the administration. And we were a family. We were one. We all lived in Neverland.

This is something to strive for. Always. Sometimes I think we should make congress, the Senate, and the White House do a show together. The world would be much better for it.

Here is a video about that show. It's long. It's magic. It's worth it.