peter and rita meet the piano man

I'm so glad I decided to give this play another chance!

I'd driven out to Tybee for it earlier in the day, to catch the matinee.

Sadly, I was mistaken about there being an afternoon performance.

My options then were to hang out on Tybee Island for 4 1/2 hours until the evening show or to return to Savannah and count this play as a loss.

No, no, no, there had to be another choice!

And, there was: go home, then return to the Jim Ingham Black Box Theatre at the correct time.

And that time would be...?

7 PM on the 7th, of course.

Well, that "Bruce Almighty" reference certainly decided it!

That's an inside joke for me and The Universe.

(smile!)

As I had to return to town, that gave me the opportunity to get my brake lights fixed.

I had not realized both were out until Saturday, when Barbara told me.

(One has been burnt out since Paul and Cathy's visit here.)

I'd stopped at Advanced Auto Parts (which once was Western Auto) and purchased the bulbs before driving to the beach.

(Turning my headlights - and, thus, taillights - on when braking worked well to alert the driver behind me.)

I'd even brought a trio of screwdrivers - flathead, Phillips, and Frearson - to do the work.

None of those had been the tool needed for the two fasteners on each light assembly.

So when I came back to Savannah, I headed to Firestone on Skidaway.

Sure, the manager told me they could do the job... on Thursday.

Nope!

But he did tell me that Advanced Auto would do so, and for free, too.

So, across the street I bopped with my Saturn.

Jimmie told Jesse to take care of it, and he did, in less than ten minutes!

Then he fled the heat back into the store before I could give him a tip.

Free, for sure!

(smile!)

Back to home, with an early supper before returning to the beach once more.

I had not even known the Tybee Arts Association (TAA) troupe was back in the theatre business until I saw JinHi's post about the play on Friday.

"Prelude To A Kiss" is a fairly modern piece from the late 1980's, with a reference to some "supernatural" event that affected the romance of Peter and Rita.

That was what really grabbed me.

What could that event possibly be???

Impossible things.

Honestly, that's what it was.

It culminated with an old man bestowing a kiss on the bride's lips at her wedding.

By the play's end, we have learned much about the trio of people whose lives are changed so drastically by that simple act.

The story is as much about the elderly's wish for a lost youth as it is about youth's fear of death.

This lyric from Billy Joel's song sprang to mind.

"He says, "Son can you play me a memory?

I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes"

La, la-la, di-di-da
La-la di-di-da da-dum"

 

Wow.

I wonder who else might have thought the same as I?

Possibly Renée DeRossett did, as she is about my age and has a love for all music.

She played the old Dutch man, and did so amazingly well, as she has always been a great talent in everything I've seen in that space.

I doubt that either Travis Coles or Clare Ward - Peter and Rita, respectively - would have thought of "The Piano Man" as a source of understanding.

However, Kim Trammell just may have; she's another TAA veteran actress, this time cast as the mother of the bride.

As I told Renée afterward, it was truly wonderful to have seen her and Kim onstage again!

I didn't have to say "because it meant neither of you have died during the pandemic."

It's been that long since there has been theatre on Tybee.

Wait, I take it back: TAA did "The Savannah Sipping Society" earlier this summer, but I didn't find out about it until this weekend.

So, that doesn't count, does it?

Though, I would have loved seeing that one again...

six years seems so long ago!

However, this was clearly the place I was meant to me tonight.

Right place, right time, too.

i thank You, God.