Inspiring a Friend

One of my friends went to see Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail at the Met earlier this week. After the performance she had to go back in for something she left at her seat. When she tried to leave again, the doors from the house to the lobby were locked, so the ushers directed her to go back stage and out the good old stage door.


So out she went, and who was standing there but tenor Matthew Polenzani. He was surrounded, she said, by, "a bunch of old ladies..." Hmm sound familiar? So she said she remembered what I told her about meeting the singers. Instead of being all gushy and star-struck, she introduced herself, told him that she teaches at Westminster and knows people he's studied with and they had a nice chat, including a "Say hello to so-and-so for me."

She was all shocked: "He's just a regular person." Well duh, we all are. If you treat someone like a "regular person" they will respond in kind.

Then, of course, we talked about what a wonderful voice he has, and I "reminisced" about New Years Eve, when I listened to him sing Romeo while I held a very feverish child on my lap. Ah those were the days. Wait that was like, 5 months ago...