the larger whole of a musical

 

The Addams Family

we are each not just one thing,

rather, there are multitudes in who we are, 

in who we can be:

the scientist, the athlete, the mathematician,

the artist, the writer, the whatever,

before us, on the stage today,

a musical jumped out of the nest, and flew,

a show was written, chosen, learned, taught, learned, presented,

characters became who they were,

with their lines delivered well,

with their songs delivered well,

with their movement delivered well,

with their costumes crafted well,

with their make-up applied well,

all to create individuals who lived fully

within a whole that also lived,

the audience pulled into the bubble,

where the story on stage held us all within it,

something new lived, and we lived with it, within it,

how much greater we all were, for a time,

because each member of the cast and crew,

each creator of prop and set,

each piece that together made a whole,

allowed themselves to shine with a light

that, together, blazed bright upon the stage,

each of us but a piece,

and, together, the pieces came into a whole, 

an amazing whole,

we tasted a sweetness with our production of The Addams Family,

that should help each part know its importance

in the whole that lived  upon the stage for a brief time,

and that should teach us how much more we can be as individuals

when we let ourselves express who we are within a larger whole.

by Henry H. Walker

February 8, ‘24