The moments of happiness

I bought concert tickets recently. It's a concert I have been to several times before (I think this will be 5th time, actually). I was thinking the seats were pretty good--they're on the floor--but I wanted to compare them to previous years to have an idea. And because I'm such a friggin' packrat, I have most of my tickets from previous years.

I cracked open my ticket box and got totally lost in it for a while. I have saved damn near every ticket from every show I have been to (concerts, plays/musicals, movies, gallery showings, ...) for the last 20 years. Most people come home, throw their loose change into a can to save towards the next vacation. Me? I save ticket stubs. I have a small lunch-box sized box packed full with all of my old ticket stubs.

The one that I was looking for, but no longer have, is the stub from the first Broadway-style show that I ever saw. It was CATS, at the Civic Auditorium in Sacramento. I remember I went and saw it with my parents, and was totally lost in the show. I also remember the woman's voice who played Grizabella. As she sang "Memory," I remember feeling the hair on the back of my neck absolutely stand on end. When the music swelled to a crescendo, her voice soared. It filled the auditorium. I have never witnessed another actor singing that quite as powerfully. I am sad that I no longer have the stub.

The only other time that I can think of that rivals that experience was when I saw WICKED on Broadway, with Miss Idina (I know, I know, I'm back to WICKED again). But her singing "Defying Gravity" was stunning. A friend of mine who saw it before I did said her voice could melt mens hearts. He was right. Powerful. Stunning.

I am looking forward to this concert. It's several months away, and one of the principal singers no longer performs with this group. The replacement is good, but not as good. I remember the first time I heard Guy LeMonnier's voice singing "An Angel Came Down," I was literally, and unexpectedly, moved to tears. It was pure. It was resonant. It was one of the most powerful, beautiful, voices I have ever heard. Wherever he is now, whatever he is doing I wish Guy well and will miss him this November.