unfulfilled ambitions
As a child, she was an avid cinephile. She went to the movies at least twice a week. I loved all musicals, westerns, dramas and comedies. I grew up thinking that being a movie projectionist must be the best job in the world. Dad told me to forget it, it was a man’s job!
As a teenager, during the sixties, countless new pop groups and some wonderful solo pop stars were discovered. I traveled miles to see my favorite stars and groups. His world seemed magical to me and I decided that maybe I could become a groupie. Once again Dad put the shock absorbers on it.
As I grew older, my tastes became more sophisticated and I couldn’t get enough of the wonderful shows that the big theaters put on. Some were so popular that I remember having to wait months for a ticket. I looked at them in amazement – that’s when I decided that since I was always good at art (I spent two years at Art College) I lost my vocation, I would really like to be a set designer. By then I was already married and my husband thought she was crazy. Who would take care of the children when I went to work? There were only two small theaters in our district.
My ambitions would have to be put on hold. I continued to visit the theaters, noting all the changes and improvements that were taking place. On a vacation to Las Vegas, we went to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Starlight Express.” The audiovisual effects made it absolutely stunning. We had never seen anything like it in this country, and we planned to see as many shows as we could on our vacation.
Interestingly, I’ve only seen one outside of the pop festival. The noise and the crowds, not to mention the mud, was not my scene, and if it hadn’t been for the audiovisuals, I wouldn’t have recognized my favorite groups; without the visuals, they would have looked like dots on a stage.
Recently, my daughter and I went to see the Queen tribute, “We will rock you.” It was brilliant, very cleverly written by Ben Elton, and the music was great. What I liked most of all was that I realized that we had caught up with Vegas, because the computerized audiovisual effects made the whole show one of the most memorable I had seen in a long time.
Things have certainly advanced, now I realize that my true vocation is in audiovisuals; The only problem is, am I too old at 65?