Life Is But A Stage

It's playing in three established venues right now, Taiwan, London and Broadway and the U.S. Tour version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber production picks just 12 cities a year to perform in. This month the 'Phantom of the Opera', the longest running show on Broadway is in downtown Schenectady, New York at the Proctors Theatre. My friend Ms. Jenn Joy nabbed tickets right before the show soldout and right before I left for Taiwan. I haven't slept for 3 days because of extreme jetlag but I'm awake enough to appreciate how American culture is truly impacting the rest of world. Yesterday I was reading Taiwanese billboards for 'Phantom of the Opera' in downtown Taipei, and today, here I am, enjoying the orchestration only 20 miles from my Albany home. Yesterday I ordered a Starbucks cafe mochachino in Taipei's airport and now, here I am, doing the same on the streets of New York. Yesterday I had a conversation with a woman in Taipei who complained that McDonalds is making her Taiwanese children fat - today I heard the same thing from a Massachusettes woman. Thanks (or no thanks, still undecided) the world is a much smaller place than I ever dreamed. Not only that but my life on the road feels like a show on stage - like the 'Phantom of the Opera', sort-of - a career choice that feels just as scary, magical and colorful as this production. The difference is my backstage-hands carry tripods and tape stock rather than scripts and show props and my actors, real people, never rehearse or prepare their lines. Next up -- Montana and a whole lot of wonderous days skiing the Rockies!