This past weekend, I had the real pleasure to take in the Gateway Players’ production of Beauty and the Beast. These are my thoughts.

Two years ago – almost to the weekend – I had my first experience with a Gateway production. At the time we had been living in this region for four years and it wasn’t until my wife Andi auditioned for Maria in The Sound of Music did I realize that within a stone’s throw of our home we had a vibrant community theater group in our midst. That being said – even when she began rehearsing during that steamy, hot summer of ’08, I had no idea how deep our local talent well descended. In fact, I really didn’t know what to expect from community theater and my repeat viewing of Waiting for Guffman didn’t help with my preconceived notions.

Which led me to a crowded auditorium one tempestuous thunderstruck night when Gateway pulled open the curtains to The Sound of Music and transported me away to those hills, so alive with the… well you know how it goes. And sure – my wife was starring front and center – seemingly kissing her co-star Dave Corkum any chance she got (I mean – who wouldn’t given the same opportunity, right?). But beyond that little bout of nepotism coloring my first-blush review, I was absolutely bowled over by the pitch-perfect professional production that Pat Haddock composed for our viewing pleasure.

I walked out of that theater, as the earlier storms had simmered to a dull rumble, and felt something stirring loudly inside me. This was exactly what my life was missing. Some people can travel a full lifetime and not realize they walked that path minus the beat that backs their soul. Fortunately I didn’t have to travel that far to find it and find some way to bottle a little of that life-affirming elixir for my own good.

As Music shuttered and all eyes turned to Dave Corkum’s next production – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – I found myself as a last-minute addition to his squad. A small role but one that held such pregnant potential. As I slipped into the starched whites of Aide Warren – the meanest fireplug of an orderly to ever prowl alongside Nurse Ratched – I just felt my normal Nine-to-Five existence yield to something more fulfilling through that cool Autumn – a season that contrary to form felt more like Spring rebirth to me. I had the time of my life and knew that Andi and I had latched on to a pretty fantastic stretch of real estate here in central MA. After all – when your friends become family you know your house has finally become a home. And having found Gateway, there wasn’t anywhere else we wanted to be but here.

Two years later and each production is as much of a thrill as that first one I viewed as simply a paying audience member. Since then, I’ve been front and center in another production (this past Spring’s Love, Sex & the IRS) and seen Andi add more characters to her life experience. And each time we learn a lot and fall in love with it so much more.

I swear, all this rambling preamble has a purpose. I returned home tonight – after sitting utterly spellbound by Pat’s thrilling production of Beauty and the Beast – and just had to jot something down. When I exited Pat’s last big musical, I thought perhaps I could chalk up my elation to it being my first experience with community theater writ large. But here we are two years later with many more productions having seen their final curtain call and I am still intoxicated by that potent blend of joyful performance and expert production that I first sipped from a few years back. Beauty and the Beast was THAT GOOD!!! Scratch that – it was PHENOMENAL!!!

I don’t mean for this to come off sounding like a review. I’m no theater critic. I just know entertainment and I know that earlier today, I was entertained mightily. Sitting there in the audience, watching this whole stable of talented individuals come together to put on a show, it all just hit me in that sentimental sweet spot the lot of us have. I know some of this can come off sounding sappy but we’re not living this life right if we don’t take the chance to shed our defenses and bare our souls – to let people know when they’ve added value to our days and made even the briefest of moments meaningful.

Let that serve as my greatest compliment to everyone who had a hand in this production.

As I watched these amazing actors on stage (their performance a tractor beam on a blissfully captive audience) – I felt equal parts pride, happiness and sorrow for them. The pride and happiness are easy to explain. The sorrow is a bit tricky. Let’s call it bittersweet.

You’ve all worked so hard and so long to get to this moment and here it was and I knew that as wonderful as this weekend had become – that the old maxim, “all good things must come to an end“, was sitting out there, stage right, waiting to toss the hook on the whole experience. Tempus fugit. Time flies baby. Much like those other important milestones in a life – the march towards your wedding day or the nine month pregnancy vigil – when the big day dawns, it roars in like a lion and right back out more ferocious. It’s not until the day after, you meet the lamb. And then the vacuum fills the space as life reverts back to its regularly scheduled programming.

So, as I thrilled to the performance, I felt a nagging tug at the back of my throat. Enjoy every moment of this – for Andi, for Gateway, for the community – for its fleeting and each second deserves to be tattooed to memory. A memento that we, the audience, were blessedly humbled one rainy summer’s day by those much more talented than us. And we’re all the better for it.

And yes – I felt that nagging sting of jealousy. As much fun as I had in the audience, I wish I was right there on stage with you. I know these musicals can be hellishly hard work but you all had a way of making it look so effortless.

And most importantly – SO FUN!!!

So, my hat is off to you, the immensely talented cast and crew of Gateway’s 2010 Summer production of Beauty and the Beast. You made an offer to make us your guest – an offer I can humbly say I’m glad I didn’t refuse.