Phantom Fantastic

Last night was the 20th anniversary party for the original cast and crew of The Phantom of The Opera, a production that took Toronto by storm, upped the standards of commercial Canadian theatre and transformed many peoples lives. Len, as a very young man, worked on the show. I, as a highschool student came to see the show while he was working on it, although I did not know it at the time.
So, Len went to the amazing party last night with lots of wonderful folks, and came home, amongst other things, with a phantom of the opera reunion t-shirt signed by Neve Campbell, Rebecca Caine and Colm Wilkinson. I accepted it as typical theatre swag, threw it on and merrily went on doing the dishes.
Until it suddenly struck me. As a fourteen year old, seeing Phantom was life changing. I couldn't stop talking about it. I bought a souvenir poster and a ridiculous pendant necklace. I was completely swept away by this bigger then life, romantic, gorgeous production, and by the idea that people lived their lives and made their living by creating these fantasies. It's one of the reasons (along with Anne of Green Gables at Charlottetown, Cats at the Kitchener arena, and The Black Bonspiel of Willy Macrimmon at Blyth) that I went into theatre. To create this kind of magic.
So, here I am twenty years later, being all "been there, done that" about a phantom tshirt signed by two of it's stars, and one who became a great star after the fact. Amazing actor/singers who have played all over the world. Damn, that's exciting! So, I'm going to put my super casual, never star struck producer persona to the side for a minute. I'm going to take a moment to be star struck, to be grateful and stunned for how the world brought me to marry this man, and to remember how it feels to be fourteen, in love with theatre and life and convinced that making theatre would be the best job in the world. Because, really, it is.