The Story of Broadway & Natalie (Part I): The beginning

As I sat down trying to figure out what I should write about, I decided I'd speak about something I alluded to previously, my love of Broadway.

Some would call it an obsession, others pure passion but I call it my savior (and all of the above). I'd like to explain a little bit about my love of Broadway, where it began, etc however, I don't feel it would be sufficient of me to do so without first talking about how this all began.

At the age of five I was incredibly mature. I rarely cried in public, rarely threw fits (my mother would probably disagree), and enjoyed writing stories and drawing pictures more than playing video games (the few we actually had in 1997). I guess this is why my aunt thought it was such a good idea to start me young, and take me to my first ever show.

My sister, me, Aunt Barb and Lizzie
circa 2009

My Aunt Barb and I have always been close, and while I think we'd be just as close if she hadn't taken me to the Lyric that day, I still feel like that particular trip blossomed the bond we still hold today.

I had dressed in my best, gotten ready with a smile and sat in the back of Aunt Barb's car saying "it's going to be just us girls." I didn't know much about shows nor did I know exactly what we were going to do. Sure, I knew we'd be seeing Peter Pan but in my head, Peter Pan was a Disney cartoon, not some lady on strings flying across the theater and singing.

Cathy Rigby

I think the idea of Cathy Rigby confused me because for one, she was a lady playing Peter Pan and two, I didn't understand she was acting. When I eventually caught on, I was really excited.

I sat in awe as I watched Peter Pan and Tink's adventures as Wendy and her brothers followed suit, leaping into the audience, singing and dancing; doing everything I loved to watch and all the while live on stage. It was a whole new idea, something happening right before my eyes, real people on a stage singing like I had seen in the movies.

I left that day draped in Playbills, and programs and stuffed alligators (which I still have to this day).

Needless to say, after that trip my life was changed: I was in love with musical theater and wanted to do something, anything (I briefly did a short community theater stint but I realized my dreams were much better suited behind the scenes).

Me, outside the Gershwin 7 years
after I saw Wicked for the first time.

My dad had gotten season tickets to the Hippodrome in Baltimore and naturally, he kept me informed of all the shows coming to Broadway. It just so happened that one particular show had buzz from here to Seattle; Wicked, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz. I had grown up watching Dorothy and Toto so I was immediately attracted to Wicked. My dad got us tickets for Memorial Day weekend, and I instantly grew excited at the thought of a place where shows played constantly, unlike Baltimore, they didn't rotate in small packages, they remained (somewhat) constant and played in theaters, specifically created for housing musicals.

I remember my dad picking me up from school, I was in 5th grade and happened to be making candles in school (how I remember that, I don't know). I remember holding my candle as my dad picked me up from the bus stop, my bags already in the trunk ready for the drive to New York.

I had only been to New York once before, I was six or seven and I had the flu so my idea of New York was hazy and a bit negative (what kid wants to go back to a place where they experienced a debilitating flu). However, when we arrived just after dark we turned into Times Square and I was in awe. I loved the lights, the fact it was 9 PM and the streets were shining bright excited me. The theaters, there were dozens, I couldn't believe my eyes. What was this magical place and why was I so deprived of it for such a long time?

We spent all day walking around New York until 2 PM for the Saturday matinee. It was May, which meant Wicked was still in it's youth, just a few months after opening and a few weeks before the Tony Awards where it'd lose to Avenue Q (that did not stop it!).

Hanging out with Jeanna de Waal who
played Glinda when I saw it
for the third time in Baltimore
this past October

Seeing Wicked with Kristin Chenowith and (soon to be Tony winner) Idina Menzel was crazy. Especially considering the fact most people would've killed to see that pair. It was unheard of for me, to see a show of that magnitude, in a place where I could walk outside and see more shows.

From then on, my mind was made up. New York would become my home.

After that trip I returned to New York to see some other shows, including but not limited to: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Hairspray, and Bye Bye Birdie. The trips were few and far between up until 2010 when my eyes began to settle on my second (Rent was first) Broadway love: In the Heights. 

You'll have to come back soon to learn about In the Heights. I feel like it needs its own place on this blog.

For now, I shall remind you to defy gravity, and keep on being popular (get it? get it? huh? huh?)

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