I read a hilarious article a while back by a single woman. She claimed her single friends complained often of the lack of Barack Obamas to date. I wish I could remember where I read this- possibly MSN, can’t find it again. Anyway, she points out that if her friends had met Barack around the time Michelle met Barack, they would have immediately rejected him because he had big ears and a funny name, a crappy old car, and very little money. I mean, for all intents and purposes, the man was a waitress in a cocktail bar, no? But Michelle saw potential…
This made me think of a particular night in 98′, London, my freshman year of college. My roommates and I went to see Oklahoma in the West End. This was one of the awesome things about going to college in London- with a student ID, you could see just about any play for 10 sterling. The star of this production was a previously unknown actor, in his first debut outside Australia- Hugh Jackman. He was nobody then; the theatre was only a third full. At intermission we sweet talked the security guards into letting us move up closer- to practically the front row. And there he was…
That same year in college I had a long talk after class with one of my favorite lecturers and he told me about when he was 16 and he and his brother snuck into a theatre to see Sir Lawrence Olivier do Faulkner, and how it changed his life. Well, Hugh Jackman in Oklahoma didn’t change my life. Know why? Cuz he was crap. Crap, crap, crap. The whole production was crap. None of the actors could do American accents to save their souls, the singing was nothing to write home about. If I hadn’t spent so little money, I might have felt ripped off.
After the show, one of my friends became obsessed with waiting by the stage door outside for all the actors to come out, so we did. It was kind of anticlimactic. They opened the door, we looked at them, they looked at us, and we all went off in separate directions. I kind of wanted to say something to them. I really wanted to say, “good job!” but I couldn’t, because it wasn’t a good job, it was crap. And since I didn’t have anything nice to say…
Obviously, I didn’t see the man’s potential. If I were Hugh Jackman’s Mom, and he asked me, begged me, fresh after my seeing that performance, to tell him the truth about if he had what it takes to make it in acting- well, I would have been in quite a pickle.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the girls and their potential lately. I remember when Lulu was discharged from the hospital and a nurse was standing there with a clipboard, jotting down my answers to questions like, “What are your goals for Lulu? (3lb Lulu) What do you want her to achieve?” I said- in life? She nodded, and I replied that we just want her to be happy, to pursue something she finds challenging and fun and rewarding. Not concrete goals, I know. I’ve spent a silly amount of time worrying that I’ll encourage my girls in the wrong things- pursuits they may be good at, but don’t like, or that I’ll dismiss something they’re interested in but not good at, because, well, their bad at it. Because I failed to see their potential.
Now, I feel like it’s all falling into place. Thinking back to that Oklahoma performance, it all makes sense. I saw a lot of plays in my four years in London, some great, some not so great, yet Hugh Jackman is the only leading man I very clearly remember, despite the fact that he wasn’t very good. Know why? He enjoyed himself. He was the only actor I’ve seen on stage who seemed to be really, genuinely, infectiously, enjoying himself. This was his big break, and he was so damn happy just to be up there. So that’s the answer. I want to make it my goal to encourage my girls in whatever it is they enjoy doing, whether I see any potential or not. At best, they will get better, at worst, they won’t, but either way they will have enjoyed themselves, and that’s all a parent can hope for, right?
I’ve contemplated this same issue watching the American Idol tryouts when the bad people try out. They are so delusional but their mom is always right there beside them. I struggle with realism versus encouragement.
I think you are an astute enough mom you will be able to see their strengths and what makes them happy!
You obviously didn’t see Hugh Jackman in Oklahoma! It was sold out for the full run at the Olivier and had to be moved to a new run at the Lyceum to accommodate people from all over the world clamoring for tickets. It was the favorite Royal family show and had Royals in the audience almost every night. There was another attempt at Oklahoma! a couple years before this one, maybe that was the one you saw.
The Rodgers & Hammerstein organization consider this one to be the best version of Oklahoma! since it’s debut in 1943 and the new standard for the show. That staging and choreography was how it was presented when it was revived on Broadway.
Yes, the show was such crap that it was nominated for many Olivier awards and won Outstanding Musical Production (Tony equivalent would be Best Musical), Best Set Designer, Best Choreographer, Best Supporting Performance. It also won the London Evening Standard Award for Best Musical, Critics Circle award for Best Musical and when the production was filmed and shown on TV it won the 1999 International Emmy.
It’s my favorite DVD and the best version of Oklahoma! I’ve ever seen. As for the accents, I watched the 1955 movie again recently to see if I was mistaken in thinking that the new version was so much better, and the Brits & that Aussie lead in Trevor Nunn’s Oklahoma! did better Oklahoma accents than the Americans in the 1955 version.
And of course, Hugh Jackman was so awful in it that it won him the best actor in a musical nomination, getting signed with the most prestigious talent agency in America, and the lead role in a little movie called X-Men when Lauren Shuler Donner and Bryan Singer saw him on stage in London.
I don’t know what you saw but it could not have been Trevor Nunn’s Oklahoma!
I recommend that anyone who reads this blog should rent the Oklahoma! DVD (not the 1955 version) and if you’re a lover of musicals just buy it because you will definitely love this.
Okay, normally I don’t respond to comments, but this time I feel I must. You are obviously waaaaaaaaaaaay into Hugh Jackman, so I apologize for suggesting that he is anything less than God. I take great offensive, however, to your assertion that I am lying about attending that performance. Bullshit, yo. I saw it, my freshman year of college in London, which spanned 98-99. I saw it at the Lyceum, and no, there were no Royals in attendance, and a great deal of empty seats. No, I did not see it a few years before, I had not even been to London before 98, and there most certainly weren’t 2 separate productions of the same musical in the West End… at the same time, in the same theatre. I WAS THERE. I remember it vividly. I remember Hugh Jackman’s face vividly. I remember the crappiness of the performance vividly. Maybe they had an off day- who knows. That’s how live performances (not to be confused with DVDs) are. I’m happy for the production, if it was nominated for the British awards you mention – best scenery, etc. That’s great. Neither Hugh nor the other individual actors won individual awards though, did they? And the accents were awful in the performance I saw. I’m sure the British didn’t notice, they generally don’t notice regional differences in American accents, but I did. Your claim, “Brits & that Aussie lead in Trevor Nunn’s Oklahoma! did better Oklahoma accents than the Americans in the 1955 version,” is ludicrous and laughable.
In short, while I’m glad you enjoy your DVD so much, I WAS THERE, and YOU WERE NOT. Watching a DVD and doing a bit of internet research, does not give you the right to call someone a lair simply because they disagree with you.
I had a long reply ready but suffice it to say, I didn’t intend to call you a liar. I actually did think there was an earlier poorly done version that you may have seen. Now that I’ve seen your profile it seems only that you were a young woman who saw a show on a bad day that many, many professionals and theater lovers (including me) have lauded.
(hysterically laughing in my Little City in the Midwest)
I wonder the same thing about those people you see auditioning for those reality shows like American Idol and So You Think You can Dance and they totally suck, yet you always see them whining, “But my mom says I’m the best she’s ever heard…she encouraged me to try out”. I always wonder how on earth that mother could possibly NOT see that her child is a horrible entertainer.
But then, as a parent, I do get it, to some degree. I want my kids to be happy and even if they aren’t the best at something, I guess it’s good to know that they’re at least trying their best and that they’re doing something they love.