Cheryl and I had the most amazing time in NYC these past few days! Of course, those who know us, know that we worked! From clients, to PR meetings, to countless emails, to shipping packages, to restocking the NY office, and sales team meetings…..we found time to make it through the city! The Belegenza Way always includes time for entertainment, and personally, Cheryl and I REQUIRE Broadway shows!
Did we get lucky this week! It started with taking a chance on Sunday afternoon to see if we could get a ticket to see “A View From the Bridge.” We got the LAST 2 tickets! We sat 2 rows apart, but let me tell you…..WHAT a show! Starring Liev Shrieber and Scarlett Johanson! We fortunately had never seen the show, so the storyline was a complete surprise, and utterly enjoyable in a tragic way…. We were stunned with the excellence of the play, particularly with the captivating way that Scarlett Johanson was so much the character, that I forgot that she was Scarlett! And to experience Liev Schrieber playing a longshoreman from Brooklyn??? Simply Genius! After that, we felt we had won the lottery! The trip was complete…….
Until, we got tickets to see “A Little Night Music.” (Last minutely as well, and did I say the 7th row?? last seats??) Again, we had no idea of the story…. All we knew was Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury. I personally would not have gone to see it because I never really watched “Murder She Wrote,” like Cheryl did. I had already become a workaholic by that decade. I also didn’t want to hang with Angela Lansbury, because every show she was brushing up against murderers and someone always came up dead. I am careful of the types of people I hang with, and Angela seemed not-so-good for longevity! Well…….I thank Cheryl for loving her, because I went as a “whatever.” HOLY smokes! What a show! When the music started, not a person stirred….. The mastery of Angela was unbelievable, captivating, comical, and profound. THEN, Catherine Zeta-Jones graced stage! It just kept getting better. The magic between the two, was beyond my capacities to describe. For all that, the complete cast was way beyond…….. My experience was something I will try to write….. I was present to mastery. Mastery that was transparent. I was so taken by the characters that each actor was playing…that I was actually part of the scene myself, that I might even be part of the show, too, and that at any time, one of them would speak a line to me, and that I’d actually be in the scene. It was so engaging, so beautiful, so empowering. I caught myself feeling limitless, as if I could do anything in life, too!
We floated home that evening in appreciation for brushing up against mastery, fame and magnificence and laughed about how we love our lives, how we love that we’ve designed ourselves to push the envelope in our business and our lives, sure that the actors themselves have done things out of our realm of understanding to achieve their magnificence.
And then, today, to top it off, I had a few reschedules, blips and what-not. Rainy, cold, dreary NYC…….We had a block of time, 7-day subway passes, and what did we do? Ran to TKTS! ( that’s the last minute discount ticket stand in Times Square.)
“Looped?” On discount? Valerie Harper? I thought it was a mistake! Apparently it must have just opened, because I can’t imagine Valerie Harper not having a sell out! Right?! Wait til the Tony’s cuz this is over the top funny AND profound, and extremely moving! Valerie plays Talullah Bankhead with only 2 other actors, and you cannot believe the laughs, the tears, the realizations! She is a legend in my book! I wanna hang out with her!
I believe that if you hang out with greatness, it has to bring you up. Hang out with badness, it will take you down. Parents know this, and we have learned this well. We couldn’t have had a better training this week! It sounds like we are just doing the NY travel thing, but let me tell you…..these actors and I cannot forget the musicians, theater production people, stage directors, ticket sellers….(oops, I thought I was doing my acceptance speech at the Tony’s)….. They taught me something….. It is glamorous looking from the outside, but from the inside, no one will really ever know what it took to create a character, bring it to life, capture 1000’s of people, empower them, entertain them, mezmerize them….. We returned to work this evening empowered to do what there is to do to build our company. We do a lot of grunt work that no one knows about, we get dirty, we get frustrated, we get disappointed, we get tired and cranky and want to throw in the towel, but we just take it in stride, because we are committed. We only hope that we can compare ourselves to the actors and what fortitude they’ve had to hone their craft, but in the meantime….we will make it a point to get to their performances so that we can experience excellence at its finest, study them, love them, support them, and appreciate them and the others who love them as well!
Back to the office in Houston, renewed with realizations from our beloved celebrities……..
Alan