On Playing a Princess at Almost Forty

Cinderella, more than likely, my last princess role

About eight or nine years ago, I played the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast. I heard about another forty-something woman who wanted the part, and I scoffed. How could a forty-something even think that she would look young enough to play a Disney princess?

Well . . .

I'm not too far off from forty, and I just finished a run as Cinderella in Into the Woods. I think this is it, friends. My princess days are coming to an end.

I swear, I'm not trying to fish for comments about how young I look. I do know I appear youngish for my age. I usually attribute it to my shorter stature, lots of sunscreen, no fake baking, no smoking . . . anything . . . even those "funny" little cigarettes, not too much alcohol, and my grandmother's DNA. (My grandmother's claim to fame was, "No one can believe I am a day over eighty," when she was ninety-seven.)

In my late twenties, I was still getting carded when buying wine or, even more embarrassing, when going to a R-rated movie.

I must look older now because that never happens anymore.

I invited my colleagues to Into the Woods. In the e-mail, I said, "The truth is, I'm pushing forty, and this will probably be my last chance to play a Disney princess."

When the assistant principal asked if she could print it in the school newsletter, she said, "I'll leave out the part about pushing forty."

An amused mother of one my students said, "My daughter came home this afternoon and said we have to come to your show because, 'Mrs. Duggan said this is the last princess she is ever going to play.'"

One night in the dressing room, some of the girls in the production and I had the following conversation.

"How old are you?" one little girl asked me.

The other little girl said, "It's not nice to ask someone her age how old they are."

"Guess," I said.

"Twenty?"

"You girls are awesome."

"Thirty."

"Closer, but higher."

Eventually, they reached the number thirty-seven.

"My mom's thirty-eight!" one of the little girls exclaimed.

"I know," I said with a sigh.

I'm not too worried about turning forty in general. But I am mourning the loss of playing Disney princesses, especially for the sake of my little nieces, my students at school, and all of the cute girls and boys who shyly approach me after the shows.

I know, I know. I'll be able to play the princesses' mothers soon.

PHOTO CREDIT: Dan Lea

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Wonder Dan Falls in Love With Musical Theater (RE-POST from 2/12/11)

This weekend, I am performing the role of Cinderella in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. I thought this blog post from 2011 was appropriate. My husband, Dan, and his family are still very supportive of my musical theater endeavors, often driving several hours to watch my productions.

Cast members from Sweeney Todd, October 2014

With Valentine's Day looming around the corner, I decided to dedicate the subject of my February blog postings to Wonder Dan, my fabulous husband. Much of my blog is spent "teasing" (a euphemism, he would say, for "making fun of") Dan and discussing the dynamics of our relationship. In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought it would be extra nice of me to focus on the many positive attributes of my husband. I've even chosen a nickname for him - Wonder Dan the Super Husband.

When Dan and I first started dating, he had no idea that he was also going to be forced into a relationship with musical theater. An Idaho native, raised in a rural town by an avid hunter and fisherman, Dan could not predict that he would be spending most of his married life watching theater productions. We go to an average of about twelve shows a year, and that doesn't include the must-see tours that come to nearby cities; Jesus Christ Superstar and Wicked in Seattle, Spring Awakening and The Lion King in Salt Lake are just a few examples.

Now would Wonder Dan have discovered this "passion" for musical theater without me? Probably not. But I think he secretly loooves it.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that often times I am the one performing in the musicals. He can spend all evening staring at me because - in reality - it's me that he loooves, so much so that he's been willing to develop an appreciation for a pass-time that he would never have otherwise considered.

Wonder Dan first saw me perform in a local production of Oliver! We had only been on a date or two by that time, but he came anyway and sat in the audience all by himself. After the show, he was waiting for me in the parking lot.

"Good job," he mumbled shyly, looking down at the asphalt. Then he waved goodbye and sauntered off to his car.

Since then, he has had to sit through many musicals and operas. If I am one of the performers, he always shows up with a bouquet of roses.

We go to all of the local community theater events together - Boise Little Theater, Boise Music Week, Music Theatre of Idaho, Opera Idaho, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Boise Contemporary Theater. We even go to the Live in HD Metropolitan Opera showings at our local movie theater.

Eventually, I convinced him to buy season tickets to Broadway in Boise a few years ago, and the only production he missed due to a work responsibility was 42nd Street. That's when I realized Wonder Dan was actually started to like this crazy theater stuff.

Last summer in New York, we bought tickets ahead of time to three Broadway shows without any protestations from Wonder Dan.

Our last night in NYC, it was Dan who suggested, “We’ve got one more night here. Maybe we should see another show.”

I think he has discovered that not all musicals are Rogers and Hammerstein.

Musicals like Spring Awakening, American Idiot, Chicago, Sweet Charity, and Promises Promises have elicited responses from him such as, “abstract,” “conceptual,” “postmodern,” and "Kristin Chenoweth sounds really good live.”

Most recently, we saw Sondheim's Company, after which Dan commented on the "cool lyrics."

"Well, duh. It's Sondheim," was my reply.

And remember that avid hunter and fisherman who raised Wonder Dan? Dan’s father, an outdoors enthusiast and a retired Fish and Game Officer, has even been known to drive all the way up from Rigby to watch me perform. I seriously doubt that I would have ever seen him in an audience of Beauty and the Beast, Into the Woods, Jekyll and Hyde, or The King and I had it not been for my influence on Wonder Dan's family. Pride in loved one's achievements must run in Wonder Dan's genes.

In a recent Fresh Air interview, Ed Helms (who plays Andy on The Office) told Terry Gross, "I think anyone who says they don't like Broadway musicals is lying or trying to be too cool for school or something because they're just unstoppably good songs."

As much as Wonder Dan tries to be "too cool for school," in his heart, I think he truly respects this great art form. And getting to see his wife strut around on stage occasionally (sometimes a little suggestively) is probably a definite plus.

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Wonder Dan Turns Me Into a Sci-Fi Nerd (RE-POST from 2/20/11)

My husband, Dan, and I still like our sci-fi. Enjoy this re-post from 2011!

Just in case you missed my last entry, in honor of the Month of Looove, I am dedicating February's postings to my fabulous husband Wonder Dan. Today's title is slightly misleading. Wonder Dan did not exactly turn me into a sci-fi nerd. He merely rekindled my enjoyment of the genre. My father had actually planted the seed several years earlier.

My mother didn't like science fiction. She didn't even like the Star Wars franchise, a bit blasphemous during the era in which I was born. By the time I was able to walk, I was my dad's "date" to anything science fiction (kid-friendly science fiction, of course) - Star Trek, Star Wars, Starman, Stargate, Tron. We would watch Earth 2 and Deep Space Nine while my mother cooked dinner and washed dishes. My younger brother, Steve, who became an enthusiastic X-Files and Twilight Zone fan, was eventually included in the fun. Steve was in elementary school when he was initiated into the Sci-Fi Nerd-dom. My father took the two of us to Jurassic Park. Unfortunately, Steve kept insisting that he had to go to the bathroom every time a Velociraptor appeared on the screen, and my dad missed about 85% of the movie.

In college, I occasionally watched Mystery Science Theater 3000 and kept up on The X-Files when I visited my family during holiday breaks. But for the most part, my "close encounters of the sci-fi kind" were limited in my early twenties.

Then I met my husband Dan. Where I have inspired in him a broader appreciation for all things musical (specifically, all things musical theater), he has re-inspired in me a love for all things science fiction. I have a sneaking suspicion that he somehow sensed my latent sci-fi passion, and this is one of the reasons he married me.

"A girl who likes sci-fi!" Dan probably thought after he took me to Star Trek Nemisis. "What a catch!"

Then he proposed.

Now that we are an old married couple, our weekends usually consist of watching V, Fringe, Eureka, and Warehouse 13 on the DVR. Every once in a while, my husband will exclaim, "He was on Star Trek Enterprise!" or "That's so-and-so from Voyager!" It is at those moments that I realize we watch way too much television.

Some of my sci-fi experiences have touched me deeply, maybe even changed my life although that sounds awfully melodramatic.

I cried through the entire final season of Lost. And I must not leave out my strange attachment to Battlestar Galactica (a.k.a. BSG - the most recent series, although I am certain we'll get around to watching the 70's version soon). We had been watching Caprica, the prequel to BSG, but sadly it was canceled this season which elicited tears from me once again.

I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey with Dan a few years ago. It was my first time - I was a Space Odyssey virgin - and now I find myself half expecting a soothing male voice to come out of my computer from time to time and introduce himself as HAL.

Of course, Dan's influence on my sci-fi obsession isn't limited to movies and television. Since we have been married, I have read the C.S. Lewis Space Triology and have re-read Madeleine L’Engle's Wrinkle in Time Quintet. Somewhere on my (very long) must-read-before-I-die list is Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale.

Recently in Seattle, Dan and I bought tickets to visit the Science Fiction Museum and Experience Music Project (EMP/SFM). Remember, I'm a music teacher, and I just love the EMP. But guess who had a hard time tearing herself away from the Sci-Fi Museum that afternoon?

"Becky, we'd probably better go," Dan said, "or we won't have enough time to eat dinner before the show tonight."

"But look! It's the little robot from Buck Rogers!"

This just in: EMP/SFM is currently featuring a Battlestar Galactica Exhibition. I might have to make another trip to Seattle soon. Now that's sci-fi nerd dedication for you.

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Podcasts: A Thirty Hour a Week Job (RE-POST from 1/28/11)

I still listen to way too many podcasts. I hardly ever listen to music anymore, and this year, I added Serial to my list of NPR programs. Enjoy this re-post from 2011. 

 

I have recently discovered yet another time-sucking activity involving the wonders of technology - podcasts. I realize that podcasts have been around for a while, but you have to understand that I am from the generation that was just on the cusp of the technological boom.

So, although I am not a total Luddite, I am a bit slow to embrace all of the technological advances circulating around us. I am much more likely to use a new device if it promises to make my life greener (such as eliminating paper statements or junk mail), more practical, or more efficient. I find myself much more reluctant to jump on the technology bandwagon if its only value is that of pure leisure and entertainment.

It began innocently enough. In one of my more impractical moments, I started subscribing to a podcast discussing the television show Lost. My husband, who often introduces me to my more unproductive activities, got me hooked. Pretty soon, I was devoting an hour every week to listening to the theoretical and philosophical aspects of the popular ABC show.

"What are these things you call podcasts? They are so interesting," I said to my husband one Saturday afternoon. "Can I subscribe to more of them?"

Dan proceeded to show me how to search for podcasts in iTunes, which incidentally is exactly like searching for music. Before I knew it, I had subscribed to NPR Music Interviews, NPR Books, Fresh Air, On Point Books, All Songs Considered, and This American Life. Eventually, I added an explicit “progressive” radio show that advocates all sorts of liberal ideas about corporate greed and socialism. I believe the latter to be some subconscious, latent act of rebellion against my somewhat conservative family.

Now I am stuck with getting through several hours of talk shows, interviews, and news stories throughout the week. Did I mention I also download public domain audio books?

I listen to podcasts in my car, at the grocery - like some teenage punk - on road trips, and occasionally during breaks at school. Remember, I am a music teacher, and I hardly listen to music on my iPod anymore.

The other day, the assistant principal thought I was rocking out during my lunch hour. I explained to him that I was listening to a music podcast. He was impressed, obviously believing that I am a nerd and that I am always looking for ways to develop my craft. These are all true suppositions.

But I was also glad to get through my three hours of podcasts before going to bed that night.

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