The feel-good tone of the opening evening as well as the expansive performance style was set by senior cast member Ira Denmark, belting out "Circle of Life" from The Lion King. But the evening didn't remain all Disney on us. Later, Nick Nelson sang "In Short" from the musical Edges. The litany of malign wishes from an irate former lover is hilariously evil. Google it if you haven't heard it.
Another song that stood out was "Lucy's Laugh," sung by Matthew Meigs. It's from a Kooman/Dimond song cycle and is slow and sentimental, a beautifully articulate explication of the inadequacy of words.
But before we were through, Sabrina Blaze/Wayne Hawkins was back, paraphrasing Dr. Seuss. "People who mind — they don't matter. And those that matter, they don't mind," she declared, introducing the powerful anthem "I Am What I Am," from La Cage. As the good doctor also said: "Today you are you, that is truer than true/There is no one alive who is youer than you." Wayne Hawkins — and Fred Rogers, Wayne — would agree.
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