And the Curtain Closes...For Now

Abbey always tries to bring home a Playbill and a ticket that we find from each performance that we usher.

Last night, Abbey and I ushered for The Phantom of the Opera. It was, as expected, a wonderful performance. We have seen it twice previously and she saw this same production with her friend last week. The staging, costumes and sets were different than in previous years. My in-house Broadway expert tells me that's because this tour came out of the 25th Anniversary commemoration from a few years ago. During our pre-show meeting, the house manager shared that these sets and some of the costumes are from the original West End London production of 1986. In short, it was absolutely beautiful.

But why is this significant?

You see, I graduated from high school in 1986 and by the time I was in my senior year of college in 1990, I owned a two CD set of the original London cast recording. I also had the full libretto in a limited edition that I think came with or was ordered for free from either the full piano score (which I also owned) or the CD set. Either way, I know it was free. To say that I had the score memorized is an understatement. For anyone, like me, that owns these...you are fully aware that by the time the production made the trip "across the pond" many of the words in the big ballads had been changed. Almost 30 years later, the original words still run through my head when I hear the songs sung.

Over the years, I shelved the CDs and I tossed the piano score into a stack of other such works and sadly, I either gave or threw away the free libretto. Little did I know that some day my oldest child would become quite possibly the youngest Phantom-phile ever.

I can't even explain how it happened, but by the time she was 8 or 9 she was in full Phantom-mode. Her passion has exceeded mine for close to a decade now. When we visited New York City last year, nothing could calm her agitation until she stood in front of the theatre where it all began.

Abbey in NYC 2013

But what occurred to me throughout the day yesterday is that somehow, in only the way that God can do, He gave us a beautiful gift last night. The first Broadway show Abbey and I ever saw together with just the two of us was Phantom when she was 9 years old. (To the best of my recollection, that's about the age she was. )

Half of her life later, this was most likely the final Aronoff production we will serve as ushers together. I'm teary just thinking about it. Yet...it is as it should be.

Scripture tells us that "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." (I Cor. 13:11) Attending Broadway shows is by no means childish, but now she's ready to leave my side...and share her love of theatre, music, art, beauty, cooking, healthy eating, compassionate ministry, service, giving, people and children in the perfect place where God can use her.

So yes, the melancholy of all that was happening last night (and some mild lower back pain) had me sitting out of the theatre for the second act. I knew full well that this beautiful bookend to my life with Abbey was on display for my heart to see and I couldn't quite take it all in. But I am so thankful for the times we have had to share. In the metaphoric sense, my curtain is closing.

But oh the blessed joy of seeing her curtain arise!