Once upon a Sunday morning, April 2010, I’d received an unusual barrage of e-mails. One which stuck with me was from a woman named Rachel, asking of we might come and visit her kids. Rachel heads an organization called HeartBabies, based at Ne York Presbyterian, for children like hers with congenital heart disease. I promised her if there was any way to make it happen we would add them to the tour, and with many thanks to Daniela, we made it work.
Our performance on August 25th turned out to be an incredible event! Moria, the esteemed head of programming, had the brilliant idea to make the evening a dinner theater, complete with pizza, which also allows families to attend. Morgan Stanley has an incredible sibling program, and this was obvious from the turnout.
It was standing room only with 70 attendants, including many members of their Child Life staff. The performance was taped and projected into the kids’ rooms on top of that. That’s a very big audience, folks!
If you’ve never seen Morgan Stanley’s Winter Garden Theatre, you’re missing out. It’s a beautiful, enormous stage.
The crowd was more than ready by our 6:00 curtain, so we started right in. The kids got so into the show, and they were all so well behaved, raising their hands to answer the questions and participate. Lindsay happily ran into the audience to solicit answers from the those in the back of the room, who enthusiastically practiced their “Hola’s!” and “Grazie’s!” with enthusiasm.
When the show was over, they were ready for more! The group told joked and asked about favorite parts. Lindsay took a hand mike and went back into the audience, and the consensus was that the Ladybug and the French Poodle were the most popular for this crowd. I loved that since Brendan had learned the role last minute to fill in. (This is not the first time he’s done this, and truly, he’d pretty darn fantastic at it!)
The cast separated and walked around visiting tables and handing out the great word finds that ArtWorks had provided. (These were VERY popular!) As the kids began to stream out, one group remained, and Lindsay and Sam sat and sang with them for a little while until it was time to go home.
Many thanks to Moria and all the great folks at New York Presbyterian. A night to remember.
Oh, and just so you know, the reason I’d received so many e-mails that fated Sunday in April was because I was included in the Sunday paper’s Parade magazine, which reaches 35 million readers! I didn’t know it was coming, but boy was it a welcomed surprise.
See you in September, St. Joseph’s here we come!
