Well, I spent my summer covered from head to toe in white makeup!
That’s right, it was business as usual at the Pageant of the Masters.
If you happened to see it, I was in the giant white sundial piece, the one with the Three Fates. It’s a truly humbling piece - the Fate representing youth stands at one end, spinning a giant skein of thread; the Fate representing adulthood stands tall in the middle, measuring out the thread; the Fate representing old age sits hunched on the far end, holding a pair of scissors to cut the person’s life off. The Tree of Life hangs over them all, blossoming on the youth side and bare branches on the old age side. The music for our piece was quite lovely, too. Very haunting.
I played the young Fate, and I was hanging out over the edge of the stage - I looked like the prow of a ship! We were on a pedestal and I have to tell you, I was holding onto that skein for dear life as we spun around!
This was such a fun year for the Pageant; I really think it’s one of the best years I’ve seen. Last summer the theme was Heroes and Heroines, and there were a lot of references to September 11th. It was very moving and very serious. This summer I suppose they decided to go in the opposite direction, and it was all about youth and childhood. Almost the entire cast was made up of children – extraordinary! I believe that every adult in the cast must have played either a disciple or a nude!
They had Polynesian dancers, ice skaters, snow, a barbershop quartet, an audience singalong, giant confetti cannons…it was great fun.
If you think you might want to go next summer, don’t forget to buy your tickets early!!