Monday, August 3, 2009

A Double Dose Of Dolly



July 23, 2009

I'm performing in the chorus of Hello, Dolly! on Broadway. I'm playing one of the waiters, but there is something very strange about this production; there are two actresses playing the role of Dolly simultaneously, as in "at the very same time."

Tony Award winners Angela Lansbury and Christine Ebersole are both on stage interpreting the part of matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi, and neither one seems particularly pleased to be sharing the spotlight. The audience is bewildered and shuffles out quietly at the conclusion of the performance. I spot my friend Ellen who has come to see me, but she's been so distracted by the dueling Dollys that she's forgotten that I was even in the show.

"Hey, what are you doing here," she asks.

"I was in the show--you came to see me."

"Oh, right."

I follow Ellen to her home to visit with her family. I notice a cart of handcrafted figures, a menagerie of sorts, from which I pick up a small wooden elephant and examine it. As I hold it in the palm of my hand, it transforms into a real live black cat, which latches onto my arm, digging into my skin with its sickle like claws. I shake my arm violently for several minutes until the animal finally releases its grip.