I found out on Facebook that a woman I went to high school with died recently. I will always remember her for her roles as Nancy and her best friend (Bet?) in Oliver! when I was in 6th grade and she was in 7th. They double cast her along with several other girls, I guess so they could give lots of people the opportunity to be a star (but really, so they didn't have to deal with any one set of screaming parents). She was amazing, though. Really. Star quality. She played Sandy in Grease the next year, I think.
That year, they did a synopsis for each of four musicals - My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, South Pacific, Grease. That year, I was Bloody Mary. Our school was not especially ethnically diverse, so white though I am, I played a Tonkinese woman. Yeah. It didn't hurt that I had been listening to my father's OCR (Ezio Pinza, Mary Martin) on vinyl for years, and could imitate Sarah Vaughn reasonably well. And that the Music and Drama teachers liked me, and that - let's face it - I'll never be a lead - always a character. Even though I truly believe I was born to play Nellie Forbush.
After that, Sandy/Nancy moved onto High School, and I finished out the Middle School Theatre Experience with a student written play that was TERRIBLE. I can say that, because I was one of the student authors. I mean, really - it was a debacle.
SaNancy (as we'll call her) did the whole Show Choir/Drama thing in High School. I did Chansons (Women's Choir) for two years then dropped to pursue French classes. I did Drama for four, and never played anything but an Old Lady. Once I was an old Irish lady, once an old black woman, but my vast range ended there.
SaNancy and I worked at Harry's together at one point, but after High School, I lost track.
According to the info I got, she was single, and eventually turned to religion. As it happens, a lot of the people I went to HS with have gotten fairly religious. I'm not entirely surprised.
So she died of an embolism while in the hospital.
I've searched for an Obit, to see where I can send a donation. Because, even though I was often jealous of SaNancy, and really, what short, frizzy-haired, brace-faced character actress chorus geek wouldn't be jealous of an exotic flower who seemed to give off an aura of fireworks and rainbows - but even though I was jealous, she was a nice girl, and the world is less talented with her out of it.
That year, they did a synopsis for each of four musicals - My Fair Lady, Sound of Music, South Pacific, Grease. That year, I was Bloody Mary. Our school was not especially ethnically diverse, so white though I am, I played a Tonkinese woman. Yeah. It didn't hurt that I had been listening to my father's OCR (Ezio Pinza, Mary Martin) on vinyl for years, and could imitate Sarah Vaughn reasonably well. And that the Music and Drama teachers liked me, and that - let's face it - I'll never be a lead - always a character. Even though I truly believe I was born to play Nellie Forbush.
After that, Sandy/Nancy moved onto High School, and I finished out the Middle School Theatre Experience with a student written play that was TERRIBLE. I can say that, because I was one of the student authors. I mean, really - it was a debacle.
SaNancy (as we'll call her) did the whole Show Choir/Drama thing in High School. I did Chansons (Women's Choir) for two years then dropped to pursue French classes. I did Drama for four, and never played anything but an Old Lady. Once I was an old Irish lady, once an old black woman, but my vast range ended there.
SaNancy and I worked at Harry's together at one point, but after High School, I lost track.
According to the info I got, she was single, and eventually turned to religion. As it happens, a lot of the people I went to HS with have gotten fairly religious. I'm not entirely surprised.
So she died of an embolism while in the hospital.
I've searched for an Obit, to see where I can send a donation. Because, even though I was often jealous of SaNancy, and really, what short, frizzy-haired, brace-faced character actress chorus geek wouldn't be jealous of an exotic flower who seemed to give off an aura of fireworks and rainbows - but even though I was jealous, she was a nice girl, and the world is less talented with her out of it.
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