A One Woman Show

I have reached a point, says my music teacher, that I need to put together and perform a one woman show. A culminating recital if you will. This is a difficult concept for me, I have had a variety of music teachers over the years, all different and contributing wonderful things to me, but none of them made me do recitals until this one. Imagine, to be 50, a life-long musician and do your first recital, it was very odd, and I was totally into stage fright.
Part of it is that what came so easily for most of my life is no longer - I cannot memorize a piece in 3 readings and while it is coming back, I struggle reading with music (funny, for someone who was in high school before she realized that not everyone could read music at all).

Entertaining the thought of this full length recital has brought several things to mind. Most interesting is my memory of Christopher, my Heartsong friend, who was a wonderful, talented young man with dreams of making it on Broadway or in LA. He reached a point, after two trips to the USSR with the troupe, travelling concerts and many guest spots, local theater and years with SMC , when he realized that he was on the stage and this would be his place to star.
He crafted a really fine show, filled with song and stories from his life, and we baked for the refreshments and sold tickets by the handful, filling the Nippon Kan Theater with friends and family and lots of local musicians. And it was great, he shone and sparkled, cracked wise and brought us to tears.
And not too long after that, he died. It happened a lot then, promising young men, and a few women, left us too soon. Taken by "the virus".
He left a lot of great things behind though. He was a good friend, loved my children, was generous and funny, and gave me the inspiration for my own show. So now, I have to pull out all the music, relearn a few things, put it in order, find a venue, invite a few folks, and then sing for a couple of hours. Easy-peasy, right?
I'm sure this is the first installment of a long term story, 'cause I think it's going to be a year or so. :D