Reflecting on the Arts

I always enjoy a time of reflecting at the end of the year and this morning I'm thinking back to some of my favorite moments in the arts:

* hanging and admiring a new painting by good friend Beverly Key (who I featured last year) that fits perfectly in our den and looks as though it's always been there. The painting is an abstract but we see at least three deer hiding amongst trees, brush, and an azalea bush--much like they do in our back yard.

* sitting beside my husband and my parents at Les Miserables and experiencing that incredible music again

* watching many stirring moments in Big River, performed by Theatrical Outfit at the Balzer Theater in Herren's, but especially when Jim is "reading" Huck's palm and sees "considerable joy, considerable sorrow" ahead for them

* watching my daughter's face and hearing her laugh during "It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play", also at the Balzer, and seeing her go from actor to actor for autographs afterward

* reading Little Women with her this summer

There are many more but I'm going to stop for now. What were some of your favorite moments with the arts this year? I'd love to hear about them.

Les Miserables

Even though it was my third time, it moved me again as before. Maybe more so. After all, I'm older now, and wiser, I hope, and a mother, too, which has changed how I view just about everything. But I think that if I were to see Les Miserables a dozen times, I would still be moved by this story of grace, forgiveness, redemption, sacrifice, love, courage, compassion, loyalty, and more. I found myself marveling that this classic that deals so obviously with important spiritual questions should be so popular, still bringing in crowds after years of touring the country.

The first two times I saw it, I was in my early 20s. I identified with Cosette's and Eponine's feelings of love for Marius as well as the students' idealism. But yesterday, I ached for Fantine and her motherless child. And Javert seemed so much more human to me--still obsessed with Valjean and the law but truly baffled by Valjean's act of mercy toward him. 

Even more, though, I found myself caught up in Jean Valjean--a sinner given a second chance to make a life for himself beyond his circumstances. To be honest and honorable, even when it cost him dearly. To live the life of a man and not a number. Would I have been so brave and true? I hope so.

This cast had strong, powerful voices that soared with the music one moment, then faded to exquisite harmonies the next. If the words were in another language and I could not understand them, I would still be moved to tears--and cheers. 

Les Miserables has given me much to consider and remember. That's what good theater does. 

Roundtable 4: Engaging with the Arts

I’m concluding this week’s Roundtable by talking with arts enthusiast Calvin Edwards. Calvin is an executive with more than 20 years experience working with charitable, educational, and religious institutions. In 2001 he founded Calvin Edwards & Company (www.calvinedwardscompany.com), to “maximize the good of giving” by consulting with philanthropists as they support faith-based causes.

LeAnne: Why do you love the arts? Have you always loved them?

Calvin: I love the arts because they make me think in new ways, they help me see the world from a different perspective. I like who I am, or who I become, when I engage with the arts.

Now, I realize that some people will think this is a little peculiar, that my love for the arts revolves around thinking—some would say the arts are about feeling, imagining, and experiencing, not something cerebral like thinking. And the arts surely are about all those things. My point is precisely that one thinks differently as a result of feeling things.

One cannot help but be deeply moved by the contrast between grace and law in Les Miserable, that monumental metaphor set in the French Revolution. To immerse in that profound and engaging story is to emerge a different person. How? After being there, I think about life differently. I understand the power of grace and want to show it to others. It is more than just a great story, it changes lives. Ultimately the arts help to shape who I am, what I believe, and how I think.

Have I always loved them? The short answer is “no.” I grew up in rural New Zealand where sheep grazed outside my bedroom window. My friends’ dads drove bulldozers in a logging town. There was beauty in my life, but not the arts. However, my father had a great collection of classical and sacred music on 7” spools of tape that I learned to load on a tape player when I was a teenager.

I came to love and appreciate the arts as a college student when I was invited into a circle of friends who loved music, drama, and literature--and many performed, some even performed live on the Australian ABC. I remember thinking how peculiar it was to lie on the floor and listen to Mozart or Handel on an old gramophone when others were listening to Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, or AC/DC. I’m grateful to those friends who introduced me to the world of the arts.

Coming soon: a photographer, a composer, and an actor