I watched a PBS program tonight called
“Great Performances”
it was about the Broadway musical play titled
“In the Heights – Chasing Broadway Dreams“
it’s the wonderful story of a fellow
who dared to dream
and wrote a play
with himself as one of the leads
and writing most of the songs…
seven years later
with a team of virtually unknown
actors, singers, dancers and performers
set designers, choreographers and investors
they mounted the show off Broadway
which lead to
eventually opening on Broadway
in spring 2008
and going on to win five Tony Awards
including Best New Musical
it’s a story about Washington Heights
a barrio suburb of Manhattan in New York City
where there are a huge number of mixed racial
2ND generation “in between” kids grew up
people not Latino enough for the Latins
Asian enough for the Asians
or black enough for the blacks
all those kids that grew up
being punished and feeling lost
for decisions made by their parents
prior to their entry into the world
and the repercussions of their parents
reaching or not reaching their dreams….
it moved me
because it made me wonder….
what happened to dreams?
what happened to people daring to
reach for the stars?
how did our lives get to the point
where the mundane of our day to day living
outshines
the brightness of our dreams?
how did so many people’s big dream
become
easy money?
win the lotto?
houses with 8 bathrooms?
and tubs the size of a living room?
why is it that we seem to need
so much more to make us happy
than reaching our childhood dreams?
and really….
when did we stop working
to make our dreams a reality?
was it conscious?
or has it just slipped away
due to a general apathy?
there’s a great audio/video line
at the very beginning and end
of the movie “Pretty Lady”
it comes from a Rastafarian roller skater
“What’s Your Dream?”
so here’s what I want to know….
what’s your secret dream?
what’s the one thing you’ve dreamt about
since you were a child
and why the hell ain’t you goin for it?