Diva in the Sky with Redmoon Theater and The Great Chicago Fire Festival.. Feeling Good.

It was the most wonderful performing experience of my life. There I sat on a swing suspended some twenty feet in the air over my audience singing a song that I first sang as a teenager in a high school production of “Roar of the Greasepaint, Smell of the Crowd.” “Feeling Good” is such a simple song but thanks to Nina Simone’s arrangement, it has plenty of room for drama and dynamics.

And then there was the Full Moon in the night’s sky shining down on me, and I in turn, looked down upon the thousands of faces looking up at me smiling, generous in their joyful anticipation. And when I erupted into a vocal run of utter freedom they responded with a loving roar that moved me so much that I wanted to weep with joy. And as the Ladder Machine moved me back through the crowd (still suspended in that swing) children waved up at me like I was some big Fairy Godmother Diva and so I waved back – blowing kisses and sprinkling invisible fairy dust to there little fingertips. I have never felt such a connection with an audience in my life. I will never forget the beauty of that moment.

The entire night was like that: a joyful give and take via the expression of the spirit and soul of a city. Chicago. All of Chicago was represented by children and performers from so many diverse cultures and communities. Good times and bad times, struggle and resilience, destruction and growth – that’s what life is. And that is what The Great Chicago Fire Festival was all about. Redmoon. Redmoon. Redmoon.

God, I love my job!