January 14, 2009
-
The Daily News
1 Sooooooo…
2 It’s almost more than a person could take.
3 Patrick McGoohan walks into a bar.
4 Ricardo Montalban walks into a bar.
5 Same bar that everyone else is chillin’ in.
6 I imagine that once we all leave this madness, it’s going to be a heckuvva party.
7 Yeesh.
8 Moving on: Here’s a Dear Abby Not to be Missed:
Dear Abby:
Is it proper for a married woman
to go out to eat alone when her husband
refuses to take her?Solo in Sherman, Texas
Dear Solo:
Absolutely, if she can afford to pay for it
and there is enough pet food in the doghouse.9 Sometimes Abby is right on the money.
10 So it’s American Idol season once again.
11 If you’ve ever taught performing arts in any capacity, this becomes one of your favorite shows. This is across the board.
12 Why would that be?
13 Because all performing arts teachers have seen it all. We have seen WAY more wannabes than we have genuinely talented people.
14 That being said,we’ve also seen some AMAZINGLY talented people over the years.
15 They usually had a first class ticket to our Talent Shows.
16 HUNDREDS were good.
17 Five were awesome.
18 And so…
19 My absolute favorite in the history of the Workshop is…
20 Drum roll…
21 Matt Paguio, somewhere around 1998,
22 If ANYONE is still in contact with Matt, PLEASE tell him to audition for American Idol.
23 Nobody in my entire career of teaching matches his talent. Anyone who ever worked with him knows this.
24 I remember the first time I met him. Fina Pengosro, one of my faves of all time, introduced the guy to me. I knew Fina to be not only awesome of her own volition, but also a trustworthy judge of talent.
25 She introduced Matt to me. He had Coke bottle glasses and looked everything but sensational. I don’t remember why I didn’t listen to him live, but Fina stuffed a tape into my hand this one fine morning and told me to go home, have a glass of wine, and listen.
26 Clutching the tape plus Fina’s advice as a perfect excuse to get a little tipsy, I popped Matt’s tape into a tape player.
27 Okay, so those of you wondering, tapes were quite the thing back then.
28 I popped Matt’s tape into the tape player and it absolutely put me in orbit.
29 Matt had the same exact style as Sinatra and Buble, a tremendous sense of jazz and swing, which has always been highly unusual for a high school student.
30 Matt went on to win the AMTSJ High School Honors Best Actor award out of 28 schools the year in 1997, the year we did The Show. He sang Aquarius from Hair and then took it home with his rendition of the classic song Hair from the show of the same name. To this day I consider Hair to be one of the most underrated musicals of all time. Astoundingly entertaining songs, and a fun script to boot. And what a song! Here’s a ‘cerpt:
They’ll be gaga at the Go-Go when they see me in my toga, my toga made of long blond brilliantined ,Biblical hair. My hair like Jesus wore it
Hallelujah! I adore it, Hallelujah Mary loved her son, why don’t my Mother love me?31 Matt took that number home. I recently found a boxload of old shows and haven’t had the pleasure yet of popping The Show into my VHS, but I’m guessing that I’ll be doing that pretty soon. Like later today.
32 If anybody out there is in contact with Matt, PLEASE tell him to audition for American Idol.
33 He remains the best I ever worked with, and was a gentleman and a wonderful friend to boot.
34 Just a quick side note: Matt later sang some blues song with me at a YB Talent Show and later in the evening came out on stage looking completely 40′s, Sinatra at YB, crooked hat, the whole schtick, and blew everyone out of the Theatre with his rendition of Sinatra’s Come Fly With Me.
35 Time stood still.
36 When true talent speaks, people listen.
37 We have our moments. That was one.
38 That’s my DN for today.
38 Peace.
~H~
