THE POWER OF A DREAM

Searching for an idea for a new show, I came across the story of Joseph who dreamed that one day his father and brothers would bow down to him. His declaration of a time when the family order would reverse incurred their anger and caused them to turn against him. They eventually plotted to kill him and left him for dead on a desolate road. It must have been truly difficult for Joseph to hold on to that dream when his life was going the other direction. Yet years later when his family went to Egypt in search of food, they wound up bowing before Joseph who was now second in command to Pharaoh. Through the unique series of events that took place after his brothers abandoned him, Joseph’s dream came to pass. The beauty of that story is that Joseph wept when he saw his family again, welcoming them in their time of need. The dream was part of God’s way of providing for them during the famine in their homeland. Where do these dreams come from? The ones that pop up in our thoughts or in our hearts? The ones we read about or watch come to pass in other people’s lives? In my mind, there’s no question that Joseph’s dream as well as ours come from God. They are a way of showing us what our purpose is here on earth. As I write this column, I am working on having a song of mine professionally recorded so that I can send it to Oprah and, hopefully, find a top artist to record it. Did I mention that I am also revising my first play, Estherella, to send to an agent in hopes she will pitch it as an animated film? On Valentine’s Day I played the piano at a local Mexican restaurant. I brought the keyboard, the music stand and enough jazz standards to play for hours. I was the guest artist at a neighborhood hangout where I eat the taco special every Tuesday – 2 tacos for $1.50. Though I know I am a woman of a certain age, I felt like I did the summer after my senior year of high school. That summer I was the receptionist at our local NBC radio station and often played the grand piano in the sound studio during my lunch break. One day a young musician stopped by and listened to me playing and asked me to become the pianist for his group who were featured every weekday night from midnight ‘til 3 am on the radio. Ecstatic, I could hardly wait to tell my parents about this great honor. Within moments of explaining my sensational offer, my father nixed the idea since he didn’t want me to postpone starting college that fall. Looking back, I guess that was the right decision as I went on to graduate from college and entered the work force as a high school English teacher four years later. But I have never stopped loving playing piano and over the years have added songwriting to my musical palette. In the past twenty years I have written over a hundred songs for shows that have been produced locally. But the song that is my favorite is the one I wrote after reading Jamie Farr’s autobiography, Just Farr Fun. Leaving home at age 17, this actor who played Klinger on Mash, realized his boyhood dream of starring in a Broadway musical when he won the lead in Guys and Dolls at age 60. It took over 40 years for his dream to come to pass. My song, The Power of a Dream, is about the impossible dreams that some of us nurture, dreams that took root in our hearts often many years ago, dreams that we might have inherited from one of our parents, as I did. When I was awarded the trophy for Best Musical Score at the local Golden Globe awards, I heard myself proclaiming, “I’m not leaving the planet until Barbra Streisand sings one of my songs.” Being a successful songwriter is still my most cherished dream. Just a few years after that, I found among my mother’s papers a copyrighted song that my father wrote in 1949. Another Love is now framed and hangs on a wall in my home office. Who knew that my dad, too, was a songwriter? Though we began piano lessons together when I was 8 and he was 32, I never knew he had tried his hand at composing. Call it inspiration or foolishness, I am still holding on to my dream of writing songs that will be sung by top artists and/or be part of a movie score. That dream is what I think about when I have a spare moment. The CD of a popular book plays in my car as I drive from place to place. The author reminds us that we need to get up every morning excited about the day ahead as it is a gift from God that we must not squander. I hum The Power of a Dream as I exit my car at the office, wondering what I will wear to the Academy Awards when one of my songs wins the Best Song of the Year.