The Christmas Concert

Marathon, Florida
N 24 41,174 W 081 27.109

Last night we went to the free Christmas Concert at the Marathon Community Theater. It was really fun. We enjoyed it.

The high point of the evening came when the tap dancing team, The MCT Tropical Tappers, came on stage. This team was comprised of 8 ladies in their 50s, 60s and 70s. They were wearing costumes with low cut necks, and high high high cut micro skirts. Libby almost gasped in surprise. You may think us brave for challenging the seas and the weather, but Libby could not imagine women her age daring to expose themselves so brazenly in public. The ladies were delightful and after a few minutes we forgot their age and just enjoyed the dancing.

The singing was also enjoyable. The theater was perhaps the smallest I've ever been in. That was perfect for amateur theater; especially with musical numbers. It helps to compensate for the lack of expensive electronic aids, acoustics and lighting to make the performance look better.

I think that the charm of amateur theater is that the performances are imperfect. In an age where we are inundated in entertainment, almost all of it staged and professional and polished, our ears become super sensitive to deviations from the perfect. But in amateur theater, the audience becomes a part of the conspiracy. We mentaly edit out their mistakes and we yearn for them to do well, and we thrill at their audacity to expose their vulnerabilities so publicly. It makes for a very different experience than passively watching a professional performance. I regret that Libby and I never became fans of amateur theater until we started cruising.