Most know that Jean Paul Sartre, France’s foremost existential philosopher, was an atheist and that he writing was on the morose side.
But what you probably do not know is that Sartre was a believer in the profound and sacred healing power of the arts.
He may not have believed in God above but he was a true believer in beauty and the artists who labored to create it. The entire novel “Nausea” along with its depressed central character was redeemed on the final pages as Sartre described the lonely Fats Waller, walled up in his apartment as he struggled to create the musical masterpiece “XXX”.
As a psychoanalyst who is in the business of listening to peoples pain and sadness I have learned that we all need beauty, the arts and a community in order to give us joy and comfort and meaning.
And that is why I was so happy to get a chance to meet some of the 60 performers who have toiled over the last five months to create “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: A Musical Revue” for the Herricks Community Players.
Two years ago I was introduced to this theater group by reviewing their production of “Young Frankenstein.” And so when I learned that they were about to perform a musical review of some of the greatest Broadway tunes I contacted Margo , their stage manager and asked for permission to observe their rehearsal process.
When I arrived at the theater I quietly took my seat and watched as the ensemble cast rehearsed “Oklahoma.”
Samantha Cardinal, the groups dance captain, labored with the cast to get down every move in the piece.
I then met Lisa Simon’Weitz who was another stage manager who filled me in on the details. She said this cast and crew of 62 had been rehearsing four nights a week since early June.
The director was John Hayes, the musical director was Sue Weber, the choreographer was Barbara Murphy and the costume mistress was Penny Payne. I was introduced to John Turner has worked in this group for many years and like most of these artists had a regular career as well.
He remarked ” I have been a lawyer my whole life. There are thousands of lawyers and I was just one of many but what makes me unique is that I can sing. People always says to me ‘oh gee, it must be fun to sing in a theater group’. Well actually its plenty of hard work.”
The songs that will be in this musical review include ‘Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ from “Oklahoma,” “Hard Knock Life” from Annie, “Some Enchanted Evening” from “South Pacific” and “On My Own” from “Les Miserables.”
I worked my way through graduate school by evaluating all the artist in the school programs in Suffolk County and was paid to do this through the Performing Arts Foundation in Huntington.
The Performing Arts Foundation was a well known community theater funded by Harry Chapin and I still recall some of the Broadway stars who would perform there. Unfortunately that theater group no longer exists but thankfully we still have the Herricks Community Players.
I think that most folks function under the delusional that community theater groups consist of amateurs dabbling in the arts. This is far from the truth.
It’s true that the cast is filled with lawyers, nurses, Ph.D.s and teachers but this unique set of people are artists in every sense of the word. They toil and struggle to create art that their neighbors can behold. The Herricks Community Players deserve all our love and applause.
Jean Paul Sartre was probably right when he said that life is an ugly affair filled with confusion, glorious suffering and shame.But he also told us that we have music and dance which is ‘spinning gaily in self-absorbed beauty’ and that this provides humanity with solace and hope.
This is the way life is. It can bring pain but it can bring beauty as well.
So I thank the Lord above that he has given us John Hayes and Samantha Cardinal and Sue Weber and Barbara Murphy and Penny Payne and Lisa Simon-Weitz and Peter Triolo and Lee Titone all the rest of these darlings to fill our life with some song and dance and fun.
I cannot wait to see them all in action on the weekend of Oct 27, 28 and 29 at the Herricks Community Center. For tickets just call (516) 621-3171.
