My friend, Jodi Sh. Doff (Sh. is a whole other story) and I had a date to see an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. It was the rediscovery of the graphite, pencil and ink drawings of Denys Wortman, a mid-20th century cartoonist. Little did we know that we had stumbled upon something better that changed our goals of the day. The museum is hosting an exhibit called, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing: The Apollo Theater and American Entertainment." This exhibit took us on a tour as the museum flyer says, "from rock n' roll to swing and more." There were cases displaying the dresses of Ella Fitzgerald, the Supremes, Sammy Davis Jr.'s tap shoes, and Jimi Hendrix's sheet music along with videos of past performers, such as the velvet-voiced, Lena Horne and the bawdy, comedienne Redd Foxx. Still not the miracle, but I'm getting there. At the end of the tour we were invited to hear a concert featuring the Child Stars of Tomorrow, the winners of Amateur Night at the Apollo. Now I knew this was gonna be good.
Down into the theatre we descended. The host, historian Billy Mitchell, otherwise known as Mr. Apollo, told us about the "best of the best", a group of young performers with so much talent nothing could stop the launching of their careers. One-by-one they entered stage right and danced and played instruments, sang pop, jazz and gospel. The atmosphere quickly became that of a revival tent meeting. American Idol has nothing, let me hear you say nothing, on the talented child performers from the Apollo. The spirit filled the room, and then the miracle happened. A 9 year old blind, partially deaf boy wearing an assisted listening device walked out on stage with the help of an older man. He bowed to the audience. Although his young, palsied body was unsteady, his ear-to-ear smile gave us all our bearings. He sat at an electronic keyboard and began to play. He riffed, he wailed, he tickled the ivories and the sweetest sounds I have ever heard floated through the room. His body swayed to the vibrations and you could see he was enraptured, as was I. The audience was on their feet, hands in the air, cheering, crying, applauding.
Mr. Apollo told us that he was present when the then 9 year old Stevie Wonder began his career and warned us that we would be equally impressed. He was right. He didn't prepare us, however, for our hearts to be filled with love and our eyes filled with tears that this joyous child with all of his disabilities could move us so wholly. He was given a chance to shine because someone believed, like the first tenet of the Molly dispositions states, that all children can learn. He has inspired me and makes me feel so complete that I am on the path to becoming a teacher. I only hope to have the capacity to touch my students enough for them to believe that they can learn no matter what obstacles and challenges they face in life. Wow, what a day!
It is such an inspiring story! I hope to hear him someday.
ReplyDelete