Hi, friends...

I have a kind of an odyssey to tell y'all.

Last friday, I was there, on stage, starting one more Phantom of The Opera session for a crowded audience, as usual, playing my 'wild woman' part with the rest of the ensemble, while the wonderful Edna D'Oliveira was there, singing the first lines of the primadonna Carlotta. She sang "The troooophy/ From the saviors, from the saaaaaviors...", and when she was going to sing the last part of these verses, she turned her body to the left as usual... And FAINTED. And we were breaking in not understanding what was happening, and not knowing what to do indeed. And we waited a little to see if she was going , I don't know, to stand up again, at first it seemed that she just fell down for whatever reason, but then she started to try to breathe like she was suffocated, and we thought terrible things, like if she was having a heart attack or something. The stage managers wouldn't turn out the lights immediately, and the audience was in shock waiting for the next movement... And so did we. Then someone decided to do so, and two of us from the ensemble carried her away to the back of the stage, then they could finally  close the curtains, and take off her 30 lb skirt ... And she didn't know what was going on either and started saying to one of the stage managers "please don't let me die here..". And I was almost crying when a lighning stroke me  and I was like "Gosh, I'm the only one who can replace her..." And suddenly another stage manager took my hand and carried me out of the stage for me to get ready immediately to do that role... I was in shock but had to be strong and calm down everyone around me so they could help me with the right costume and accessories and stuff...

Kiara Sasso, one of the Christines, helped me a  lot to calm down, saying things like "she's a diva, and every diva has a day to faint... Today is her day. You'll have yours... Don't worry. She's just fine." Hahahahahaha! She's something...

Ok, in less than ten minutes I was ready and , from the ensemble I was right there in the middle of the stage again, playing the Carlotta's role... Unbelievable... And I don't know where I got the cold blood, the nerve to do that... And save the day. I'm proud of the strength I had tha day.

Oh, I'll tell you what happened to her... She fell down on thursday and had a damage on her coccyx (the bone at the end of our spine, remember?), and when she was there on stage, she actually BROKE the coccyx... Can you imagine the pain she felt???????? That is whay she fainted.

But she's well right now and medicated. Thanks God it wasn't something so much worse as we thought it was in that crucial moment... I just have to tell you that it was like being in a nightmare. I really don't know how to explain exactly what the feeling was. But thanks to God, everything is fine right now, and the ending was better than we thought.

And now I am one of the Carlottas for an undetermined period of time, until she can do that again. At least she's having a chance to rest a little, let's see it  from the brighter side...

*Right now, while I'm writing these words, I'm listening to Will Champlin, the song God Only Knows...*