Annie

In the spring of 1979

For the final show of their season

The Orpheus Theater did Annie

Which was bad news for everybody

Except every girl in town

Under the age of fifteen

 

The audition was crazy

 

Girls came from far and wide

To try out

Just like little belting pioneers

Heading towards a musical gold rush

 

After the first round of singing

All of us were cut

Except for me and another girl

Who sang ‘Memory’ from Cats

Like some sort of washed-up nightclub singer

 

While we were waiting to go in

For the final singing audition

I asked her if she was nervous

 

‘Oh no,’ she said, ‘Are you?’

 

I told her that I was very nervous

Because my mother was sick

And my father ran out on us

And my little brother was suffering

From a rare shrinking disorder

 

It was up to me to get this job

Or have my entire family disappear into the mist

Like so much stardust

 

(That last part I got from a Judy Blume novel)

 

I could tell she felt bad for me

So when she went in

She tanked the audition

 

Not enough pep

What with being all depressed

After hearing my story

 

I got the role

And that entire spring

I was the toast of the town

 

You know, I miss those days

Back when theater was pure

 

Back when it was all about

The talent