I know! THIS is the post you’ve been waiting for! This is the reason you subscribed to a feed reader!

So, last night, I got to do something REALLY exciting. A) it got me out of the house and productive and B) it’s one of my favorite shows EVAH.. I’m ADing a show called The Last 5 Years. If you’re unfamiliar with the show, it’s worth going to Amazon and purchasing. Seriously. Even if you don’t do musical theatre. If you’ve ever, oh, I don’t know, had a RELATIONSHIP of ANY SORT.. this is the show for you.

We tried to do this show two years ago, back when I was a mere stage manager for it, but we had huge scheduling issues. So we put it on the backburner. This time around, with a new musical director and cast member, I am privilaged enough to be Assistant Director, which is the coolest thing ever. Add to it the amazing abilities of our two-person cast, my incredible devotion to this show, and the beautiful venue we’re using.. it truly is a dream come true.

Especially since I desperately need something to make me feel normal and adult again.

So this show follows a boy and a girl through a courtship, marriage, and eventual separation. It’s heartwrenching and beautiful, stirring on all levels, and as every relationship does, hits every emotional chord. The composer is nothing short of genius. I could go on and on, but really, you should just buy it. And then come see the show because — DAYUM — it’s going to be amazing in person. Seriously. Have I said “seriously” enough to convince you? Then let me add one more.. CAUSE SERIOUSLY IT’S GOING TO ROCK.

Anyway, after singing through half of the show last night, we fell into a conversation about marriage. The last song sung by the female lead is the song she sings after their first date. It’s full of promise, excitement, naivety, and momentum. Everything’s moving in this song. And after we closed the libretto, I was just beaming. “That’s my favorite song she sings,” I confessed. “I’ve had first dates like that. The ones where you feel like your whole world has just started.”

The director, who is married to a fabulous female, nodded.

“And then you get married,” I continued. “And it’s not like that anymore.”

The nodding stopped. “What do you mean?” he asked.

And I felt myself backpeddling. BUT I STILL KEPT TALKING. “You know.. the spontaneity is gone. Instead of that first kiss, it’s the same kiss you’ve had for, like, eighteen months straight. It’s just not the same.”

He got quiet. You know, like I should’ve. “I guess I consider myself very lucky,” he said.

WELL, SHIT. “No, no, I mean.. I’m lucky too. I’m happy. But it’s not the same. You have to admit that. You have to sometimes look back on your life before marriage and think, Oh, I was such a cool, fun guy then. I do that. I constantly think, Remember when we went out all the time? And were out on the town? And life was so fast? You REALLY don’t think about that?”

But it was just me being a moron. I guess a show as introspective as this one — especially one that I take very personally — is bound to entice conversation like that. (WHICH IS WHY YOU HAVE TO COME SEE IT!)

I regaled this story to Bryan later, who ALSO SAID, “I guess I am just really lucky. I don’t feel that way. I don’t want any more first kisses.”

“JESUSGOD, I am not saying I want anymore first kisses! I’m saying that you can never have a first kiss twice! And that the initial spark tends to die down! Am I saying that I don’t like my life? No! I’m just stating what is chronological fact: you can only have that first kiss once!”

And by then, Bryan was asleep, so the argument was one I was only having with myself.

Irony. It’s what’s for dinner.