Rediscovering Broadway and My Son in the City That Never Sleeps

A Saline father’s journey to New York City brings tears, applause, and a heartfelt reconnection with his son through the power of Broadway.

Photo: (L-R) Saline Township resident Steve Sheldon and son Nathan in Times Square. Photo courtesy of Steven Sheldon

To begin to describe my trip to NYC, I ask two questions. When was the last time you experienced something for the first time? And when was the last time you were watching something that brought tears to your eyes, knowing that you were a part of something magical?

Sometimes you need to travel 620 miles, one way, to rediscover a part of your life, a part of yourself, that got lost somewhere, somehow, along the way.  What was unique about this trip was that not only did I discover Broadway Superstars like Audra McDonald and Nicole Scherzinger, but I also rediscovered another star in my life, my oldest son, Nathan.

Broadway is perfection.  Every orchestra note, every word of every song, the tech cues, everything is done to perfection. But real life is not perfect. And the stories told by Broadway actors are about real people, with all the flaws that we all have. Audra Mcdonald as Rose in Gypsy portrays a mother who lives her life through her children.

Nicole Scherzinger portrays an aging movie actor who longs for just one more time in the spotlight. And as Jeff Daniels sings, “yesterday is a long time ago.”  Both characters pursue a dream, sacrificing everything, only to realize in the end, sometimes dreams don’t come true, and there is no happy ending.

Playwright Paul Stroili, author of Purple Rose’s current show “My Mom and the UM/Ohio War,” wrote: “The role of a parent is to fail. The role of a child is to disappoint. If you can love after that, you have family.”  Through the years, I have managed to both fail and disappoint my son. As disappointments grew, it led to friction between us, with periods of little to no communication. However, like Mama Rose in Gypsy, sometimes a parent asks when is it my turn? And then chooses to begin to live their own life.

While on Broadway, when reality strikes, the message is delivered in a show-stopping song, with a full orchestra. Rarely in our lives do we hear an orchestra playing and beautiful voices singing when reality confronts us. Yet, Broadway has perfected the way to deliver real-life messages to its audiences, entertaining while also making you think and feel. Watching Scherzinger slowly fall into her version of hell, as her days of fame are gone forever, she  sings two heartbreaking songs, “With One Look” and “It’s As If We Never Said Goodbye.”

As an audience, you are thrilled by what you are seeing and hearing. As a human being, you feel her pain. It brought tears to my face. Thrilled and crying simultaneously, it was the most stunning performance I have ever seen. But as I walked out of the theatre, I was changed. Broadway reflects real life, real times. And sometimes, life can be hard or treat people unfairly.

I saw my son Nathan in an entirely different way. At every show, there were moments when he was my little boy again, standing, clapping and howling his approval. It had been a long time since I had seen him enjoying something so completely. It warmed my heart when he slowed his walk so his old man could catch up, and when he safely delivered me back to our hotel room each night. When he was a young boy, it was baseball that connected us. As older men, it is Broadway.

As my bride Anne was living out her last bit of time on earth, she lived by the motto that life is too short not to ask for what you want. That we must all do the things that you have always wanted to do, because for all of us, tomorrow is never guaranteed. I promised her that I would try to remember her words and to live by them.

And, I knew implicitly, when I was standing, crying, while applauding something truly magical, my bride was there with me.