My Famous Friend

I am the first to admit that I'm not the hugest fan of musicals. "What?!?" you may exclaim? "How is that possible?!?" Well, maybe that's not entirely true. Admittedly, I do get a certain satisfaction over the whole bursting into song in response to hills being alive with the sound of music or winds rushing through the plains. And any celebration of 76 trombones is supercalafragalisticexpealadocious by me (okay-- even for me that was super cheesy). But as the song and dance starts to exceed about 75 minutes, I'm anxiously awaiting the grand finale, twitching in my seat and silently (well, sometimes not so silently) groaning at the reprise of the big ballad or central dance number. Just shoot me.

But all that goes by the wayside when you see one of your dearest friends in her Broadway debut.
The beautiful and extremely talented Jeslyn Kelly is currently dancing and singing (and, errr... swinging... haha) her way through Tarzan: The Musical, Disney's latest extravaganza set in the bright lights of Broadway. BROADWAY!!! As in the neon lights are bright on Broadway!! Jes and I survived the Vassar Night Owls together (we bonded as roomies during Bill's second inauguration while fighting off the craziness that ensues from being part of an all-female a cappella group); we moved to NYC together; scraped each other off the ground after failed relationships; and were each other's rocks through personal and professional heartaches.

Jes is one of the most talented people I know. Now, I know you're probably thinking, "ummm... of course you would say that; you already wrote that she is one of your dearest friends." But seriously-- if you have met her (and some of you have), you know that it's unequivocally true. She is the definition of triple threat: actor, singer, dancer. But, even more importantly, she is one of the kindest, most generous, wonderful people that I've been blessed to have in my life and call friend. She is truly beautiful, inside and out. Someone once exclaimed about her, in mock frustration, "God! You want to hate her but you can't because she's so damn nice!"

On Saturday I had the pleasure of cheering her on from my orchestra seat (thanks, Jes!!), and reveling in her latest achievement: a Broadway show. And I have to say, when she flew onto stage (quite literally b/c a large part of the show is an aerial performance and she's cabled to the ceiling), I actually got choked up and a little weepy at the fact that I was seeing her ON BROADWAY-- something we used to discuss in our late night heart-to-hearts when we'd speculate about where we'd be in ten years from our little 1 bedroom apartment in Queens. No one deserves more success than this amazing woman. And how lucky am I that I got to see it evolve and happen first hand? It's the best musical I've seen in the last ten years (and yes, there have been other musicals you skeptics, you).

In addition to her busy life as a stage actor, she also does a lot of other projects in her life as a dancer and aerial artist-- as witnessed in this week's Microsoft Vista launch in NYC. Here she is performing with the company, "Grounded Aerial" on the side of a building. Crazy, huh? Look for her in red...

Love you Jes. I know this is just the start of many more amazing things to come.


Video: Human Billboard


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