MEDITATION

What is the most powerful, moving, moment I EVER saw, and hold tight to my heart, and brain?

JC in "Shenandoah," singing "Meditation.

Where does it come from, the beam that comes from him? The gestures he did ...

Actually they were my staging based on knowing him, his hands, his grace, and our communication -- if I say "do this," he tries it and does it -- if he says "do this, Em" I think NO (I don't like to be told what to do), but I try, and usually end up doing it.)

Anyway, it wasn't his gestures, it was him, his stance, his singing and playing of the role. Critics praised him, and he won a Tony for playing Charlie Anderson in "Shenandoah."

So why am I, his wife, heaping these compliments, praises onto him? Because we were tidying our offices, arranging the CD's in alphabetical order on a new shelf. Because playing the "Meditation," the whole song, or just the ending of it brings me joy!

In "Shenandoah," playing the part of the southern farmer with a large family, a wife, and land that he loved, JC was magnificent. The man he actually is, became Charlie Anderson, and Charlie Anderson was John Cullum.

At this moment, he's across the hall ... that voice, that amazing man who doesn't think of himself as a singer ... I'm enthralled like a brand new fan when he sings ... There he is, puttering, dusting things in his office twenty feet away from me -- plumber, electrician, food shopper, handyman who just a while ago repaired the barre in my studio -- gee, how did I manage to land this guy?

Instead of playing "Shenandoah" again, here's a bit of him in his first starring role on Broadway, Lerner and Lowe's hit musical, singing the title song "On a Clear Day."