A few weeks ago, I experienced two instances of excellence personified in the span of twenty-four hours and I cannot stop thinking about it. I am always curious as to how someone becomes the best in their craft. How much is nature and how much is nurture? How long does it take someone to be perfection personified and how much of it is just how the universe allocated talent and skill?
I had the pleasure of seeing Audra McDonald in “Gypsy” on Broadway. The play is a classic. Many people have likely heard the songs over the years without knowing they are from a production first staged on Broadway in 1959. When people say Audra McDonald is a national treasure I don’t know if that fully articulates the sheer level of talent she possesses.
The production itself was fine — I would not rate it as one of my favorite musicals at all. However, McDonald’s work in the second act solidifies her as one of the greatest talents ever to grace a Broadway stage. I have never been to a play or musical where a performer receives a five-minute standing ovation after one song and well before the production was over at that. To witness McDonald on the stage is to be in the presence of greatness and to be thankful for it.
The night before I saw Audra McDonald on stage, I went to see my beloved Knicks play the Los Angeles Lakers. The Knicks lost that night, but most Knicks fans had to tip their hats to the talent of LeBron James. I could not believe I was watching a forty-year-old man run up and down the court. To witness James on the court was to try to wrap my brain around the fact that I was seeing a freight train and ballerina simultaneously. The ball felt like an extension of his entire body. I love watching basketball live and no disrespect to my Knicks, but watching James was almost a transcendental experience.
Seeing James and McDonald back to back has stuck with me weeks after I saw both of them in their elements. I truly do not know how people become great and reach the Mt. Rushmores of their crafts. However, in this deeply unsettling time in our country, I implore us to treat ourselves to glimmers of greatness when we can. We should go to that concert or that game when we can. We can watch our pocketbooks, but we must also treat our spirits to the absolute brilliance around us.
We are living in an era of incompetent men running our country on local and national levels and it is incumbent upon us to find joy when and where we can.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of book “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream” and is co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.