Five years ago I was diagnosed with wet macular degeneration, necessitating monthly visits to my retina specialist for an injection directly into my eye. Many times I’m lucky, and am not affected by this monthly assault on my eyeball, but other times my eye protests with pain and excessive tearing. If you’ve ever scratched your cornea, you know how uncomfortable this is.

Unfortunately I scheduled my injection this morning, the day of the Iolani Chorus concert, and I was so hoping that my eye would stop dripping tears by the time of the concert. No—I wasn’t crying or sad!

I also had my fingers crossed that the Aeolian-Skinner organ would behave—at yesterday’s dress rehearsal, there were two times the organ “went cuckoo” —and sounded every stop on every note, without my touching anything! Aaaaurgh! The only solution was to turn the organ off, wait a bit, and then turn it back on.

Well, you know, a miracle happened. Right up to the start of the concert, my right eye was tearing like crazy, and I was going through tissue after tissue trying to stop the wetness. The opening piece was Everett Titcomb’s “Victory Te Deum,” and as I started the introduction, suddenly my eye cleared up and I was fine! What a relief!

And the organ was just fine, and didn’t give me any surprises. I thought the choral singing was especially beautiful this year. In addition to playing “Victory Te Deum,” I also accompanied the choir on John Rutter’s “Mary’s Lullaby,” “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” and John Alexander’s setting of “Joy to the World.”

Nearly midway through the concert, there was a loud crash, and it was unfortunately a young boy who fainted and fell off the risers, bringing his chair and himself crashing to the concrete floor. Everything stopped while his parents and several others rushed up to the stage. The phenomenon of a chorister fainting during the concert is more common than you might think — it’s a feeling of nausea, lightheadedness, locking one’s legs, and being dehydrated.

In fact, there is an article called “Magic Choral Trick #195, Preventing Fainting” which says that heat, standing still, dehydration, stress, and low blood sugar can cause fainting. It suggests that the solution is to be well fed and watered before the performance, using deep breathing, and unlocking the knees.

This past week I experienced a first—I went to a movie all by myself, the first time ever. I eagerly bought my ticket to “Allegiance,” the story of Japanese-American internment during World War II with George Takei playing the role of the grandfather. I marveled at how they could make this tragic part of American history into a Broadway musical—but I was drawn into the story and the music didn’t bother me.

Years ago, my husband Carl and I used to really enjoy going to Broadway musicals and non-Western music concerts —because they were so different from our own music-making and we would not critique them to death afterwards!

Here is a synopsis of the story: Inspired by true events, Allegiance is the story of the Kimura family, whose lives are upended when they and 120,000 other Japanese-Americans are forced to leave their homes following the events of Pearl Harbor. Sam Kimura seeks to prove his patriotism by fighting for his country in the war, but his sister, Kei, fiercely protests the government’s treatment of her people. An uplifting testament to the power of the human spirit, Allegiance follows the Kimuras as they fight between duty and defiance, custom and change, family bonds and forbidden loves. Legendary performer George Takei— (Star Trek, “Heroes”), who was himself an internee as a child, stars alongside Tony winner Lea Salonga – (Miss Saigon, Mulan) in this enthralling and epic new musical. But as long-lost memories are unlocked, Sam finds that it is never too late to forgive and to recognize the redemptive power of love.

A movie was made of the Broadway production, and is only shown once a year, around Pearl Harbor day (Dec. 7th), so if you see it advertised next year, I highly recommend going to see it! In Honolulu, the musical will be staged at both the Manoa Valley Theatre (March 28-April 7, 2019) and the Hawaii Theatre (March 31, 2019) next spring.

Tomorrow I fly to Kona for my last gig of the year with the Kona Choral Society, their annual presentation of Handel Messiah. I hope no one faints!