Sets Take Center Stage

Ticketmaster asked me to write a review on "Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story Onstage" for a chance to win a $500 TM gift card. Wow! I can watch about 5 to 8 shows with that! So, gladly, I did.

Dirty Dancing (the musical) is faithful to the film from where it is adapted. It struck a nostalgic note with me since I grew up with the movie & its music.

But it is for that same reason that it felt like watching the same old thing; there is a kind of ho-hum feeling.

Except for one thing: the sets. In keeping with the atmosphere of the movie, the set and production design took an innovative turn.

I especially liked:

• the lake scene where the stage is turned into a big body of water with nets & video of rippling waves;
  
• the car scenes where the actors get inside an actual car and a film of a road taken from the rear is shown behind them;
  
• when the stage turns into one big forest with a video of leaves & trees covering the entire stage;
  
• and the many set changes where props would emerge from above & below, turning the stage setting from interior to exterior & vice versa in sweeping, seamless fashion.

It was also exciting to experience the moves strutted and the music & songs performed live onstage. It was like watching a Dancing with the Stars concert live.

But kudos goes to the production and set design team that make the stage version of Dirty Dancing utterly breathtaking.

Here's a link to Devils & Dancing, the precursor post to Sets Take Center Stage.

Coming Up Daisy

I'm not comfortable with awards. This my night shift colleagues in the unit I used to work in know. And I instructed them never ever to nominate me - for anything - at all.

But there was a group of people I missed to instruct - patients; them who, along with nurses, stand at the front line of their health care battle.

Today I received a Daisy. What exactly is it? In a nutshell, it's an award given to a nurse who has done something extraordinary.

It is bestowed by the hospital where the nurse works, in my case, White Memorial Medical Center, with blessings from the Daisy Foundation.

But primarily and before anything else, a patient or a colleague nominates one who they think deserves it. In my case, it was patients and their families who did.

I never knew what the deal was about the Daisy Award until I read about it. In the website it talks about what the recipient receives and why Daisy cares about nurses.

During the award ceremony, the letters of nomination were read, including details of who the patients were and what the nominee did to deserve the recognition. I could only come up with faint recollection.

It's probably the same on the other end. With many nurses coming in and out of a hospital room, a patient may forget faces, names, acts.

But one thing they will always remember is how a nurse or anyone in the health care team made them feel. It proves the adage: Nobody really cares how much you know until they know how much you care.

It's daunting to be given recognition. From then on, everyone in the workplace look at you in a different light, expect more from you, and look up to you for example.

I guess the only thing to do is say to yourself, "You can live up to it. You once did."

To patients and families who do not allow good deeds to go unnoticed: Thank you for helping us remember how small things and simple acts can make a world of difference.

To millions of nurses on every corner of the world, I believe there is a Daisy hidden in every one of us waiting for the right spring to come.

And once it reaches full blossom, it's only a matter of time before it gets plucked out of obscurity.

{The following thumbnail photo is a link to an online album}.

Daisy

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Photos & video are posted with permission from Eva Guadiz, RN and Elizabeth Powis.

Farewell to the King

The King of Pop died today.

I knew about it while at work. The stunning news was a virtually incessant content of TV as well as conversation. It struck a melancholic chord among my contemporaries and I.

I feel fortunate to have been an 80s kid, growing up with his music, but I have never seen him perform live.

He had a concert in the Philippines in 1996 but I didn't have enough money to watch him then.

When I came to the US about a couple years ago, I vowed to be there once he stages a comeback.

Now I have the means, but the king is no more. I wish I had borrowed money then so I could have seen him in concert.

I have admittedly been bothered by his personal troubles and eccentric behavior but I remain an ardent admirer of his worldly pop music.

He is a great loss to people whose lives he touched and made a little better through the sheer power of his music.