Many years ago, I met and started doing shows with and for the fabulously talented Pamela Hall.

(Here’s a link to a recent article on Pamela, while she was directing off-Broadway’s Danny and Sylvia.  http://stlukestheatre.com/2012/01/19/7108/)

What the article fails to mention is Pamela and her husband Ed Gaynes (the original Slightly in the Mary Martin Peter Pan!), ran a dinner theater and then an Equity Waiver theater in Souther California. Pamela performed and directed, and Ed produced (Ed is still producing and managing some theaters in So.Cal., while Pamela is mainly directing in NYC).

Anyhow, I met Pamela and Ed during their dinner theater days, and Pamela taught me many valuable lessons. The best was:

“No one is as interested in hearing you sing the song as you think they are. Pick up the tempo.”

So fucking true.

Even now, whether I am performing or watching a performance, I can see Pamela pounding her fist into her leg and yelling “Pick up the tempo!”

I am very happy that the Vocal Director for Irene (the fabulously talented Jesse Sanchez) is of the same school of thought.

And I think this applies to many things in life – just remember, everybody has someplace else to be – so keep it moving folks, and

PICK UP THAT TEMPO!