Ace

Last year, I wasn’t as updated as I usually was, but I saw the announcement of A Life in Notes, and that was it — I was back in the deep end. Around 12:30 am on July 19, I was watching LWL on YouTube. Then an ad popped up, “PATTI LUPONE IN BANFF JULY 20, 2024”. I ignored it at first because I thought it was fake, but it popped up again, so I looked at it, AND THIS BITCH WAS SHOCKED TO THE CORE BECAUSE IT WAS LEGIT.

Without thinking, I reached for my wallet and bought a ticket — THE VERY LAST TICKET ON THE ORCHESTRA. I didn’t have plane tickets and hotel room, but I didn’t care because I WAS GONNA SEE PATTI LUPONE FOR FUCKS SAKE. So I spent the wee hours searching for cheap plane tickets and a hotel room. By around 4 am, I had my plane and bus tickets, a hostel bed, and my outfit planned. All that’s left is to lie to my boss and tell my mom.

My work ended at 10 pm that day, but I had an early 6 am flight to Calgary, so I didn’t sleep. After a short flight and a 2-hour bus ride, I was officially in the same town as Patti Ann LuPone. I arrived at the theatre around 7:30, and by 8 sharp, there she was, in all her 5 foot 2 glory, wearing the black suit with the plunging neckline. I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh or smile.

She charmed everyone in that room. The songs were randomly selected, but the theatre gods smiled upon me that day. It was 11 o’clock numbers after the other, the first being Don’t Cry For Me Argentina and the last being Meadowlark. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better setlist and repartee. I couldn’t believe that I was in that reality.

After the concert, I waited for my taxi and couldn’t stop smiling. I was grinning so hard that my cheeks started to hurt. Some people on the sidewalk who saw me definitely thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care. I had to leave Banff at 5 am the next day to catch my 7:30 am flight back to Vancouver. I was again sleep deprived, but who cares? I was so happy that I started yapping to my mom again after giving her the cold shoulder for seven months.