The World is a Song

I realize that virtually every other blogger in the world has already weighed in on the gathering Susan Boyle phenomenon, but it was only Peenee's ruminations on the subject that finally this morning persuaded me to watch. And weep.

It hardly seems plausible in this low world that she could be real, this sweet lady from the Scottish council estate. I hope she is, just as I hope that, now the world is going mad around her, she gets everything she needs to clean up financially, do the best and most interesting things she can artistically, and keeps from getting lost in the midst of it all. She has a brother who's looking after her, and presumably that's a good thing.

The seven-minute clip (some or all of which has now been seen by untold millions of people) is actually the longest I have ever been exposed to this or any "reality" program - they broke big just as I left the States, and I've never bothered to catch up. I don't feel like I've missed much, based on the melisma-crazed shouters, spastic dancing celebrities, and Z-list oddities I read about.

Neither do I usually latch on to the latest everybody's-e-mailing-it video thing. It's interesting, though, that several of the most recent viral videos have had this link to something I do care so much about: musical theatre. Last week it was "Do-a-Deer" in a Belgian train station; this week Les Mis. What's next? I'm guessing kittens re-enacting the Balcony Scene from Evita, or maybe a version of "Oklahoma!" by a Zambian third-grade class.

And what will we hear Susan sing next? I'm being quite serious when I say I believe she could do a chilling "Angie Baby."