Sam I Was by Sam Wessel

This weekend was my first weekend living in Salt Lake City.

I enjoyed myself. It was chill and artsy fartsy.

Friday night I went to the Salt Lake Acting Company to see Sam I Was . It was a beautifully written musical memoir about a 21 year old guy who gets Leukemia. There were a few places that needed to be tweaked--some chords that didn't sit quite right. It was a staged reading that involved a few well placed kick lines. The talented guy who wrote the musical--Sam Wessel--played---Sam! (I know, I know. . . .)

The play was irreverent in some places and incredibly touching in other places. I imagine being a non-LDS gay guy in Logan, Utah might create moments of animosity towards the LDS community in a person, but I'm generally bugged by angry attacks at my church. Granted, I actually sort of understood where he was coming from. During the offending scene, Donny and Marie Osmond visit him in the hospital to invite him to come to Sacrament Meeting. Then they do a song about how if you just take the Sacrament, you can sin all you want during the week and still go to heaven. It's obviously wrong, but it was a nicely exaggerated criticism of a common attitude among a lot of Christians. So...it's hard to fault it. But it did make me cringe a bit.

He personified his cancer in the form of a hilarious large bear. As he's going through chemotherapy, a fat guy in a gold vest with his belly poking out represents watching his svelte figure turn into a puffy gay lounge singer. As the chemo entered his body, the bear left and a new friend came a long--this time a woman named "death". Or more appropriately "dying"--since death is only a moment and dying is the real torture.

There's another great scene when his "friends" all come over to visit him after he gets out of the hospital and they've all shaved their heads. They get a little ticked off when they realize that he hadn't lost his hair.

His parents are wonderfully supportive and there are some amazing songs that his parents sing coping with the stress of caring for a child as he faces cancer.

I went to see the show with my good friend Gamyr. I'm so glad he suggested we see it! The show was sold out. It's always good to see quality work well supported. I can't wait to see a fully produced version of the show. It's a great addition to the theatre.





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