BILL MESNIK'S SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET PRESENTS: SOME ENCHANTED EVENING BY EZIO PINZA (COLUMBIA, 1958). DEDICATED TO CHEMAYNE HALVERSON (1/6/1967-12/23/2020)

Dedicated to Chemayne Halverson (1/6/1967-12/23/2020)This is a haunting song by Rodgers and Hammerstein, which expresses the indefinable mysteries of romantic love. An interesting word I learned which describes this feeling is “limerence,” which the Oxford dictionary defines as “the state of being infatuated or obsessed with another person, typically experienced involuntarily…” This revelatory gnosis occurred  to me quite early, when I played the character of Emile de Becque, the aging plantation owner, in the Camp Sno Hill production of South Pacific, at the age of eleven or twelve. It goes without saying I was no Ezio Pinza, but I brought the heatSignor Pinza (1892-1957) was an Italian opera singer who made the unlikely late-life transition into musical comedy matinee idol status after retiring, when he delivered this unforgettable ode to romance. Many have had, as I have, this experience of love at first sight. It happened to me when I ran up a theater aisle, threw open the door to the hall, and ran directly into the woman who later became my wife. I still remember her soft warm breath, begging pardon in a Southern inflected voice. Perhaps the romantic fantasies that have been pedaled to us in countless songs, movies, plays, films, and books have created unrealistic expectations. But, I still believe in that life actualizing dream, and Ezio Pinza is one of the reasons why.