It’s a beauty of a morning at my Perch with breeze blowing off the Atlantic’s sun dappled waters. Feel like singing, twirling about (cautiously) on the deck, arms spread wide like Julie Andrews in the opening scene of The Sound of Music, only I’d belt out Oklahoma’s, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’.” I could and would if I didn’t like my neighbors and care about property values.

Wednesday, on a whim, I cued up at the North Shore Music Theatre to grab a last minute ticket to see Oklahoma. It was a matinee performance with the audience populated mostly by white, gray, blue and no hair folks. I felt right at home.

The show had me at “Oh!” when Curly entered the stage on horseback, a real horse, with Curly singing like it truly was, “A beautiful mornin’!” After the initial shock and delight, I found myself hoping the horse didn’t do something unscripted. I blame my momentary worry on an old Carol Burnett show when I watched a horse lift his tail and ad lib on live TV, something meant to be done only in private.

Well, it did me good to sit among some hard-of-hearing who hummed and sang along, at times. It’s that kind of musical, until you get to the song I forgot was in it, “Pore Jud is Dead.” I left that one alone.

Turns out the gentleman seated next to me had turned back the ticket I bought. He, long time subscriber, welcomed me and offered me his VIP pass to use the restroom at half-time, or intermission, to some who aren’t into sporting events. I felt a little odd when he said, “I’ll go with you.”

The VIP pass allows one to use a restroom without a block-long line. They also served free  drinks and other refreshments in an adjacent Bistro, which I chose not to partake of since I didn’t want to leave half way through the second half. While my escort waited outside the door marked W, I wondered if I gave off signals, especially since one of the more famous songs is, “I’m Just a Girl Who Cain’t Say No.” Well, I said “No” to the drinks and nothing else was asked of me.

All in all, it gave me a lift to go to Oklahoma for a good part of the afternoon. As I was leaving the theatre I overhead one old lady(my age) complaining, “There was just so much music and dancing.” To which her friend responded, “Well, it was a musical, after all.”

Yes, it was.

While the Baptist in me stymies the dancing, I’m still singing,”Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’!”

And it is.

And I wish you a beauty of a day, as well.

Neither horse nor VIP pass needed.