Show Pony

You know those shows that are completely not what you thought they were going to be?  That’s what Show Pony was for me.  I walked in expecting one thing, and not too sure about what we’d be seeing, and I walked out thoroughly impressed and, in a way, changed.  I absolutely love when that happens, honestly…these are the types of shows where I have preconceived notions, and I’m ecstatic that I’m proved wrong.  From the small description I got about Show Pony, I thought I was going to be seeing an entirely different show.  But Irene Molloy gave us this show, and it completely blew me away.

First of all, I have to say that Irene has an amazing singing voice.  This is important to the show we saw.  Because as we watch Irene live her life, we see how important singing is to her, and those around her.  From the start of the show, Irene just draws you in.  Her singing voice and storytelling had me captured pretty much right away.  I absolutely loved the attitude she opened with, and the attitude that kept me spellbound for the next eighty minutes.  Irene is more than just a performer.  She’s someone who has been through so much, and has come out on top.

We start the show with a very young Irene.  There’s a lot in her life that’s pretty dysfunctional.  Her mother only pays attention to her if she starts singing.  It’s the only way she can really please her mom at all…if she does what she’s told.  Her younger sisters get all of the attention.  But everything changes for a young Irene when she starts actually taking singing seriously.  Auditions, being cast in shows…all of a sudden, Irene’s life is changing because she’s getting more and more attention.  There’s such a disconnect between this young woman and her mother, and it’s sort of heartbreaking.

Irene has dealt with so much in her life.  She had an extremely conditional relationship with her mother, who was a major stage mom, which almost destroyed Irene.  She wanted to go to college, but her mom insisted she go the route of Broadway, after Irene lands the lead role in an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (that never made it).  It’s almost hard to remember how much she’s gone through at just eighteen.  She spent so long under her mother’s thumb, so long doing what she was told, that at a young age, she had barely truly lived.

With all that, I really felt for a young Irene, and I felt for an older and older Irene as we heard her story progress.  Irene wanted to do her own thing, but she was never quite allowed to.  I don’t think it’s too much of a surprise that she basically goes off the rails, ending up in LA by herself and trying to live a completely different life.  Irene’s story is true and sad.  What she went through trying to prove herself to everyone…to prove herself to herself is heartbreaking.

When Irene ends up pregnant, a lot of things about life with her own mother resurface, which I think is no surprise.  This is the next step in Irene trying to figure out herself…where she fits in…who she is to all the people in her life.  And her daughter, Naya, changes her life.  The way she treats this baby, the reverence that Irene gives her is amazing.  We saw her change completely with her baby.  And in a way, it’s not only change in her relationship with Naya and Naya’s father, it’s change in her relationship with her own mom.

One of the most beautiful things to me is how Irene changed her path and didn’t become her mother.  It would have been so easy…we all know about circular abuse.  But Naya changed who Irene was in the most beautiful way possible.  And after time away from singing, Irene vows she’ll go back to singing and song writing when Naya goes to college.  And more importantly than anything else, she keeps that vow to herself.  I think that was one of my favorite parts of the play, watching Irene pick up her guitar again.  She was the person she had always wanted to be.

Show Pony was beautiful and heartfelt.  It was a woman telling a story that couldn’t have been easy to tell, and the fact that I got to watch it was an experience I wouldn’t have traded for anything.  I got to watch Irene Molloy grow up and live, in a way, and I felt deeply for her every step of the way.  It takes so much bravery to tell a bunch of strangers all these things that had to have hurt, that just cuts so deep.  I admire Irene for where she came from, and who she is today.  She stood on that stage and showed us everything inside, and by the end, it was all just right.