From Triumph to Tragedy
Mar. 7th, 2018 12:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrdreamjeansA well-reviewed concert version of the musical "Chess" just opened and closed in Washington, DC. The production featured two friends of mine, Raul Esparza and Bradley Dean, in leading roles. For me, it was a tale of two Che's. Raul and I toured for two years, 1998-1999, in "Evita". Raul was Che.
Bradley was my next Che on the national tour of "Evita" from 2004 to 2006. Both Raul and Brad's careers have soared since our touring days. Raul has appeared in multiple Broadway shows, received multiple Tony nominations and he's spent the past couple of years on the long running television series Law & Order SVU. Brad has appeared in two or three Broadway shows during that time including "The Last Ship". Both men are charismatic, mercurial actors who are fantastic singers. I don't pretend close friendships with either man, but we are friends and I am happy for their success. Both have gone through divorces since we worked together, so not everything has been golden for either man.
I bring up "Chess" because something horrific happened two days ago to one of its stars. You may have read about two mothers who were walking with their children in Brooklyn, NY who were hit by a car driven by a woman who ran a redlight. Ruthie Ann Miles, Broadway actress who played Svetlana in "Chess" was hit by the car, her four-year old daughter dragged under the car and killed. The other woman was also hit and her baby killed. Both mothers are critically injured; Ruthie Ann is pregnant. The Broadway community has come together in support of Ruthie in the aftermath.
I'm sitting here in Minneapolis reflecting on how quickly triumph can turn to tragedy, stunned by the violence that suddenly entered Ruthie Ann's life. "Chess" ended on February 28th. A week later, Ruthie's life was upended. How will she overcome the death of her four-year old in such a violent manner? The driver has been cited several times for running red lights. She has a history of seizures and yet continued to get behind the wheel. No, I don't know Ruthie; but her connection to friends and membership in the Broadway community, brings her tragedy closer to home. I mourn for her, hope she can find some way back from this horror.
These thoughts lead me to a philosophy that was laid out for me in a book I finished yesterday. The book is "A Distant View of Everything" by Alexander McCall Smith. Set in Scotland, the book's protagonist, Isabel Dalahousie, owns and publishes a small philosophy journal. She is prone to internal flights of fancy. Following an accident where she offers to help the victim with whom she has no connection and is rebuffed, she muses about the theory of "moral proximity". How to describe Isabel's private theory of moral proximity? It's "the basis of those obligations that come into existence when we (find) ourselves close enough to others to be able to witness or feel their needs, or when we (are) in some other way linked to their plight."
"We (cannot) deal with all of the suffering or need in the world, but we could - and should- deal with the sliver of suffering that (is) reasonably close to us. We could not ignore the needs of our immediate neighbor, with whom we would obviously be in moral proximity; when it came to the needs of people whose identity we did not know, with whom we had no dealings and whom we did not actually see, then any moral obligation to them would be harder to justify ..."
So, today I am a bit sad. I find I am touched by Ruthie Ann's tragedy as one of moral proximity. I do not know her; but, I do know her friends and thus feel linked to her plight. Last week she was triumphing on stage; today, she lays in a hospital bed, injured and grieving the loss of her child.
Bradley was my next Che on the national tour of "Evita" from 2004 to 2006. Both Raul and Brad's careers have soared since our touring days. Raul has appeared in multiple Broadway shows, received multiple Tony nominations and he's spent the past couple of years on the long running television series Law & Order SVU. Brad has appeared in two or three Broadway shows during that time including "The Last Ship". Both men are charismatic, mercurial actors who are fantastic singers. I don't pretend close friendships with either man, but we are friends and I am happy for their success. Both have gone through divorces since we worked together, so not everything has been golden for either man.
I bring up "Chess" because something horrific happened two days ago to one of its stars. You may have read about two mothers who were walking with their children in Brooklyn, NY who were hit by a car driven by a woman who ran a redlight. Ruthie Ann Miles, Broadway actress who played Svetlana in "Chess" was hit by the car, her four-year old daughter dragged under the car and killed. The other woman was also hit and her baby killed. Both mothers are critically injured; Ruthie Ann is pregnant. The Broadway community has come together in support of Ruthie in the aftermath.
I'm sitting here in Minneapolis reflecting on how quickly triumph can turn to tragedy, stunned by the violence that suddenly entered Ruthie Ann's life. "Chess" ended on February 28th. A week later, Ruthie's life was upended. How will she overcome the death of her four-year old in such a violent manner? The driver has been cited several times for running red lights. She has a history of seizures and yet continued to get behind the wheel. No, I don't know Ruthie; but her connection to friends and membership in the Broadway community, brings her tragedy closer to home. I mourn for her, hope she can find some way back from this horror.
These thoughts lead me to a philosophy that was laid out for me in a book I finished yesterday. The book is "A Distant View of Everything" by Alexander McCall Smith. Set in Scotland, the book's protagonist, Isabel Dalahousie, owns and publishes a small philosophy journal. She is prone to internal flights of fancy. Following an accident where she offers to help the victim with whom she has no connection and is rebuffed, she muses about the theory of "moral proximity". How to describe Isabel's private theory of moral proximity? It's "the basis of those obligations that come into existence when we (find) ourselves close enough to others to be able to witness or feel their needs, or when we (are) in some other way linked to their plight."
"We (cannot) deal with all of the suffering or need in the world, but we could - and should- deal with the sliver of suffering that (is) reasonably close to us. We could not ignore the needs of our immediate neighbor, with whom we would obviously be in moral proximity; when it came to the needs of people whose identity we did not know, with whom we had no dealings and whom we did not actually see, then any moral obligation to them would be harder to justify ..."
So, today I am a bit sad. I find I am touched by Ruthie Ann's tragedy as one of moral proximity. I do not know her; but, I do know her friends and thus feel linked to her plight. Last week she was triumphing on stage; today, she lays in a hospital bed, injured and grieving the loss of her child.
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Date: 2018-03-07 10:44 pm (UTC)Terrible news about Ruthie Ann and her daughter, just terrible.
I do recognize Raul Esparza from various things on TV. He's memorable.
Hugs through this sadness. It just never ends.