Last weekend, after a week spent rambling along and around the highways from Massachusetts and Wisconsin, I headed over to the Orton Park Festival to sit still for a moment and re-acclimate to life in the Midwest. It being 10:00am, I was just in time for the early musical act. I settled in with a magazine amongst a crowd of infants and elders.
Little did I know that - within 24 hours of my return to Madison - the ambient environment would rekindle my passion for this journey of ours.
The act was good - a husband and wife team performing showtunes, both classics and originals, with a combination of real musical talent and irrepressible gusto. Before long, I was neglecting my New Yorker, clapping when they asked me to, and genuinely enjoying myself. How charming, the Midwest, I thought - I had nearly forgotten.
And then they cinched it. "In this next number," the singer announced, "Mrs. Velveeta is yearning for the perfect cheese to feed her picky children."
And it just got better! I wish I had written down the lyrics. All I can recall is the chorus: "Maybe we could wrap it in plastic..."
I imagined this song taking place at a pivotal point for Mrs. Velveeta... For me, it was the perfect reminder of what a quirkily delightful city I live in. And, of course, of the power of cheese.
Onstage, the musicians call themselves The Rohnellaros (check out their Facebook page here!); in the rest of their lives, they are known as Andrew Rohn (composer) and Catherine "Cat" Capellaro (singer/writer). The song they performed was part of their "underground hit" musical, "American Cheese!" (They are better known for their "politico-musical comedy," "Walmartopia," which was produced at the New York Fringe Festival and off-Broadway.)
