SONG OF THE DAY
“For Good” from the musical Wicked, Decca Broadway, 2003. Written by Stephen Schwartz. Performed by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth on the original broadway cast recording.
A TRIBUTE
Today was the funeral of an amazing woman, Kelly Goff, a smart and sassy eighteen year old that I was blessed to have in my life through her friendship with my sister, Caitlin. Caitlin and Kelly met doing the same theatre group I was a part of in high school, and am an active alumni member of today. In fact, when they were both in fifth grade, unbeknownst to them, they sat in the same audience and watched my senior year performance of Hattie in “Kiss Me, Kate”. I probably mesmerized them ;). The show made Kelly want to do theatre, and Caitlin follow in her older siblings footsteps, and I’m not sure that in the time they had together in high school, they ever realized that they shared that moment years ago as kids. And theatre they did. Nothing ever stopped Kelly–her muscular dystrophy and scoliosis were her body but never her spirit or mind. She was so fun and funny to work with during those shows, as my sister, mother and I found out in the best of ways during those shows we all worked on together.
Kelly and Caitlin’s friendship was based on two things: the undeniable wit and sharp sense of humor shared by both and pointed at many, and their deep, entrenched love of music and sharing music with others. Last year, they went to a Killers concert together, and had a hilarious running joke about going all in on the whole polygamy husband-sharing thing with the hot mormon lead singer, Brandon Flowers (he’s the picture for this post)
Today, I present to you the playlist Caitlin made this past week in honor of Kelly. Songs they bonded over and loved together, songs that will always remind Caitlin of her amazing friend, Kelly. I start the playlist with two versions of “For Good” from the musical Wicked. It was Kelly’s favorite song from a musical she was crazy about, and high school choir members performed it at both her funeral and her vigil. The lyrics seem like they were written for this weekend and for Kelly. Even if you never met her, I hope you can learn from the life of a woman who was never embarrassed to ask for help, never showed hesitation for who she was or what she looked like, and never let anyone tell her she couldn’t do something—whether it was a class trip to NYC with many subway rides or going to college in Florida or being producer of her high school musical or going to dances or being a student leader or anything. Last night after the funeral, I said that Kelly was probably dancing in heaven as we speak, but Caitlin and her friends disagreed—she was bungee jumping, for sure.
- For Good – from the musical Wicked
- Human – The Killers
- Seasons of Love – from the musical Rent
- I’ll Cover You (Reprise) – from the musical Rent
- Blackbird – The Beatles
- Andy, You’re A Star – The Killers
- If I Ever Leave This World Alive – Flogging Molly
- Lost – Coldplay
- You’ll Be In My Heart – Phil Collins
- I Will Follow You Into The Dark – Death Cab For Cutie
- See You Soon – Coldplay
- Other Way – Trevor Hall
- Wonderwall – Oasis
- Stop Crying Your Heart Out – Oasis
- Open Your Eyes – Snow Patrol
VIDEOS OF THE DAY
Click here.