When I was nine years old, I was cast as Duffy in Annie with the Diablo Light Opera Company.  It was in the midst of the early 1980’s fervor for that wildly successful new musical. At the time, every little girl clamored to be on stage wearing that curly red wig, hugging that shaggy blond dog and belting their brains out. But ironically, I was not one of them.

I am a recovering opera singer. My recovery involves finding my way back home to my first love of American Musical Theater…