Prayers: Musical Theatre

MUSICAL THEATRE

Dear God of All Arts,

As You know, there are within opera and stage musicals of various kinds, songs which relate to the divine, including the Ave Marias
of Gounoud and Verdi.

In Kurt Weil and Maxwell Anderson's musical Lost in the Stars, the title song,
sung by a saddened clergyman, makes a somewhat despairing cosmic reference, but it feels like a plea for divine assurance, and a touching prayer to me:

Judy Garland

Before Lord God made the Sea and the Land
He held all the stars in the palm of his hand
And they ran through his fingers
like grains of sand
And one little star fell alone.

And the Lord God hunted
through the wide night air
For the little dark star in the wind down there
And he stated and promised
He'd take special care
So it wouldn't get lost again.

Now man don't mind if the stars grow dim
And the clouds blow over and darken him
So long as the Lord God's watching over him
Keeping track how it all goes on ~

But I've been walking through the night,
and the day
Till my eyes get weary and my head turns grey
And sometimes it seems maybe God's gone away
Forgetting the promise that we've heard him say
And we're lost out here in the stars.
Little stars, big stars
Blowing through the night
And we're lost out here in the stars.
Little stars, big stars
Blowing through the night.
And we're lost out here in the stars...

For the musical Carousel, Oscar Hammerstein II, wrote, to the music of Richard Rodgers,
You'll Never Walk Alone, and while he does not explain why you are not alone, I can easily add a subtext: God is walking with you.

Andrew Rieu Orchestra and Singers

When you walk through a storm
Keep your chin up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At he end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.

Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone.

I take great comfort in knowing that You, God,
are out there in the stars with us , and that You are always walking with us, so that we are not lost, or alone, so long as we keep faith with You.

Amen

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