Going to See God at the Old Vic

I, like every other curious child, wondered what God looked like and what he sounded like. I had decided early on what heaven looked like, but God was much harder. My Heaven is green with Heidi-esque snow capped mountains and clear babbling streams. There are lambs and puppies and the odd cow in my heaven. There is a pub. Of course there is a pub. And a Krispy Kreme. I always imagined it to have this wonderful open air home for the aged where the smiling gentle souls of my grandparents and great- grandparents sit and tell stories and sing favorite hymns for the newcomers. My heaven has a great orchestra of Mahler's imagination filled with horns and an enormous pipe organ. In my heaven, my Dad sits for hours debating nuclear physics with Einstein, and sharing witticisms with Mark Twain and Will Rogers.

God is harder to imagine.  I think I long gave up on imagining what God looks like, but still God has to have a voice. God's voice has to  have the resonant deep timbre found in basso profundo performances of Russian choral music. He has to speak with absolute authority, yet exude a quiet tenderness as well.  God must know how to sing. I cannot imagine a tone deaf God trying to belt out the great hymns of Wesley. I think he might be Welsh. The all-male choirs in Wales can make the most insipid tune inspirational.  I don't imagine God has a tenor voice..no offence to tenors, but it would be like having Alvin the Chipmunk play Darth Vader.

And there it is. God's voice is the same voice as Darth Vader; specifically James Earl Jones. I first heard what I imagined God's voice to sound like on Sesame Street of all places. It was 1969 and I was five. God was counting to ten.  He then recited the alphabet. From that moment, God was James Earl Jones. When he stated with authority he was Luke's father, I knew it must be so. There is not a shred of doubt that "THIS is CNN"....whatever THIS is.

John and I are travelling to London tomorrow night to see God, aka James Earl Jones along with Vanessa Redgrave perform in Much Ado About Nothing. The performance will take place at the Old Vic, a theatre with a vast, rich history. Sir John Gielgud and Sir Laurence Olivier performed here. Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judi Dench have graced the stage. The Old Vic is now under the artistic direction of Keven Spacey. I cannot be more excited!

 John was concerned that we couldn't get close enough for my terrible eyes to see as well as he would like. No worries to me. I would pay large sums to go hear God...ahem, James Earl Jones,  read the phone book. Can you imagine what bedtime must have been like for his son?  Harold and the Purple Crayon must have sounded amazing.

I will be disappointed when I get to heaven and God's voice is not James Earl Jones'. In the meantime, I plan on enjoying my bit of heaven on earth tomorrow night.