Changing Lives

It's Frank DiLella with New York One's onstage
We are here for the opening night of Eleanor!: The Eleanor Roosevelt musical

Let's talk process

When I'm in character I go insane
I stagger, I stammer, I sob
I make the audiences feel my pain
And if they don't leave depressed
Then I've not done my job

Each time I find a role like Eleanor
The artist inside of me thrives
I put on that wig and those prosthetic teeth
And know I'm changing lives

By the time I get tuberculosis in act two
Even the people who are dead inside
Will shout "Bravo" on cue (bravo)

The first review is in New Jersey Star Ledger
Don't tell me
Unless it's a rave or a mix positive
It says we're hit, my God!

We're a hit and I think we deserve it
That's for sure
Also it means that this tour de force
Will not be forced to tour

To Eleanor!
May she run for eternity
(To Eleanor!)

Cheers to a show that's so inspiring
It's almost too much to sit through
And if we've won that might mean one more thing
That in ten years or so, we'll do Eleanor 2 (wow)

I can predict what the reviews will say
Before the next note has arrived
It's ground-breaking (Earth-shaking)
Life-affirming (breath-taking)
Gut-wrenching (heart-aching)

In two words it's history-making
That's why every actor strives
For adulation and compensation
That comes from nightly Changing Lives

It's just what we do