The wonders around us: tall trees and local theater

In 2005, Richard Preston wrote a fabulous story in The New Yorker about what happens if you climb to the top of ancient redwood trees. There is a secret world thriving up there. He wrote a whole book about it, “The Wild Trees.”

In the 1990s a few people pioneered the climbing and exploration of the redwood canopy and were astounded at what they found. Over the centuries some of the trees have broken off at the top, centuries of wind and storms have caused up to as much as 3 feet of soil to accumulate in spots 250 feet up in the air. There, in the California coastal mists, huckleberries and other trees, some as tall as 30 feet in their own right, start to take root. Little animals and unique plants join the crowd and they thrive. The high-altitude show has been going on for centuries and no one knew because only recently did someone bother to check it out.

Valley Performing Arts is a similar show in our midst noticed by too few. Like the redwood treetops, most folks know about it, but not that many bother to inspect it up close. Live theater in this borough is a bargain, and there is no comparison to the feelings it can instill when done well. It is usually done very well at the Machetanz Theatre in Wasilla.

Earlier this fall VPA took on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Carousel.” Musicals are hard to do well, especially because it is often hard to find male singers. There is nothing worse than a musical with bad singing. If you missed this show, and most borough residents did, then you lost an opportunity to be in awe of your neighbors. I don’t particularly like the story line of the play. However, live music is what television or even a movie theater can never duplicate. Director Grant Olson found not one or two musical talents, but a roomful. The live orchestra — not piped music, but real instruments — made the room vibrate and the escape from whatever you were thinking about before you sat down began. The curtain had not even lifted and I was happy.

Then the singers started to do their thing. Eden Barrington, Blaine Lee, Garry Forrester, Dave Nufer … and I should just stop naming names. I know there were others, and it’s not fair to name some and not all, but the point is there were many who really can sing. I will name one more because when Mary Olsen sings I melt. In another VPA musical, “Oliver,” her voice resonated as the Rose Seller. I mean, wow! Enough about her, she’s great and I’m married. Back to the revue. “Carousel” went from fun to fabulous when the whole cast sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in a chorus. I was ready to march on the Bastille.

The VPA should be sold out for every performance like “Carousel,” yet one block away the Parks Highway was bustling with traffic and people were zipping right on by. The VPA is not a government operation. It is a group of dedicated volunteers who have labored for more than a quarter of a century to make sure that the “show does go on.” It will survive and thrive even if attendance does not change markedly. However, there are more people in this borough who would be pleased at the discovery of VPA if they would just try it once. Now they are performing Agatha Christie’s murder mystery “Spider’s Web,” yet another good performance.

In the October issue of National Geographic the featured cover article is “The Tallest Trees” that features yet another glimpse into the “Forests in the Air” on pages 54 and 55. I would venture to guess that because of that story a lot of people suddenly learned about something new and wonderful. It was always there, and now life is a little richer for a few more people. Climb a tree, go to the theater, check out the wonders around you.

Talis Colberg is mayor of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.