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Kiri Te Kanawa
Beloved Opera Singer
I decided to do Cosi and Don Giovanni side by side. One night would be Don Giovanni, one night would be Cosi fan tutte. One night off. One night it would be Cosi fan tutte and one night it would be Don Giovanni. Night off. I did that four times, and nearly killed myself, because we all did. There was a little bit of a pact amongst us, Tom Allen, and I can't remember who the others were. But we all decided to do these roles, two of them, for Covent Garden. It was like a Covent Garden fest. I think there was most probably (Magic) Flute, Don Giovanni, Cosi and Figaro. I'm not sure if I -- I'm pretty sure I did the Don Giovanni and the Cosi. I can't remember exactly. And in the middle of it, I did the royal wedding. And I thought, "How dumb is this, to have got myself to this stage that I've just actually wiped myself out? There's going to be no voice left." So I went and stayed up in London for two weeks in a hotel. So I'd go and do the performance, I'd walk down back to the hotel. It wasn't very far from Covent Garden. And I'd get in that bed and I'd sleep all day. And I'd get up, get up for air, go and have a meal and go back to bed. And I'd shut up for the whole two weeks and just stayed in bed and sang, bed, sang. And that was it.
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Kiri Te Kanawa
Beloved Opera Singer
Kiri Te Kanawa: When I first auditioned at Covent Garden, I was going and I was singing for English National Opera. And they didn't want me, or they couldn't place me. So I went back to Covent Garden and I sang all sorts of things like Capuleti e i Montecchi. And then they'd say, "Would you please come back and sing this aria?" So I prepared and I'd sing it. Then they'd ask me to sing another aria, so I'd sing that. And then another one and another one. And after nine auditions, I thought, "Can't they make up their mind?" And at any rate, that was it. So I think after all of that time, they were trying to place what my voice was doing, and then finally decided that I would do these smaller roles, along with doing the Countess. And then from that point on, I stayed at Covent Garden for five years.
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Twyla Tharp
Dancer and Choreographer
Twyla Tharp: You called it vision, I call it analyzing what my strengths were. It just so happened there was no market whatsoever for my strength, unless I was interested in becoming a show dancer, for which I tried, but I'm not tall enough. Also, when I auditioned for the Radio City Rockettes they said, "We love your fouettés, but can't you smile?" And things of that nature transpired between me and a commercial future. So, I managed to find a way of subsisting in the beginning by doing odd jobs, Kelly Girl temp work, selling perfume at Macy's, and any and everything to be able to sustain studying and beginning a career with a group of dancers who were willing to devote five years, really, of their lives to me, working very seriously, with complete commitment, for not a penny. This is not a pleasant route for many young people to consider, I would imagine. Either you have to be either hopelessly passionate, I guess is the word that gets devoted here, or very stupid. None of us were very stupid, we were all college graduates, actually. But we all believed that we could make an impact on something that was very important to us, which was dancing and the future of dancing, and what could be accomplished. We determined we would do that.
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Michael Thornton
Congressional Medal of Honor
Thomas Norris: As a result of my injuries I was in the hospital for quite a long period of time. I was operated on for minor surgeries from 1972 through 1975, when I was retired from the military as a result of my injuries. And then I was in for minor surgery through 1978. So my life during that time was pretty much controlled by hospitalization and when I needed to be there for medical treatment. My spirits were very positive. I mean, you know, I was alive! It's just another offset in my physical stature, but you just learn to live with what you have. I mean, I had a very serious injury as Mike explained. A good portion of my head was blown away, which I had to deal with, and which would restrict me from doing some of the things that I would normally otherwise be able to do. But in the whole realm of things, when you look at the injury I received, compared to injuries I'd seen while you were overseas where you see devastation and people torn to pieces -- I mean, my injury was insignificant. I mean, it's just something that happened. Now that it happened, you know, let's make the best of it and get on with your life. So that's kind of the way I viewed it.
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