By ANN PINSON | For updates, visit Stars and Stripes
Some of us spend our social distancing time lounging in our pajamas, while others spend it singing a coronavirus-themed parody of an aria from “The Phantom of the Opera” in an evening gown and fur coat.
OK, maybe that’s just Emily Cabana. Cabana, a Marine spouse who lives at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, was filmed by neighbors Tuesday singing an altered version of the musical’s “Think of Me.”
The video has drawn thousands of views on Facebook and been widely shared since.
Her family was quarantined because they came into to contact with someone with the coronavirus. One of the other moms on her street knew Cabana was a singer and said in a group chat that she expected a balcony performance after seeing all the videos of that ilk from across the globe.
“Well, with lots of moms agreeing and a bit of pressure put on, I said, ‘Why not?’” Cabana said in a Facebook message to Stars and Stripes on Thursday. “I wanted to just lift everyone’s spirits.”
Cabana, who has one daughter at college in Texas and one who’s in elementary school, decided to tweak the lyrics of the Andrew Lloyd Webber song to include a lot more coronavirus and alcohol, resulting in a balcony performance for amused neighbors that included a beer break and her donning a mask at the end. Her favorite line:
“We never thought COVID-19 would cause this crazy quarantine — but if you can still remember, drop some beer for me.”
Music has led Cabana’s life in lots of unexpected directions through the years.
“I was working in musical theater in NYC, and Fleet Week happened,” she said. “And that’s where I met my Marine pilot.”
And then, one day, the music led to a balcony on an Army installation in Germany.
“I’m just shocked,” she said of the response to the video. “I thought it wasn’t going to be shared any further than my street moms’ Facebook page.”