Once upon a time… there were two women, Nancy and Robin, living in Laguna Niguel, CA., just 5 minutes from each other. They belonged to the same Synagogue, had sons the same age, were both performers from way back, but had never met. Then, one day, the Cantor of their Synagogue called Nancy into her office explaining that there was to be the greatest event in all the land to celebrate the new home for the congregation. She asked Nancy if she would sing and if her mom, Elaine, musician and composer extraordinaire, would create a musical show to entertain at this big event. The Cantor also told Nancy that there was another woman she wanted to include, and her name was Robin.

Upon first meeting, Nancy and Robin were cordial, eyeing each other up and down as two dogs might when they first meet at the dog park. Short of peeing on a tree to claim her territory, Nancy made it very clear which song was to be hers, and Robin paraded about with a very sparkly rhinestone belt buckle that she would one day protest she never wore.

The show was received so well, that Nancy and Robin (soon to become Robin and Nancy) were asked to do a show for an annual dinner the following spring. Necessity being the mother of invention, Elaine, Nancy and Robin created a 45 minute show entitled “These Are The Good Old Days!,” A Musical Sketch Comedy. It was the Carol Burnett Show meets Saturday Night Live, and it was a huge success. So much so, that the three ladies went back to the writing board and it became a 90 minute show called, “Shtick Happens!” “Shtick” played for 3 months in West Hollywood, a month at a dinner theatre in Orange County CA., and at various events from the Bay Area, to Southern California to Minneapolis.

There’s an old saying, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” The journey of creating this show was something these ladies would never have anticipated. It was a life altering experience. Writing and rehearsing for the show was not only creatively enlightening and exhilarating, but personally profound. They laughed so hard they were falling off their chairs, rolling on the floor. They cried singing of their Yiddishe Mammas and to their fathers. They ate cake at midnight, danced until dawn as Robin tried to teach Nancy how to tell her right foot from her left. They sang together in harmony, producing a musical sound that critics called magical. Separately they were great, together they were brilliant.

It was a wonderful run. Then as life happens, the show came to an end but their friendship lived on through thick and thin, because no matter what, they were meant to go through this show called “life” together. In a span of 13 years these two women who were once not sure if they even liked one another, became sisters. Sisters who share a deep unbreakable love and respect for one another.

Now, these two sisters must say goodbye. Well, goodbye to life as they know it. Robin is spreading her wings and flying far away to begin a new life. Undoubtedly, their kinship will continue and will not be diminished by the miles between them; but knowing this doesn’t stop the tears from flowing or make the weight of the loss any lighter.

Nancy will miss Robin terribly and wishes her the ‘happily ever after’ that she so deserves.

Not The End.

Play below to see ‘Shtick’ in action! Here’s to you Robbie!