While I have so many wild and wonderful memories of SCT (Demo Hall, the flood, the parakeet, the Apollo Award) my most lasting seems to be that of the July 4th 1990 performance of It’s Me! It’s me! It’s Francis Scott Key written by myself and MSU alum Bill Penn.

It was a gorgeous summer evening – warm, calm, quiet. Key was the second half of a two one-act bill – the first play was The Devil and Daniel Webster directed by Frank Rutledge.

John Baldwin

Key begins with a request to the audience to rise and sing The Star Spangled Banner, but the singing is interrupted by none other than Francis Scott Key (played by Jim Porter) who asks some questions about our National Anthem. Finding answers he believes less than satisfactory, he sets out to tell the spectators, both in song and dance, just how he came about writing it.

After Key’s many trials and tribulations, (most light hearted), the show concludes as the actors one by one begin to recite Key’s poem. In the distance we could see and hear faintly the Lansing City fireworks and then our musical director, Don Graybiel, began to play The Star Spangled Banner.

Sandi Joseph, playing Dolly Madison, stepped forward and her beautiful soprano voice filled the night air with our National Anthem. Without a word or gesture, the audience (some 800 as I remember) began to stand and with hands over hearts, joined in the singing. It was one of the most moving finales it has been my pleasure to experience.