Samantha’s first one woman show at the Triad (6/23/22) was a big success with a full house. Three years later she is performing once again at Saint James Church in the Village (9/12/25).Why did we wait so long? Why now?
We’ve been busy with health issues—his and hers back surgeries, breast cancer, hip replacement, wrist surgery. A nightmare of emotional, physical and financial exhaustion made it impossible for Howard and me until now. Life has not been easy for Samantha either. Despite her best efforts and numerous auditions, she has not been cast nearly as much as she would have liked. Yet she refuses to give up on her dreams or talent, so neither have we.
Her current singing coach, Ellie Pope, is proud of Samantha’s new skills and wants to showcase her improvements. Our daughter is over the moon excited! She has chosen new songs from a variety of genres and wants to share her bigger and better voice with the world.
Who would have thought my podiatrist would lead us to such a wonderful voice coach? After removing a corn from my toe, the foot doctor contacted her friend, Valentin Peytchinov, an international voice coach, who agreed to evaluate Samantha. Not a flatterer, Valentin opined that my daughter “has a voice, but there’s a wobble in it because no one taught her to use her voice properly.” Even worse, he predicted, “she will destroy her vocal chords if she doesn’t learn the right way to sing.”
Scary, right? Unfortunately, we couldn’t hire Valentin because he was too expensive and lived too far away. Instead we hired Ellie, his less expensive (but wonderful) assistant who teaches Valentin’s method.
As with most things, Samantha HATES change.
“Why do I have to change coaches? I love Heidi.”
“I love her too, but Valentin says you are ruining your vocal chords and have a wobble in your voice. Do you want that?”
“No. But I love my voice coach. I don’t want to hurt her feelings. Why can’t Heidi teach me to get rid of the wobble?”
Everything is a careful negotiation. “Heidi doesn’t know Valentin’s method, or you would have learned it already. You’ll still keep her as your wonderful acting coach. Anyway, Heidi was only filling in as a voice coach until we could replace the last one who quit. I’ll do my best to explain and I’m sure she will understand.”
Making the transition was not easy-peasy, but we are all happy with the result. We are super impressed with Ellie, who has an autistic younger sister, and therefore more patience with Samantha’s insecurities and meltdowns than her previous coach who quit.
Samantha has already memorized almost all of the 18 songs on her playlist for the show. As she likes to say, she is almost “ready spaghettis” for her big night. Our Santa Barbara rental home will be filled with Samantha singing and rehearsing on Zoom with her voice coach (not a pianist). IMG_3601 IMG_3601
As her super proud momager, I’m hoping that many of Samantha’s fans and supporters will show up to cheer for her.
If you haven’t bought tickets yet for Samantha’s one night only solo performance, you can purchase them on-line at the link below.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daring-to-dream-tickets-1493379541409?aff=oddtdtcreator
Stay tuned! 
Marguerite Elisofon is a New York City writer and the author of My Picture Perfect Family, a memoir about how her family navigated life with a child on the autistic spectrum before the internet and support groups existed. She also blogs about parenting young adults and disability related issues in The Never Empty Nest. Her writing has been featured in a variety of publications, including Time and NY Metro Parents magazine, and her family’s story has been featured by the NY Post, Fox News, The Daily Mail, and on Jenny McCarthy’s Dirty Sexy Funny radio show. A Vassar graduate, Marguerite was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives with her husband, Howard, in their mostly-empty nest. She is available to speak about a wide variety of issues relating to twins, parenting, and autism. 