(Music) Hi everyone I'm Olga Villaverde
and I'm Amber Milt, good morning and
welcome to The Balancing act.
For over a century
Peter Pan has hooked audiences all over
the world.
Today our Broadway Across
America series continues with Finding
Neverland as we learned just what
happens when you believe you can fly, and
speaking of believing the power of
positive thinking, we're going to meet a
man who's fighting Lou Gehrig's disease
it's a behind the mystery you don't want
to miss.
So if you need a little inspiration
before you head out this morning stay
with us the balancing act starts right
now.
Broadway balances America brought to you
by Broadway Across America bringing the
best of Broadway to a city near you.
Time now for another installment of
Broadway balances America and today we
are flying to Neverland.
Love it at
least metaphorically.
Based on the
Academy award-winning film of the same
name Finding Neverland it's an innovative musical just
beautiful the features strong women both in
front of and behind the scenes.
Packed with
mesmerizing visuals, irresistible songs
and plenty of laughs Finding Neverland
is a timeless story about the power of
imagination and spectacular proof that
you never really have to grow up.
It took courage for playwright JM
Barrie to stage his work for London
theater goers in the early 1900s but his
history has proven it was a risk worth
taking.
Finding Neverland is the story of how
Peter became Pan and if it weren't for
JM Barrie and that writer's imagination
and his courage to write something like
nothing had written have been written
before you know a story about a boy who
wouldn't grow up, children could fly, an
island with mermaids and pirates, where
kids ruled the roost.
Finding Neverland tells the story of how
this classic story has come into our
lives.
Tony winner Diane Paulus knows a
thing or two about staging a captivating
play and as JM Barrie found out it
really does begin with the story.
This theme of never growing up
captures kids, captures adult
it certainly has captured me you know a
lot in my 40s.
I think it's this idea of
what we have as children an abandon an
enjoyment of being in the moment of
playing that we lose as we get older and
I think people have come to see Finding
Neverland and I've seen them rediscover
their inner child.
Laura Michelle Kelly originated the role
of Sylvia Llewellyn Davis on Broadway,
what I love about my character is that
she's very forward-thinking you know
she's very she's inappropriate for her
time, she was born before her time and she
kind of stood up for the lives of her
children and that's what I love about
her she's very progressive woman for her
time.
Another progressive woman is
three-time Emmy Award winning choreographer Mia Michaels who
is helping bring the story to a
high-flying life.
I think it comes from concept it
comes from story, it comes from character,
comes from music, music for me is my
biggest inspirational source, it tells me
the place in which I need to begin the
creative process, the tone of it the the
feel of it.
Is it quirky?
Is it, is it
funny?
Is it sad?
Is it emotional?
What what is it moving.
The collaboration of
these three women on this original
musical has proven moving indeed.
[Music] [Music]
I made Finding Neverland from my heart
this was a story that I wanted to give
to audiences and by audiences I mean my
own daughters, to parents, to people who
are struggling in their lives with, how
can they be their truest self?
How can you redefine sense of family?
How do you make it through a hard time?
It's a beautiful story where people
really get to engage with what is on the
other side of this life and what is it
about our imagination that's a strong and
powerful and how do you get in awaken the
child inside and I think that's why
people keep coming back again and
again.
Okay well one of the lyrics is when
you believe you can fly and I grew
up watching you know iconic women
is Peter Pan flying around the stage are
we going to see that in Finding
Neverland?
It's going to be flying that is made by
humans people people lifting people and
it's much more organic and much more
I find much more emotional because you
see the humans lifting humans and
they're flying and and you see the struggle of
a human trying to lift another human and
it comes from inside more than
anything because if you if you believe
you can you can.
Now historically the role of
Peter Pan has been played by iconic
women like Mary Martin, Cathy Rigby, sandy
Duncan, I don't suppose there's any shot
for me?
Maybe Tinkerbell?
Produced by Harvey
Weinstein with an original score by
noted composer Gary Barlow and Grammy
Award winner Eliot Kennedy a book by
celebrated playwright James Graham the
play within the play has universal
appeal single, married, young or not it's
a story for all to enjoy.
It's about feeling alive whether you're
a kid or you're an adult finding your
inner child so I am hoping that audiences across America come to
this show and use it it's a place to
touch your heart, feel alive laugh and
cry be with your families, because it's
a great show you know for kids for
grandparents for parents.
It's really a show that spans
across ages in terms of its appeal.
Please go see the show it's very it's a
very special show it's not a typical
Broadway show it's not this the tone of
it, the message of it, the spirit of it,
the dance of it, it's very unique it has
its own thing and so to be able to share
it with you know America all across
America is going to be incredible.
The North American tour Finding
Neverland is headed to a theater near you so
check out, broadway balances america,
Broadway across America or go to our website
thebalancingact.com for all the show information
tour dates and more.
[Music]
[Music] It's sometimes called Lou
Gehrig's disease named after the Yankees
baseball player who is the first public
figure to suffer from this debilitating
condition, we're talking about ALS
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, it's a rare
and rapidly progressive
neurodegenerative disease for which there is no
known cure.
This month is ALS awareness month and
today we meet a patient is living with
reality of ALS as we hear in his own
words what it's like.
It's a behind the
mystery take a look.
[music] Well when I get out of bed in
the morning the first challenge is
how to get from a prone position to an
upright position without using my hands
or arms because that's where my weakness
is, there are some things that I
simply cannot do anymore,
it's actually been 3 years that I've
been unable to button the the sleeve of
my right wrist so I ask for assistance
with that.
My tea mug is very simply too
heavy for me to lift so my adaptation is I drink
through drink it through a straw, the
hardest thing for me to know is exactly
when I'm going to stop being able to do
things.
I remember about a year ago
identifying what I called the big 4.
Which was the
ability to drive the ability to clean
myself to dress myself and to feed
myself.
My name is Steven Winthrop I'm 58 years
old I was diagnosed with ALS at the end
of 2013.
ALS stands for a very complicated name
called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis we
call it ALS it's less of a mouthful
historically it's been called Lou
Gehrig's disease worldwide it's often called
motor neuron disease.
ALS tends to strike you later in life
you've been healthy for you know decades
I mean ALS does get diagnosed with
people in their 20s but historically
it's more common to be diagnosed in your
40s or 50s and symptoms come out of
nowhere.
My very first symptoms they were nearly
six years ago when I noticed some muscle
twitching in my left forearm, no pain
just a twitch that wouldn't seemingly go
away but along the way I discovered
that a lot of the muscles in my left
hand left arm were weaker than the muscles
in my right, which is particularly odd
because I'm a lefty.
Every story for an als patient is
different but they're all tragic outcomes I mean this is a
relentless disease once symptoms start it
doesn't matter if it starts in your
hands, your legs, bulbar it is relentless it
progresses from that point on and right
now we don't have an effective treatment
that slows that process down.
When we first were told definitively by
a doctor that I had ALS I had a pretty
good idea that this was coming, the
impact on me and my family when we got
the news was devastating.
My wife and I
had two teenage daughters toughest day
in my life was the the day about four
days after my diagnosis when my wife and
I sat down with our two kids and told
them what ALS was.
My advice for patients
to prepare for what's going to happen with
ALS, is first of all to be to be educated enough to really
understand how how hard it might be, if they're
going to fight that battle to the end
then be prepared and understand to get
ahead of every possible thing because the
earlier you do interventions, the slower
the disease is going to progress.
It was within a few weeks of my diagnosis that my wife and I
realized that we had to make some changes
in her lives, particularly the space we
were living in.
There were several features to
the house, doors, windows others that we
deliberately designed to help me on my
journey.
The advice I would give to
anybody afflicted by ALS or a similar
condition is to think about ease of
movement through a space so we don't have
any scatter rugs in the house all it
takes is a quarter of an inch to
qualify as a tripping hazard we don't have
any thresholds that somebody could
trip over we have features like sand rails
on both sides of every stairwell, many
of the doors around the house have a
sensor inside the wall all I have to do
is move my shoulder so the sensors that
are inside the walls will activate
the motor that opens the door.
We've also incorporated a lot of very
simple features in the house having
doorknobs that are not knobs but levers
and also all of the outlets in the house
are about 15 inches off the ground
instead of being way down at shoe level.
We wanted a space that would be
easy for me to move through without using
too much energy.
So the earlier you can think
about you know how are you going to
intervene how you're going to keep your
quality of life up how you're going to
keep your family involved without what
are your caretakers need to look like
those are all decisions that they people
tend to try to make as early as they can
to keep their quality of life up and be
around with their family as long as they
can.
A qualified caretaker as an ALS
patients best friend it's a critical
component of your journey with ALS.
The caregivers of people with ALS are
the real heroes, my wife her life has
been permanently changed, the position
that I'm in at this stage of the disease
is that I know that's only going to get
harder with time.
I do have hope that I
will be alive to see the big breakthroughs that are I think
really some of them just around the
bend.
I think patients like Steven and the
entire ALS community should have a lot
of hope right now we know more about
this disease today than we did ten years
ago and the information that we've
accumulated in the last ten years to
understand this disease is larger than
the previous hundred years of what we
understood about ALS.
So we are at the ALs therapy Development
Institute in Cambridge Mass we have
26,000 square feet of lab space where
the largest Research Institute dedicated
to finding a treatment and a cure for
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS and
that really has permeated the culture of
ALS TDI for since our inception and
we're recognized as the world leaders in
the group that really systematically is
trying to understand how ALS starts, how
the symptoms first appear, how the
disease progresses and how we might
develop potential treatments that's
going to slow that process down and
eventually lead to a cure, and because we
understand the disease we are much more
rigorously testing potential treatments
it could end up in patients and I think
we're going to start to see the first
ones of those very very soon.
Anybody who's exposed to ALS wants to
learn as much as they can about the
disease as quickly as they can, the
amount of knowledge and information
that's out on the on the internet about
ALS is there's more now than there's
ever has been.
I mean we are probably one
of the most comprehensive web sites
around call ALS dot net it's a great
resource to really understand what's
going on in ALS today on a day to day
basis.
my message to patients when they
come into the Institute recently after
getting such a horrible diagnosis is to
make a decision to have hope and battle
this disease it's not going to be an
easy journey but if you're prepared for
the journey and if you get in front of
those things before they happen you're
going to be a lot more prepared in your
quality of life and the impact of your
day to day life is going to be less.
I have a lot of hope that because
of what we know now about ALS compared
to 10 or 20 years ago with the genetics
and the better quality animal models
that we're on the cusp or on the horizon of
those first disease modifying
treatments which is very very exciting.
I am believe in the depths of my soul
that there are people walking the planet
today who are going to see ALS stopped.
It's really just a question of when.
No doubt a story filled with hope
and so much important information that
anyone can use who is living with ALS,
and for more information on this rare
disease you can visit ALS dot net to
hear more from others of ALS or go to our
website thebalancingact.com stay with
us.
[Music]
[Music] If you're buying a home for the
first time.
What happens?
So you probably get a
headache but you really don't have to
welcome to our mortgage 101 mini-series
sponsored by Affinity partnerships and
over the next few weeks John Alexander
and David Villarreal will be with us
sharing their financial expertise, so
good morning to both of you.
Good morning to you.
Gentlemen I know I get it
headache but it doesn't have to be if you
know what to expect.
Right yeah I think
if you're prepared and you understand
what it is that you are going to be
confronted with in terms of your credit
in terms of documentation it should be a
fairly simple process.
And there's the
finances but more to just finances right?
Well there is I mean you need to decide
what you're trying to go after but you
know the documentation the process
getting your taxes together getting your
w-2s will really make this a actually a
pleasant experience if you don't allow
yourself to get intimidated.
And something that one has to think
about if their credit that's a huge
thing.
The credit is always an issue but I
think when you are with a mortgage
professional that can assist you in
terms of qualifying and or remedying
some of the situations with their credit
it's also going to be a worthwhile
opportunity.
And what about down payment
well down payment assistance is available throughout the country
and that is meant to direct you in
an effort to purchase your home without
having to have issues trying to raise the
money for that down payment.
So bottom line for
anyone who wants to get that first home
and live that dream it is possible it
doesn't have to be a headache it can be
easy?
And pleasant.
It doesn't have to be
a stressful experience just you know
gather your information your taxes your
documentation and by the way enjoy the
process ask questions have a good time.
I enjoyed it with you guys today thank
you so much for being here.
Our pleasure.
Thank you so much, we'll see each other son?
Yes.
And to find out more about Affinity
partnership at their site just go to
affinity PS dot com or our website
thebalancingact.com [Music]
[Music] Travel Tips brought you by
Sunoco on the racetrack or the road home.
Driving at night comes with many distractions one of the most
prominent high beams flashing in your
eyes.
Bright lights coming at you or from
behind are annoying and dangerous.
Adjust your
headlights so you're not blinded by
oncoming traffic and vice versa.
Don't stare into oncoming traffic,
instead turn your gaze away from other
approaching car and truck lights.
Bright dash lights distract vision
making it hard to see what's in front of
you so use the dimmer switch.
Clean all mirrors
dirty mirrors diffuse the light from
cars behind you producing glare making
it harder to see.
One of the most
important take frequent breaks, an alert
driver is a safer driver well that's it
for now we'll see you next time and
remember happy trails.
Travel Tips has been brought to you by
Sunoco on the racetrack or the road home
Sunoco fueling victories every day.
Thanks so much for joining us today
hopefully got a little bit of inspiration for your morning and
of course you can head to our
Facebook page and our website we've got lots
more inspiration there.
See you next time.
[Music]