I watched him reach up on top of a shelf and take hold of something long and brown to bring down just as I heard Karen say, “Hi! I’m here,” as she opened the screened door to step in.

I turned to look at her with a big smile when I heard a loud noise like a car muffler’s pop and then saw Karen fall back onto the cement, never getting inside the door.

In retrospect, it seemed that when the ball of death started rolling, it wasn’t going to stop. But we didn’t realize the ball started rolling with Charlotte, and it would gain such disastrous momentum.

I didn’t have very high expectations for the two-hour and fifty-five-minute musical, as I wasn’t a history buff like my husband, Marty. But we had heard many great things about it, and so I was eager to see what all the talk was about. I figured I could always doze off if the length got to be too much.

However, from the first few notes of the magnificent voices projected from the stage, the simple background settings, and the period-accurate — I imagined — costumes, I was hooked.