Last weekend, my sister, mother and I indulged in one of our monthly family traditions. It's no secret that I love theater and my wonderful mother has blessed my sister and I with season tickets to Papermill Playhouse for the past two years. We attended the December fourth matinee show of The Bodyguard. The Bodyguard was originally a movie starring Whitney Houston.

The story follows a famous singer, Rachel Marron, as she is threatened by a stalking fan. She hires a bodyguard and the story commences. Having never seen the original movie, I walked into this musical completely unaware of what was ahead of me. My sister, mother, and I made our way to our seats, settled in, and started talking about the cast when all of the sudden, "Bang! Bang!" The sound of gunshots and flashing lights commenced almost giving my sister and I a heart attack.

I can honestly say this was one of the best musicals I've ever seen at Papermill and one of the best musicals I've seen in my whole life. I'm a sucker for big dance numbers, especially tap, so the fact that a musical with almost no dancing in it has had such an impact on me is quite amazing. The show just kept me in constant suspense. Of course the Whitney Houston songs were wonderful, but the plot line was what really kept me intrigued. As I followed a love triangle between the bodyguard, his client, and her sister, I was on the edge of my seat to see who he would chose - the fact that he was really good looking may have intrigued me slightly more than usual. That plot line contrasted with the stalker who thought he was in love with the famous singer and wanted to "save her" by killing her, made for an suspenseful storyline.

Altogether, I was happy to finally find a musical where I couldn't predict the ending. What amazed me most of all was at intermission when I looked in my Playbill and realized the lead was being played by the understudy that day. She was AMAZING. I can only imagine how good the lead is if the woman I saw was just the understudy. As she took her curtain call smiling ear to ear, I couldn't help but cry. I felt complete joy for her to finally have had her chance on the stage. It was truly a show I will never forget.