BEYOND ALL PRAISE

By Ben Greenman

from forthcoming collection, as yet untitled

The singing of Imogen Hauptman was beyond all praise. It enriched her in pocket and did the same for the box office of Gleason Place, where she has been a performer in residence for the past six months. At the close of this year’s fall season, Hauptman performed a revival of “Steel Gray,” the successful folk opera of her own composition, at the Strand Amphitheater. For four performances Hauptmann and her two managers shared a profit of $22,000, gave the band double salary, and made a contribution of $1000 toward the repairs of the balcony. But they also repaired the spirits of the town. The mayor thanked them for “promoting a spirit of decency and right-mindedness, as well as a kind of moral luck that elevates our entire society.” “Steel Gray” is a loosely autobiographical retelling of Hauptman’s teen years in the late 21st century, when her Army major father was dispatched to South Florida to deal with extreme flooding as a result of rising tides. While there, she started a love affair with Dennis August, a former star quarterback for Miami’s professional football team whose career ended early as a result of a gruesome broken leg—and who was embarking upon a second career as a private investigator. Hauptman and August kept the relationship under wraps until she turned nineteen, which was the year that a mysterious man attacked her father in a boat warehouse and left him near death. She and August tracked down the assailant and brought him to justice. “Steel Gray” has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Swedish. Kenny Kilcannon’s rerecording of its opening song, “Tide Line,” became a massive hit at dance-clubs. Dennis August, as a result of his injury, has never been able to dance to it, but attended every performance at Gleason Place.