It has been my professional duty and privilege over the years to critique and review hundreds of plays and musicals from the gallow seats in the dark.

I have done this since 1991 to the best of my ability; the good and the bad. I've seen some truly awful stuff, some mediocre stuff and some magnificent stuff. I've seen great performances in terrible shows and horrible performances in great shows.

I've seen the worst production of "Romeo & Juliet" (and perhaps any Shakespeare play) in a pool of water three inches deep, surrounding a tower of used furniture, the scenes rearranged and other segments (along with characters) cut so harshly I didn't know what the hell I was watching.

I've seen thrilling moments on stage that made my neck hair stand on end. No matter what show I'm reviewing, I always make a point to say something nice about some aspect of the staging. That's my character.

Now, for the first time, I will be the one judged. I can hear those knives sharpening..... My original musical, "Heave Ho! A Broadway Musical Tribute to Cy Heave (in two desperate acts)" will be performed at the Roseland Ballroom & Dinner Theatre in November. Auditions for 18 to 20 singers, dancers and actors for the show will take place at Roseland (Route 138) on the evenings of Monday, Sept. 8 and Wednesday, Sept. 10. Rehearsals begin Sunday, Sept. 14.

I will direct the musical and impresario/producer Eric Larivee of Taunton will direct the music. It is a thrilling prospect to realize your dream, one that has lain dormant for many, many years.

I had almost given up.

Consider that I had finished it (after four of five years of writing) in 1993 and, after a limited workshop production, I couldn't pursue it further. I had a marriage. I had a third child. I had a small stroke. There was a mortgage and other bills to pay. I had to do the good partner, father thing.

You see, I don't fit the musical writer profile. I'm not in New York or L.A. I'm not selfish or an overwrought actor. I'm not aggressive or pounding on Broadway doors. There were other obstacles inherent with being a middle-aged family man living in a Rhode Island suburb, even beyond the wife, the kids, the house, the yard and the dog.

When I hit traumatic 50, I pulled the dusty script out of my closet, sighing. It had been so long, it was as if someone else had written it. And I laughed. And I laughed some more. And I hummed the catchy tunes. And I said, "You know, this has merit. This could work. Somebody's got to look at this before I die."

Two of my three children had grown. In the face of other health issues, it was time. I enlisted the aid of a wonderful woman, my son Jack's piano teacher, Joan Moriarty of Plainville, to help me reconstruct the many tunes in a computer software program. When she heard the songs and lyrics, she became committed to the project, worked tirelessly on my behalf and gave me renewed confidence. I will be forever in her debt.

So, with a tweaked and improved script I've been knocking on regional theater doors for three years. And guess what? I have been rejected by the finest people!

Now if they had said, "Jamie, don't quit your day job," well, I could have lived with that. But each rejection was glowing, each informal reading a laughfest among professionals.

The rejection letters usually were written along the same lines, "This is very funny, very clever, the music is great, but musicals are time consuming and expensive...." OR... "This is delightful, but we need a NAME show to put fannies in the seats...." From Providence to Mansfield to Foxboro to Lowell, the same: "Quite good, but...." But FINALLY!, Larivee, Chris Lonati and Roseland Productions have seen "Heave Ho's" merits as well. As far as we know or can discern, it likely is the first time an original Broadway-style musical has ever been mounted in Taunton.

To all of my readers and all of my colleagues, I assure you, I won't play favorites. Beyond this column, I will mention it in no greater fashion than the productions and shows of any and all of the wonderful theater groups in the Taunton area - Star Players of Bristol County, Taunton Little Theater, Industrial Theatre (on hiatus presently) and Roseland Productions. It will never be mentioned at the expense of other troupes or shows in the city.

Theater people are all in this together, right?

Forgive me, though, for crowing a bit. I think you'll understand.

Twenty years is a looooong time to dream.

JAMIE MEROLLA is editor of the Silver City Bulletin in Taunton and theater writer for The Sun Chronicle.