title: Performance Anxiety
author: Burke, Betsy
description: Miranda Lyme, mezzo-soprano, is in love with the infamous -- and, okay, technically married -- conductor-composer Kurt Hancock. So what if he lives in London, and she...doesn't. Their secret rendezvous are more than enough -- for now.
  
  Besides, Miranda's life is full and frenetic: four part-time jobs, plus singing in the opera chorus, voice lessons with Madame Klein and looking for her long-lost father. Who's got time for a full-time beau?
  
  Miranda craves the good life and is certain that's what she'll have once Kurt officially ends his marriage and she rises to stardom. But there are glitches. Like the fact that Kurt is still technically faithful to his wife and he insists that Miranda keep their relationship a secret. He promises it won't be like this forever. Yeah, sure... The truth, when it finally arrives, is so shocking that it causes Miranda to lose her voice.
  
  But the show must go on. Will it be a night to remember -- or one to utterly forget?