Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1302793
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE 2020 Preserving history with new vitality and new homes for all of Macon is possible when you, our members, support our 56 year old mission. Visit www.historicmacon.org to learn about new membership benefits and special incentives. Be a part of Macon's vibrant future! #maconispreservation we build Together 1985, to now, I played 60,000 pieces of music in individual auditions. … So, that's how you learn how to sight read," said Cherry, who started playing piano at age 9. After Cherry was featured in Macon Magazine in 1998, "e Molly Maguires" was optioned for a Broadway workshop. "It was amazing to me," Cherry said. "at was a big turning point to be in the company of people like that. I had always been the guy playing the piano or the guy in the pit, and in this case, I was the guy, one of the two writers of the show." In 2007, another producer was interested in "e Molly Maguires," so they did a big concert production in Pennsylvania. Cherry continues to work on "e Molly Maguires" and it has made around $75,000 in tickets sales without ever playing in New York. He has scaled down the show and is looking to make it a regional theater show. Cherry tries to come back to Macon each year to visit his family. He came back and saw his friend's band, A2Z, at e Crazy Bull. Cherry and his friend, Rusty Smith, were in a rock band together when Cherry was in high school. Cherry played the electric piano in the marching band and jazz band at Central High School. "Sid was so much more an accomplished musician than the rest of us," Smith said. "ere used to be a piano store in the old Macon mall. We went in there, just messing around, looking for girls and stuff like that, and there was this Bach or Chopin piece sitting on the piano. It just looked like a thousand dots on a page, and Sid just sat down, looked at the piece and started playing." When Cherry went to New York, he wanted to be a songwriter, a composer and a lyricist. Now, he's living out his dream and doing more than he ever expected. — KATIE MARIE O'NEAL CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: SID WITH CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ROCHELE SESKIN AND CHOREOGRAPHER NICOLINA SCIASCIA AFTER A SHOW. SID BEFORE A SHOW, TAKEN BY A FRIEND. JUNE/JULY 2020 | maconmagazine.com 31