Oliver! - long and personal - no projects :(

Hmm, Not sure if I have ever mentioned that I help with the musicals at our local middle school every year.  I started doing this when my middle child Layna was there for 7th grade.  The musical was Seussical!  She was Cindy Lou Who (she hated it) and I was the Props manager.  I loved it!  Then for her 8th grade year, they did Beauty and the Beast (she was a silly girl - hated it again) and again I was Props but I also helped the kids with lines.  Before I go on, I want to tell you that I did not make Layna be in the musicals - she wanted to be, she just didn't get the parts she wanted.  She wanted to be Mayzie in Seussical but she was perfect for Cindy Lou Who; and she wanted to be Lumiere for B&B (but they would not cast a girl for that part)  so she wanted to be Belle(everybody did) and I wanted her to try out for the feather duster.  When she got the part of a silly girl, she wanted to quit but I wouldn't let her.  Anyway, she then left and went on to high school, but the next year they were doing Peter Pan!  How could I not help with Peter Pan?  So I was there for PP and the next year for Wizard of Oz, even though I did not have a child there at the time.  I still did props partly but by this time I was "on book".  That means I was there for every rehearsal, helping the kids with their lines and making sure they were in the right place at the right time.  I also worked back stage for all of these plays.  By Peter Pan I was the stage manager.  So my youngest started school there last year and we did Sound of Music - so fabulous!  Kira refused to be in the play but she ended up being in the party scene as a party guest - we needed tall girls to dance and pretend to be adults so I talked her into it.  This year, she is adamant so she won't be on stage, but she will help backstage.  This year we are doing Oliver!  I am so psyched! For Sound of Music, I actually helped direct - now I am no director - the kids would walk all over me, ask anybody they will tell you what a pushover I am!  But I can assist the director, and give stage instruction and help with characters.  I would never want to be THE director, but I love being an assistant director :)  This year I will be in that role again, as well as stage manager as usual.  And I get to be in on the auditions!  I hope they are not hoping I will take over for our director some day.  That would put me way over my head.

Anyway, this is a long post.  Sorry about that.  But I just get so excited!  We actually do the performances in March so Sound of Music was actually this year, but I call it last year because it was for last year's school year when Kira was a 7th grader.  It is so amazing to see these kids 12-14 years old come in to audition and they are soooo scared.  Every child who auditions gets a part - yes that means a lot of kids.  It has grown more every year and this year we have 273 kids who have signed up to audition.  Last year I think it was 240-something.  They have to be getting good grades on their first report card and cannot have any bad citizenship marks.  We started rehearsals the day the get back from Christmas break and we are there every afternoon Monday thru Friday from 3:00 to 5:00 or 6:00.  Not everyone is there every day, but the leads are so it is a huge commitment for them.  By the time of the performances, we have actors - not scare kids but kids who can command a stage.  They are young, but we do Broadway performances.  We have a large budget - the community makes sure of it - and we have scenery and costumes you would not believe.  A lot of these kids do the play out of boredom or because their friends are doing it, but by the end, they have decided they want to do more of it!  Some of them come back every year to help with stage crew.  They actually miss it!  Closing night is a mixture of a little bit of relief but lots and lots of sadness that it is over - there are always tears.  Last year was the first time I think I did not cry on stage at the end (I hate that), but when I saw our Marias bawling their eyes out, they got me.  Then one of our captains came up to me and he was crying and I lost it.  I miss all of the kids too.  They all become "my kids".  We go thru a lot together and come out at the end a family.  The majority of my FB friends are kids from previous plays - it is funny how that happens.  Kids from previous plays come back stage to say hi to me too - I started telling them to not be offended if I don't recognize them - they change so much - but to remind me of their name and I will remember them.  Ok, I have rambled enough.

Oh, I forgot... one of the reasons I am telling you all of this is because once January hits, I will probably not have much time for crafting unless it is a prop for the play :)  Starting the 3rd, I think, I will be working every day from 7:00 to 2:30, at the school from 3:00 to 6:00 Monday thru Thursday.  On Fridays they get out early so I will  be working from 7:00 to 12:30, at the school from 1:00 to 6:00, then come home to finish my work shift. I work at home so they allow me to be flexible like that.  Right now I work 8:30 to 4:00 so I am hoping they will let me change my shift to 7:00 to 2:30; otherwise, I will have to split my shift every day instead of  just on Fridays and that is hard. I am so tired by the time I finish with rehearsal that I will probably forget I have not finished work - it has happened before :(


If you are in the Salt Lake area and you follow my blog, you should definitely come to see this Musical.  It will be in March between the 5th and the 10th I believe.  If you let me know, I will give you more info.
Anyway, told you this would be long :)  Now I am going to go clean up my craft room - it looks like a tornado hit it and I cannot find anything - so I can do some crafting for Christmas!  Big Hugs to you all!

God Bless,
Becky