I dreamed a dream of days (in cars) gone by


I haven't written in a while, as my reader may have noticed. For the past few months, our lives have mainly revolved around our daughter's budding theater career. She was cast as Brigitta Von Trapp in her middle school's production of the Sound of Music. Those performances were held a couple weeks ago. I have to give the directors a ton of credit for their savvy casting. A wanted to play Liesl but Brigitta turned out to be the perfect part for her.  Brigitta is sassy and honest and gets all the best lines. The kids worked very hard and did an amazing job.

Meanwhile, she was also cast as young Eponine in the high school's production of Les Miserables. The high school (which she will attend starting in the fall of 2019) is about a mile from the middle school. They ended up adding on to her part, so she also plays a member of Gavroche's gang and shows up at the barricade scene as well (a generic orphan? I'm not 100% sure). She sings in the chorus on a couple of the big numbers and she is also the understudy for young Cosette. She wanted that role but didn't get it. I think it was good for her to learn that she won't always get the plum roles. Being part of a high school play has been pretty exciting for her - it's a great opportunity. Les Mis premiered last weekend and will end after three performances this weekend.

The Les Mis directors also tried something new: they held an understudy performance on Tuesday night. It was invitation-only and included the full pit orchestra and all of the cast members - the roles were just scrambled around a bit. So, my songbird got to sing Castle on a Cloud, which she loves. Our church has been very supportive, with our UU friends attending both musicals.

So far I've seen the Les Mis production three times (two of the regular performances plus the understudy show). This is no sacrifice on my part because I love the musical. My daughter has busted me for singing it around the house ("IT IS THE MUSIC OF THE PEOPLE WHO WILL NOT BE SLAVES AGAIN!") "Mom, you're in the wrong key." Awwww, it's cute that she thinks I'd know the difference. The kids in the show, on the other hand, sing beautifully. I've cried every time Fantine sings "I Dreamed a Dream."

A lot of good things have come out of this partnership between the schools, but the part I like best is that the high school kids have been so great with the middle school actors. Really taking the younger kids under their wing. In fact, a bunch of the older cast members came to Sound of Music to support the middle schoolers. I thought that was really sweet. I did notice that my daughter gets all googly-eyed around a couple of the handsome Les Mis leads. I'm not supposed to mention it, though.

So yeah, that's what we've been up to. Many days, the kid had rehearsals for both musicals. We had to pick her up at one school, drive her to the other, and then pick her up again after Les Mis rehearsal. Now we're just down to the one musical. On Sundays nights, I have to drive her to rehearsal for her touring choir. Sometimes I don't know if I'm coming or going.

In other news, I celebrated my birthday yesterday. The mister really went all out. He gave me several bottles of wine (one per day in the days leading up to Valentine's Day), some headphones, a tee shirt from the Elephant Sanctuary, a subscription to Vegan Cuts Beauty Box, some iTunes gift cards, a beautiful necklace, and half a dozen vegan cupcakes (which I shared, in case you wondered). I was one happy birthday girl. I also bought a new phone. I had an iPhone 6 but was always frustrated that it didn't have enough memory/storage to hold all of my music. So, I caught a sale and got an iPhone 8. I had to wage a small battle with iTunes to get my music to load, but it worked eventually. #firstworldproblems

The only other bit of news is that we're fostering a Boxer. She's a nut. She's not housebroken but we're working on that. Also, she's a humper. The funny thing is that Grover and Glinda do not correct Bluebelle when she humps them. They basically carry on with drinking out of the water bowl or whatever they were doing before the molestation started. I'll keep you posted on that one.

Comments

BoxerMom said…
I have followed you since the aol boxer board along with Johnney and SMoresville. I remember your posting a picture of a foster boxer(Gretchen ?)looking at you eating,with the expression of "are you gonna eat all of that?". A has grown into a beautiful, talented young lady.
February 18, 2018 at 5:49 PM
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