Kate, Sam, Marianne and I all did the Timpanogas Valley Theater production of The Wizard of Oz this Year.
It was a lot of work.
Lots and lots and lots of work and time and stress.
It started with auditions. Kate sang Tomorrow, Sam sang Jingle Bells and Marianne did "Once there was a snowman" They all shined in my opinion.
Then they were cast. Kate as a munchkin- the barrister- and one of the emerald city girls solo acts
Sam was cast as a monkey and also got to be a wizard of oz citizen
Marianne was cast as a munchkin- a lullaby leauge munchkin and also got to be a citizen in the wizard of oz.
There was some disappointment for sure. Mari was sure she was going to me a munchkin, but Kate had her heart set on Glenda the Good Witch and Sam wanted to be the tin man. Sadly there are short and there are much older and bigger people trying out.
I volunteered to help where needed and ended up helping with music mostly the munchkins music scene and also a bit with costumes.
It was really stressful for me and I shouldn't let myself get roped into helping again. one of the other helpers told me if you help your kids get free tuition and since it was rounding upwards of $500 for all three kids I thought that was a good plan- plus I don't like leaving them all unsupervised. But somehow for me I only got one kid free. I guess I didn't have enough talent or time to volunteer :)
Bethany had to come with me of course to most rehearsals and thus could have been a munckin herself because she knew every song and every line.
The kids were amazing. It brought me to tears watching them shine. Along the way directors were particularly impressed with Kate's ability to understand what was wanted of her and deliver and learn quickly. She had the first line as a munchkin mid song and her timing was perfect and everyone laughed. She had a line about following the yellow brick road she did in a perfect munchkin voice and her emerald city girl solo made her feel like one of the big girls. She made a lot of cute friends and saw a lot of cute friends from last years Sleeping Beauty. She also was great to help Marianne know when to do costume change. A lot of the older girls at the play are dramatic- go figure. They stomp around like they are the most important actress ever demanding things of adults- its a little intense and very inappropriate for me. Thankfully Kate was an example or respect and kindness, directors even mentioned it to me and for that I was most proud.
Sam was a flying monkey- one of the evil witch sidekicks. He had only one line and of all three performances he only got to do it once because the person after his line kept going without him and skipping him. At times he seemed to like the play, but most the time he didn't. And sadly he had to spend her birthday day at a three hour long dress rehersal- we just celebrated the day before. i don't think he'll do a play for a while again. There were only a handful of boys to of course which made him less interested.
Marianne stole the show as the smallest most animated munchin. She and Kate and another munchkin had a few lines together Marianne had to say "physically spiritually" and everyone chuckled as she nailed the timing and the large words. Every dance move for her was large and animated, her eyes to every lyric expressive and after every performance when I was standing near her people would say things like "oh she is yours! that tiny munchkin stole the show!" it was true. I couldn't take my eyes off of her whenever she was on stage and I don't think anyone else could.
Three performances, lots of sack lunch dinners and a neglected Dad and Beth we finally were done. We made a lot of great friends and will hopefully do a play again.... maybe in a year when we finally recover :)
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