This past week has been performances of the school musical at the middle school. The show was Disney’s “Descendants,” and Matthew was tickled pink to be cast as Jay, Jafar’s son and one of the leads. As he worked through rehearsals though, he really struggled to get into his character. As a black leather wearing, silver stud sporting, rule breaking, thieving hoodlum, Jay is pretty much the polar opposite of Matthew. As such, he had a hard time internalizing the character. To his credit though, by the time I saw the show, I kept forgetting I was watching Matthew and just saw Jay. And that is quite a compliment because 1) he is my son and as a parent it can be hard to look at your child and see someone else and 2) I’ve seen many middle school productions over the years and to be honest, I rarely forget that the characters on stage are being played by a bunch of fourteen-year-old kids. Adding to the success in finding his character, we heard back from a lot of people that they didn’t even realize it was Matthew for a while because he looked and acted so different from his normal self.
One of the funny things about all this is that some of the mannerisms Matthew developed for Jay have starting leaking through into his actual behavior. I guess that’s what happens when you really get into character. The little things can start to feel natural. He isn’t shoplifting or anything like that (“Stealing-it’s like shopping but free.”-Jay), but he has picked up a few gestures and facial expressions that are reminiscent of an 80’s punk rocker. 😂
This is the first time Matthew has done a really dance heavy show and over the past months, he has come home from dance rehearsals physically wiped out. Dancing like that is hard work and I can tell that he put in his very best effort. He has had no dance training prior to this and by the time the show opened, he was really good. He dances with a very graceful strength. In fact, the way he moves reminds me very much of my brother Seth. I guess there is something to be said about genetics. And the fact that he sings, dances, acts and is smart and nice means he has gained a following amongst the middle school girls. There was much girlish cheering during the show and while some teenage boys really like that kind of attention, it just makes Matthew uncomfortable. Kev and I have both encouraged him to just ignore it and leave any situation in which he feels uncomfortable, but this is still all new to him and it kind of stresses him out.
I think Matthew has had a lot of fun but being on the stage crew as well as having a lead in the musical has had a toll on him these past few weeks. In addition to long dress rehearsals with plenty of notes for the cast, he had been designing the lighting for the show. He has been required to reprogram multiple scenes because the choreographer (who is a previous student who has now graduated from high school) would not tell Matthew what he wanted but then didn’t like what Matthew designed and made him do it again. There was a great deal of frustration involved in that. Bronchitis and a nasty stomach bug have been ripping their way through the cast as well, and Matthew has been doubling masking except for the times he is actually running scenes in order to remain healthy. He has enjoyed his experiences but I suspect he is actually really glad the show is over. He needs some sleep.
