I Still Love Frog and Toad

You may recall that over the past year, Nathan has had the opportunity to interpret for several stage productions. First, Elephant and Piggie, a children’s show based on a popular children’s book series. Then a high school level production of Les Miserable, also based on a book. Nathan has absolutely loved these opportunities as they are a blend of several things he loves-ASL and theater. Although we have seen videos and pictures of Nathan in this type of work, we had not seen him in action in person. So, when he told us that he would be interpreting for “A Year with Frog and Toad,” another children’s production based on another book series, we took the opportunity to drive up to Logan to see him. 

While the Elephant and Piggie books are fairly new in the sense that they were published when my kids were young, the Frog and Toad books were published when I was young. In fact, they are a book series that we owned, and I read them over and over. They were some of my childhood favorites. Some years ago, someone wrote a musical based on the characters from the Frog and Toad book series. The boys and I saw a production of the show many years back when my sister Patti was in a community theater production, and it was loads of fun. We bought the soundtrack and it is one they listened to a lot for a while and that I revisit from time to time. In fact, the “Cookies” song pops up in my head on a fairly regular basis. I mean, I do love cookies and it is a super catchy number. So, in addition to getting to see Nathan interpret, we had the chance to see a fun show!

Kevin, Malia and I drove up and picked up Nathan, and then Daniel and Tawni joined us for lunch and the show. There weren’t any Deaf youngsters at this performance, which is a shame, but Nathan worked and got paid regardless. And he is likely going to be interpreting for more shows over the coming months. The Utah Festival Opera is highly interested in continuing to provide opportunities to make theater accessible for the Deaf. And they have been so pleased with Nathan’s work. He is, of course, tickled pink that they want him to keep coming back.

Nathan was just full of enthusiasm and joy as he worked, and it was so fun to see that! He let his liaison at the theater know we were family, and they even gave us permission to take pictures of him, something that is generally a big no-no in the world of live theater. So, family time, theater time, ASL time…it was a great way to spend a day. Add to that revisiting a childhood favorite, and it’s a win all around. And now I’m not the only one who has the “Cookies” song stuck in my head. 😉

I’ll end with one funny anecdote from the show. At one point, one of the shrink-wrapped cookies they were using as props fell out of a pocket, rolled across the stage, and bopped Nathan right in the back of the head. The entire audience could see that cookie rolling, but Nathan had no idea why suddenly, all eyes were on him. Of course, it was only a matter of time before he felt that cookie tap his noggin, and even then, he didn’t know what it was until he had a chance to glance down at the floor and spotted the offending dessert. All the kids in the audience thought it was hilarious!

Worth the Wait

As you may well know, we have really shifted into experience gifts with our kids rather than just giving them more stuff. As such, today was Christmas! Or at least today was a Christmas present. 😉 Today was the day we saw “Wicked.” Not the recent movie version of which I’m highly skeptical based on the previews I’ve seen, but the Broadway version. We took all our boys to see “Wicked” last time it made its way to Salt Lake, but Malia was still too young to care at that point. But about a year later, she was old enough to care and has wanted to see this spectacle of a musical ever since. So, suffice it to say, she was super, super, duper excited!

In past I’ve talked about the power of live theater and even though I’ve seen this show three times before today and I know exactly what is going to happen, I still get emotional, I still get goose bumps, I still enjoy every moment from that first chord to the final dropping of the curtain at the end of the show. As soon as the lights dimmed and the first chord sounded, I got a little teary. This show does have a powerful beginning, both musically and visually, and it gets me every time. And in the post show analysis, Malia declared that she is my daughter because as soon the show started, she got a little teary too. 😂She has wanted to see this show since she was eight, and the anticipation and the visual and musical power of those first moments of this show definitely made an impact on her. 

When the applause finally died down at the end of the show, I asked Malia if it was worth the five-year wait. Her response? “Yes!”

Stage Debut

Malia is in the musical theater class at school this year. When she selected it as one of her electives, I will admit that I was rather surprised. She is very nervous about being the center of attention, hates when she has to give oral reports, gets so nervous that she kind of freezes up. So, it seemed a bit odd to me. However, it ended up being a fantastic experience for her. Her classmates have been great, supporting her and giving her a safe space to explore being a bit braver in front of an audience. Yes, she still gets nervous and still hates it when all eyes are on her, especially in situations where she doesn’t know everyone or doesn’t feel emotionally safe, but she enjoys being one of many, part of a group. 

The musical theater class at the middle school is only one semester long. They do that so more kids can have the opportunity to participate. For the first term of the class, they do a variety of activities like writing and performing a radio play, creating a short parody of a Broadway show and perform it for the class, etc. The second term is spent auditioning, rehearsing, and performing a full musical. 

The musical that was selected this year was “James and the Giant Peach.” This is the very first show Malia has done, and she had a great time. Yes, the dancing was tricky for her since it has never been one of her strong points, but she figured it out. And while she doesn’t like having all eyes on her, when she is part of a group like she was as part of the chorus, she is just fine being on the stage. 

It was a cute show; one I had never seen before. The kids did a great job. And Malia has informed me that she intends to take musical theater again next year. I guess that means she had fun!

A Beauty-ful Show

My parents have season tickets to Hale Centre Theater. They saw the current production of “Beauty and the Beast” several weeks ago and enjoyed it so much that my dad asked Rachael and I if we had any children that would enjoy seeing the show. We both have daughters that enjoy theater and so the tickets were purchased and given as Christmas presents. 

We saw the show this afternoon and it was fabulous! It was well cast, and the performers did a wonderful job. The sets and special effects were fantastic as well. Overall, just a super enjoyable performance. I have a tendency to cry when live theater is really well done. I don’t know why. There is just something powerful about a live performance that isn’t there when watching things on a screen. So, the fact that I got watery eyed is high praise. And while I may feel silly about it sometimes because it’s not like I didn’t know how the story was going to go or anything like that, at least I was in good company because Rachael was crying right along with me. 😂

So thanks, Dad, for sending us to the theater! Malia and I had a wonderful time!

He Needs a Nap

As soon as marching band season ended, Matthew jumped headfirst into tech week for the school play, “Miss Holmes.” Not only was he cast as a bit part actor filling three different roles with three different accents, but he was on stage crew as well. The show closed last night and needless to say, he is tired, so very tired. He is definitely looking forward to having the rest of the week off!

Less Miserable than 2020

Hard on the heels of our big trip to the northwest was our other big experience gift for this year. We had planned to give the kids tickets to see the Broadway tour company production of Les Misérables for Christmas in 2020. But as we all know, the world kind of took a hard left turn early that year and that particular show was one that was cancelled and not rescheduled. We got our money back and all that, but it was still a huge bummer. So when I heard that Les Mis would be back in our neck of the woods, I jumped at the chance to reschedule our missed experience. Thanks to my sister Patti and her status as a season ticket holder for Broadway Across America, we were able to get tickets. In fact, we were able to get really good tickets. 

The last time we all had an outing to see a Broadway show, Malia was not really old enough to care yet. But that was many years ago when we saw “Wicked.” (I have been to a couple shows since then, but it has been a mom and one son kind of a date.) At that point Malia didn’t mind staying home and she had a super fun time with her babysitter, but she is older now and wants to be included. Kevin and I are the only ones who have seen the Broadway production of Les Misérables, so the kids were all excited!

When we got to the theater, Nathan was extra excited to see that there were ASL interpreters for the show. Although they were down on the main floor, our seats near the front of the balcony made it so he could see them easily. Throughout the show, his focus was split between what was happening on the stage and the ASL version of what was happening. He has become deeply enmeshed in the ASL community in the past year and gets excited every time he encounters a new accommodation that will allow the deaf community to interact a bit more with the hearing world. He has attended symphony performances that have ASL interpreters, but this was the first time he has seen a stage play with such accommodations. As he is currently working towards passing the tests to become a certified interpreter, he loves any opportunity to learn a bit more. 

So let’s get real about this particular show for a minute. There are several songs that are pretty spicy, not things that I generally consider appropriate media. We did feel like we needed to avert our eyes a couple of times. ASL is obviously a visual language and a very descriptive one as well which makes sense since they are basically communicating with pictures. So, anything that is vulgar when spoken is even more so in ASL. Poor Nathan did not have a comfortable place to look. Looking at the stage was uncomfortable and looking at the interpreters was even more so. While the rest of us discreetly looked away to avoid the onstage action that accompanied those parts of the show, he was focused on his lap for those two numbers. So there were pros and cons to having a good view of the interpreters for this particular show. 😂

All of my kids love the arts in some form or another, and it is always fascinating for me to see what stands out to them. For Nathan, the ASL was the big focal point. Matthew was intrigued by orchestration and lighting, which makes perfect sense with his band/stage crew background. Daniel was also enthralled by the orchestra, but he also had strong feelings about the actor who played Jean Val Jean. There was something about his voice that just didn’t sit well with him, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it was. The man’s voice was spectacular, he was an amazing performer, but there was just something not quite right. As I mulled it over, I realized that the problem was the timbre of the singer’s voice. He was young man and as such, his voice sounds young. I don’t mean weak or unskilled or anything like that. He just had a wonderful, strong, youthful voice. And Jean Val Jean is not a young man. Even at the beginning of the story, he is old enough that he has been in prison for nineteen years. So what Daniel was missing was the depth and richness that simply comes with an older, more mature voice. When I tossed that idea at him, Daniel agreed that it was spot on. In another decade that same actor will still sing the part just as skillfully, but time and age will have given him the depth that both Daniel and I felt he was lacking. As for Malia, she had all her focus on trying to understand the story. She is still only eleven and hasn’t studied European history other than the bare bones version they need to be able to understand the American Revolution, so the whole war in the streets bit needed a modicum of explanation. But with some tidbits shared here and there, she ended up understanding enough and enjoyed the show.

We definitely enjoyed our second big experience for the year, perhaps even a bit more since it was delayed a couple of years. Now we are on the lookout for another show that we might enjoy. Malia is hoping “Wicked” will make the rounds again since she is the only one of our little crew who hasn’t seen it. There are relatively few new shows that seem particularly interesting to us, so we’ll just have to keep our eyes open and wait to see what makes it to our neck of the woods in the future.

It’s All Greek to Me

Last night Matthew and I had the pleasure of seeing the national tour production of the Broadway show “Hadestown.” There have been relatively few shows recently that interest us, but this one was on Matthew’s definitely want to see list. Other than the fact that the show was based on Greek mythology, I didn’t know anything about this particular show. Matthew has been listening to the soundtrack regularly since about January, but I opted to go in blind. Seeing a show without any idea of what to expect is a rarity to me, and I thought it would be fun. And it was.

The story is based on the myth of Orpheus and Euridice with Hades, Persephone, Hermes and the Fates as characters as well. In terms of musical style, the music had the feel of southern folk music with a good portion of jazz mixed in. The instrumentation was quite unique. There was a violin, cello, string bass, guitar, piano, percussionist, and a trombone. The musicians for the show (except for the drummer) were onstage for the entire show and I loved that. Normally they are in the pit but having them on stage really made the music part of the story and allowed me to enjoy the musicians’ performances in a different way than I normally do when watching a musical. In addition, a handful of the actors played instruments which was great. It’s not every day that you get to see a Fate sing, dance, act, and play accordion all at the same time!

Now for the story. The plot of the show started off slowly. So slowly, in fact, that for a while in act one I wasn’t sure I was going to like it because nothing happened. On the upside, I was able to focus on the musicians for most of the first act. Having said that, once the story really got started, it never stopped, and I got caught up in the flow of the tale. In fact, I have never in all my life wanted a Greek myth to end differently more than I did. I knew what was going to happen and I still found myself hoping it would end well. But alas, there was no softening of the ending.

This is the first time that I have attended a musical with just Matthew. Going with just Nathan was a pretty normal occurrence, but Matthew is enough younger that there was always another person with us. But with both Daniel and Nathan living away from home, we finally got to have a Matthew/Mom night on the town. Matthew and I have never really communicated well because we think so differently that I can’t wrap my brain around why he does things. Our best conversations have been about food because I’m always his touch point for food allergies. But all the other stuff? Kev has always done better there. But lately things have been different. Matthew has been sharing more. And it was nice to hear all about band and how he misses theater and what he’d like to do in regard to future school musicals and community theater. Basically, we can have a good conversation now and it is nice. Definitely a step forward in our relationship. 

As I mentioned before, Matthew has been listening to the soundtrack for months and has loved the music. The actual production did not disappoint, and he says “Hadestown” is now his favorite musical. So a good show and some good conversation. All around a good evening.

A Tiny Bit of Type Casting

After his theatrical debut in The Wizard of Oz last year, Matthew has been actively looking forward to his next appearance. The middle school theater teacher announced this year’s school musical before school ever started, so for months Matthew has been anticipating and preparing for auditions. Auditions were this week. Matthew auditioned on Tuesday, was invited to dance callbacks on Wednesday, was invited back for traditional callbacks this afternoon, and when the cast list came out tonight, he was thrilled to be cast as the Sultan in Aladdin Jr.! He’s one of only three seventh graders cast in a leading role. I’m sure his diminutive stature and dark looks played into the casting choice, nevertheless, I’m so proud of him and knowing the theater teacher, she must have seen some skills in him as well. She’s not one to cast based on looks alone. I’m excited to see how it all comes together later this spring.

Go, Go, Go!

After the stressful and disappointing experience he had during this past year’s high school production of “The Sound of Music,” Nathan was good and ready for a better one. His beloved middle school theater teacher was directing our community’s summer show, so he was quick to decide to audition. The show this year was “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat,” which is a super fun show (I know this from past experience) so that was a perk as well. Unfortunately, since this particular show is almost all music, the cast spend the majority of their time working with the music director and the choreographer. And they were somewhat unreasonable in terms of how late rehearsals ran, gave the cast tons of grief for missing rehearsals even though they had disclosed days they would miss prior to being cast, and were generally critical and irritable. I’m getting all this from Nathan, of course, since I wasn’t there, but they really rubbed him the wrong way. As a result, he didn’t enjoy the whole process as much as he had hoped. But to the credit of the cantankerous crew, the end result was really fantastic. Kev and I both agree that it is probably the best community theater production we’ve ever seen. So kudos for that.

Despite his unpleasant rehearsals, Nathan did enjoy the actual performing and he did a great job. I had a lot of people stop me to let me know how fantastic they thought his performance was. I thought he did great as well. I had no idea that he could dance as well as he did. He definitely has some moves. And honestly, his milelong bell bottoms and snakeskin shirt comprised my favorite of his costumes. He may have thought they were dorky, but it worked really well on him.

Nathan probably won’t participate in another show in our community (he did tech for last year’s show and had unpleasant experiences with that as well), but live and learn, right? I’m really, really, really hoping the new high school will bring him some better theatrical experiences.

They Were Buggin’ Me!

Let’s talk a bit about mosquitoes. I think they are vile little critters, the vampires of the insect world. And not only do they steal blood willy nilly, they leave a variety of viral calling cards. Yuck. For most people, their bites are itchy and uncomfortable, but after a few days, the itching passes, the scabs drop off, and all is well. However, most people don’t get a dozen or so bites liberally scattered over both legs that each end up being the diameter of a softball. Most people also don’t walk into the instacare and have even the doctor say, “Whoa!” Most people don’t get a prescription steroid cream to treat said bites when the doc discovers that you are already doing everything else he was going to suggest. Most people don’t end up with later sets of bites in a perfect circle around each ankle where the nasty biters evaded the insect repellent and slipped right under the edge of their socks. Most people don’t stay awake for three or four days because their bites have developed blisters and are so itchy they can’t sleep. Most people don’t end up taking the new set of bites and the steroid cream back to the instacare and have a different doc say, “That isn’t working? That’s a really strong steroid cream.” Most people don’t get an even stronger steroid cream in order to finally find a little relief. And most people don’t have lovely scar “anklets” for two to three years after the actual blisters heal. So yeah. I think I’m justified in hating mosquitoes.

With that loathing in mind, let just say that today was cold and drizzly. The mosquitoes were out in force. The clouds of biters were so thick I was concerned that I would swallow some if I opened my mouth. I acquired a nice selection of bites earlier this week (through my socks and pants!) and although they were definitely itchy, I learned long past that applying the uber steroid cream as soon as possible after getting bitten helps keep the symptoms fairly normal. Nevertheless, I was determined to keep further bites to a minimum. None of us were bothered by the weather. In fact, I was glad it was cold because I zipped my coat all the way up to my chin and shoved my hands in my pockets to provide the mosquitoes with as little biting real estate as possible. When they decided to start biting my face though, I was done, and we ate our picnic lunch in the car. The unjustness of the whole thing is the fact that Nathan and I were the only ones who got bitten. Everyone else just wandered through the miasma of flying vermin with no ill effects. What’s up with that?!

In spite of the mosquitoes, we did have a good day. We decided to spend our last day in the park visiting Yellowstone Lake. The drive was lovely. We crossed the continental divide in two different places and hopped out of the car to take a picture. We saw some cool hot springs and learned a lot about the role of fire in Yellowstone. We saw a herd of bison, complete with numerous baby bison. When Malia spotted the first baby, she reacted like a normal seven-year-old girl and cooed, “It’s so adorable!”

Our last stop on our last day in the park was at Fountain Paint Pot. It was my absolute favorite geothermal element. I don’t normally just stand around and watch mud, but I made an exception today. There is just something so satisfying about watching the mud bubble and splat. The day was calm enough and the crowds were small enough due to the weather that we could hear them gurgling and splashing. It was great!

As we drove out of the park, we tallied the stamps in our National Park Passports and discovered that we had five out of the nine available in Yellowstone. For one vacation, I feel like that was not too shabby! And it means we can come back on another trip to get the other four. 😊

After we made our way back to the cabin, my folks gathered all of us together for a family photo. I’m so grateful that I enjoy spending time with my family and that, for the most part, we get along well and like each other. I know many people who don’t like their siblings much and only see them on major holidays and out of a sense of obligation. My older brother, Jon, was the only one of my siblings who was unable to spend at least a few days with us so it was nice to have nearly everyone around.

Our last evening in Island Park was spent at a family friendly dinner theater that specializes in snarky, parody shows that are meant to inspire great gales of laughter in the audience. The dinner was really good. The prime rib was tender, flavorful, and plentiful. Seriously, I had half a cow on my plate. And while it was tasty, I couldn’t get through it all. Of course, I did leave room for a jumbo-sized cinnamon roll. Splurge meals are a must on vacation, right? The show was funny. Not the most amusing one we’ve seen, but it did make us laugh. I enjoyed the whole event.

Now for the quote of the day. Daniel was cutting a big ole ice cream sandwich in half so that he and Nathan could share it. He was using the steak knife that he had used to carve his prime rib. Unfortunately, Nathan was in the line of fire and ended up slightly on the sharp end of the knife (no blood was drawn, though) at which point he exclaimed, “Owww!! You stabbed we with a knife, you butt!!”

I don’t know why I think that was so funny. But I do. I laughed really hard. Probably due to a weeklong lack of sleep. I love that I can laugh with my family!

A Little Drama

Today was Nathan’s first official meeting with next year’s theater officers for the new high school. He was excited when he left the house and was still excited when he came home. It’s a good thing. I have high hopes for next year. If nothing else, it would be hard pressed to be worse than last year.

He’s Off to See the Wizard

Matthew has caught the acting bug. When he auditioned for the 6th grade production of “The Wizard of Oz” back in November, I was surprised at how serious he was about the whole thing. He has always been our sports focused kid, so this was a big shift for him. But he was in earnest about the show and has been focused and dedicated about learning his parts and rehearsing for the past six months. This week was performance week and the accompanying performance induced adrenaline rush that is the big payoff for the months of work. He was pleased with his performance (as was I) and looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself while he was onstage. He attended his very first post-performance impromptu celebration and his first cast party, both of which he also enjoyed. It will be interesting to see if he liked the whole experience enough to continue to pursue the theater.

The Phantom of the Opera is Here…Finally!

One of my favorite things about giving the kids experience gifts for Christmas is that Kevin and I get to do fun things as well. As you can imagine, I was terribly excited to give Nathan tickets to see “The Phantom of the Opera.” He has wanted to see this show for years and was desperately hoping we’d be able to get tickets ever since we heard a couple of years ago that it would be coming here. We got lucky and were able to snag tickets. It made for a fantastic Christmas present and after seven months of waiting, today was the big day. The anticipation had Nathan in a state of high excitement. He was grinning like crazy as we waited for the show to start.

And the grin did not waver after the fact. Not only was he completely thrilled with the performances of the cast, he was totally mesmerized by the sets, the lighting, the effects…the stage crew side of him was just as entranced as his performer side. And rightly so. Christine and the Phantom were very well cast. Christine actually sounded like the young girl she was supposed to be (although a very talented one) and the Phantom was about six and a half feet tall which added a lot to the imagery of his domination of Christine. The Phantom’s make up was fantastic, very grotesque. The sets were amazing, so clever in the way they turned to portray different locations and changed as the actors moved within them. Although he has heard all the music many times before, seeing everything in context gave him insights into just how masterfully the music conveys the progression of the story. And the lights. Oh, the lights. Nathan has fallen in love with designing and running the light boards and was absolutely fascinated with the lights and the effects they created. Sometimes experiences can fall flat after such intense anticipation but that was not the case today. He came away feeling completely satisfied with his experience. He was “geeking out” about everything, not just to me, but to my sisters via text.

As for me, the last time I saw the show was during my senior year in high school. I loved it then and was definitely not disappointed today. In fact, I felt like today’s cast was better than the one I saw at my two previous viewings of the show. And it was so much fun to watch Nathan’s reactions! We had a wonderful time!

Wait As Long As Time

Malia’s experience gift last Christmas was tickets to see “Beauty and the Beast” at Hale Center Theatre. She has been looking forward to it all year and the wait seemed endless. (I guess for a 4-yr-old, eight months really is almost forever.) Due to the extreme goodness of Danna, one of my sisters-in-law, we got our tickets free and the day was today. My sisters, Rachael and Esther, and Rachael’s daughters, Kate and Sabrina got to see the show as well. Malia loved it and told us afterward that the part where Gaston was beating up the Beast was not her favorite part.

FYI-the girls are holding up pieces of confetti that were used in the show and gathered up by little hands afterward

Part of the excitement of the day was going out to lunch after the show. Since developing her peanut allergy in February, the number of places where Malia can safely eat out has diminished significantly so eating out has become kind of a big deal. I’ve done research and made phone calls and luckily for us, I discovered that Red Robin is great with handling allergies. Malia was thrilled to be able to eat her favorite swirly twirly pasta again.

As always, when it was time to go home, Malia was not ready to leave Kate. A show, lunch out, and her favorite cousin made today a winner in Malia’s book!

How About That? I’m the King of the Show!

One of my favorite things about doing experience gifts for our kids is that Kev and I get to do cool stuff as well. Nathan spent all of last year reminding us that he wanted to see "Newsies" when it came and it gave me super fabulous excuse to work to get tickets. Not that I wouldn’t have tried anyway, but it gave me good motivation to make it happen. And it was totally worth it! The show was amazing! Nathan and I went with all three of my sisters and Josh, one of my nephews. Tickets were in such high demand that none of us were sitting together, but that was ok. Nathan was a row in front of me and a few seats down and every time I looked at him, he looked like this:

As this was one of Nathan’s experiences, he is once again my guest blogger.

This afternoon we went and saw the Broadway across America Production of “Newsies”. Words cannot even start to describe how amazing it was. It. Was. G.R.E.A.T.!!!!! They had amazing sets. The set was three huge individual sets which all looked like the New York fire escapes. Except, then could each move forward and back, rotate, and they even had lights in them!!! They never closed the main curtain. At all. It was amazing. The sets were so tall that we could not see the top of them, as they stretched far into the ceiling. They had sets that they would lower, and the best part wasn’t even that. Each of the openings on the sets had fabric that could roll up and down like a screen. Then, to get the scenery for the specific scenes, then projected images on the rolled down fabric, and they did this in almost every scene, making it FANTASTIC!!! 

On top of that, the dancing was AMAZING. The lines were SUPER straight, they did crazy stunts (like backflips, and things like that) and they did a WHOLE NUMBER FULL OF TAP!! They danced on the chairs, tables, and all over. To make it even better, the boys all had very tight harmony. They sang the main melody ad a main harmony, then had harmony on top of both main parts. The music was great, the singing was AMAZING, then harmonies were great, and the show was just overall STUPENDOUS!!! Seeing the show made we want to go back, seeing as it was SOOOO AMAZING!! As we were walking out, mom said that now she could take me to New York and we could be happy sitting in shows all day. I happily agreed. One last thing was that my mom bought me a Newsies cap, and Newsies T-shirt, and a Newsies Shoulder bag to have as memorabilia. So, this show was VERY AMAZING, and, well, words have a hard time describing it as it is!

The Sets

The Sets With the Fabric Rolled Down and Stuff Projected On the Fabric

And now a few more pics of all us happy people.

Break a Leg

Daniel and Nathan are both in the school musical this year. Nathan has been anxiously awaiting 7th grade so he could participate and Daniel thought he should try it once so he could see if he likes being on stage or in the pit. The production was “Annie Jr.” Daniel was cast as Drake, the butler, and Nathan was Louie Howe/general man on the stage. This was the first time they had experienced the long hours of rehearsal and although they were both pretty worn out by the end, they both loved the experience and had a great time.

Daniel and His Staff (which included Nathan)

Daniel and Oliver Warbucks (Caleb Sweet)

During the Friday night performance, Mr. Warbuck's overcoat had a sleeve turned the wrong direction. He and Daniel struggled to get the coat on, encountering multiple difficulties. They covered it well, however, and Daniel learned a bit about faking it onstage.

Nathan as Louie Howe with President Roosevelt (Connor Kellis, one of Daniel's good friends)

 The Cast

 Nathan found a picture of Daniel that was taken at exactly the wrong moment. Nathan pulled it into Photoshop to make sure no one could possibly miss the crazy expression. Ahh, brotherly love at its best.

The Manly Art of Stage Makeup

Daniel and Nathan are in the school musical this year. Today was their first full dress rehearsal and tomorrow is full dress and make up. I thought I had some stuff I could send with them, but when I went digging through all my stuff, I discovered that I had been a good little girl and thrown out everything that was old. Now the drama teacher at the school said they could share makeup with others (although they would want their own sponges), but honestly, ewwww. So this evening, Daniel, Nathan and I took a little excursion to Walgreens.

Due to some difficulty with a broken light bulb and a corroded base stuck in one of our kitchen floodlights, our Deacons quorum adviser (and friendly neighborhood general contractor) was in our kitchen. When I announced that I was taking my big boys to buy makeup, there was a definite pause with the accompanying “Did I just hear that right?” expression. And I laughed. When we got to Walgreens and had “guy-liner” in hand, one of the counselors in our bishopric and his 14 year old son walked in. They were looking for candy, a manly nighttime excursion, and there was some definite laughter and light mocking about our own reasons for an evening shopping trip. As we stood there trying to find good foundation shades (I’m not great at that part), some unknown gentleman began walking down out aisle, saw us trying foundation on two boys who are both bigger than me, gave us the “you are a bunch of complete weirdos” look, and walked the long way around to avoid us. All three of us laughed our heads off.

Yeah, it was pretty hilarious. Although my own experience should have clued me in to the fact that the boys would need makeup, it is honestly not something I had thought about until this evening. I figured I had 8-10 years until I needed to help one of my children pick out that perfect shade. But it was an entertaining experience. And as Daniel says, at least they don’t need “man-scara.”

A Crash Course in Live Theater

One of my sisters-in-law works at a local theater. This summer her oldest son is also working at the theater. They each get a number of comp tickets for each show and they were generous enough to send some our way for “The Little Mermaid.”

Live Theater Lesson #1: Malia has been excited about this for a couple of weeks, but when you say “theater” to her she thinks of movies. The only live show she had been to previous to this one was the community children’s play Nathan participated in last year. So when we walked into the theater she looked around and said, “Where’s the screen?” I explained to her that this particular theater was not for movies. Real people would act out the story for us. That was a good enough explanation for her.

Live Theater Lesson #2: I don’t know how many of you have seen the stage version of “The Little Mermaid,” but the second act is pretty slow. Not a lot happens until the last five minutes. About halfway through the second act, Malia leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I’m bored.” I leaned back to her and whispered, “Me to.” Sometimes that happens in live theater which is one of the reasons I only go to see productions of “State Fair” and “Carousel” if I absolutely have to. They just bore me.

Live Theater Lesson #3: My sister, Rachael, and her two girls also received freebie tickets so we all met at the theater and then went out to lunch afterward. Seeing a show and having a meal (or dessert) before or afterward is a social event. It is much more fun to share the experience with people you like. And having a mustache on your drink is more fun if people you like can laugh with you.

Next year this same theater will be performing “Beauty and the Beast.” Malia is already excited. So am I. I love that I have children that enjoy some of the same things I do.

“If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.” ― Robert Frost

Kev and I gave the kids "experiences" for Christmas. Nathan's first experience was this evening. We took him to see a show at Desert Star Theater. For those of you who have never been, Desert Star is one of those theaters that makes fun of pretty much everything. Kev and I have both been on multiple occasions, our first date being one of them, but the last time we were there was just after we got married. So it has been a good long while. The show Nathan chose to see was "Into the Hoods." We laughed and laughed. Nathan didn't get all of the jokes but he caught a good number of them. I have a feeling he's going to want to go back.

I'm Officially a Drama Mama

Nathan just finished his first show ever. Our community does a children's show every year which is a perfect opportunity for a first timer. After the show on opening night, he came home with a huge grin on his face. I have a feeling that he's turned into a performance adrenaline junkie and I'm okay with that, partly because that was always my natural high of choice and partly because he has found his bliss.

In the past year Nathan has discovered what he really enjoys and he has also realized that doing things that are totally different than the things Daniel does is more than okay, it's great. Just as an example, last week I registered Daniel and Nathan for a merit badge pow wow. Daniel wanted to do astronomy, geology and geocaching. Nathan wanted to do music, oceanography, and theater. They both wanted to do movie making, but I have a feeling Daniel would rather be behind the camera while Nathan would prefer to be in front of it.

Nathan had so much fun. He came home from rehearsals super happy. He did get stressed out as opening night approached, but being anxious about opening night is normal even for veterans of the stage. Here are some pics of Nathan having a great time.

Thanks to all our family that came out to support him. It made the whole adventure even more wonderful for Nathan. I expect there will be many more performances in his future, so stay tuned...