It's a Golden Day

The musical is over, but I seem to be living with Willy Wonka and Veruca Salt. All day long, I hear either M singing "Pure Imagination" or B singing "I Want it Now!". Maybe we can form our own musical theater troupe :-)

I played keyboard (banging out the melody, while the music director played the piano accompaniment) for three of the four performances, and the kids were very impressive. Fourth and fifth graders singing, acting, and dancing. In any live performance, there are usually what I call "interesting moments," and this was no exception, but the kids got through it all. Missing props, missed entrances, and Charlie choking on a chocolate wrapper and having to be led offstage to cough it up. Some of them really showed a lot of poise. One of the Willy Wonkas (the show is double cast) ad libbed wonderfully when the curtain didn't open at the right time: "We will conduct the next part of our tour by boat. [pause in front of closed curtain] We will conduct the next part of our tour BY BOAT. [pause] Now where did I leave that boat? [pause] I know I left it somewhere around here. [the curtain FINALLY opened to reveal the pink candy boat, and stagehands sprinting off to the sides].

I missed the last show to perform at S&P's annual House Music fundraiser. B and her best friend started off the show by singing "The Bear in Tennis Shoes," complete with original choreography. This is always a fun concert--an eclectic mix of music. Mozart arias, Broadway tunes, folk music, and everything else. M was at the last performance of the musical (he ran the light board this year), but the rest of our family enjoyed the concert.