Well, today was the big day -- opening night of Mary Poppins! I was SO excited to finally see the show that my girls had spent the past three months rehearsing! Auditions were on August 22 and 23 and the rehearsals started August 25 and went Monday through Thursday from 3:00 to 5:00 for the next few months. In mid-October the rehearsals went from 3:00 to 6:00 and the week or two before the show they went from 3:00 to 7:00.
I wondered if this would be difficult for Jenna, being as young as she was, but she handled it just fine and loved every minute of it! She is in the fifth grade and her school doesn't get out until 3:30 and so I had to check her out of school 40 minutes early Monday through Thursday in order for her to get to rehearsal on time! She has early-out on Fridays and so I didn't have to check her out early that day.
Jenna quickly grew to love the high school students who were in the show with her. They were so cute with her and watched out for her and treated her like a little sister. In the show Jane is supposed to be 11 years old and Michael is supposed to be 9, but Jack and Jenna are the same age (they both turned 11 last month) and Jack is taller than Jenna instead of the other way around, but that's okay!
Janelle struggled somewhat with rehearsals since she has a job that schedules her at 4:00. But when rehearsals started getting longer I told her to talk to her manager to see if she could come in at work at 6:00 instead of 4:00. Not only did her manager approve her request, but also gave her a complimentary note and a raise!
Jaiden had to quit her tumbling job on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but thankfully the tumbling coach contacted her near the end of the play asking her if she could start again in January! Tender Mercies!! When I saw the posted cast list last August I was excited, but nervous. There was only ONE cast and NO understudies! I thought, "What if something happens to one of the main parts?" I immediately started praying for good health and protection for the cast -- especially for my three girls!
Well, everything went fine except for one little hiccup. Janelle came down with a cold and lost her voice the week of performances! Ugh! She struggled with the first few performances, which were matinees for the elementary schools. She sounded like a bass rather than an Alto! She did okay on her lines, but it was difficult for her to sing. Because of that I was relieved that she had a small lead instead of a big lead! I hoped and prayed that she would get better quickly and that she wouldn't get anyone else sick! Well, she improved a little each night and was pretty much back to normal by closing night.
Luckily Jenna and Jaiden and the other cast members were able to stay fairly healthy. (There was one girl who got the stomach flu and had to miss the first two matinees, but luckily she was a fairly small part). The first matinee for the local elementary schools was on Tuesday. I would have wanted to sneak in and watch it but I had to work in Cedar City. I was already taking Thursday off for the play and couldn't afford to take Tuesday off too.
Wednesday morning was the next matinee for the elementary schools and I decided to go! I was able to get out of my interpreting job that morning and show up. I wasn't sure if we were even allowed to come, but the mom of the Ellie (Mary Poppins) and Jack (Michael) was there too, and so I sat by her. There were plenty of extra seats and so I didn't feel bad about showing up! The play was delightful! I loved it! It was so fun to see it with the elementary school children and see their reactions. On "Let's Go Fly a Kite" there are people in the rafters that let down kites over the audience. All of the children were pointing and gasping and "oohing and aaahing" and it was so cute!
In "Jolly Holiday" when the park keeper is fretting that the statue is missing, Neleus (played by Jaiden) jumps back on the stand when he isn't looking and takes the statue pose. Then the park keeper says, "See, there is NO statue," and then turns around flabbergasted to see that the statue is actually there. Well, the children were absolutely cracking up over this and I could tell that Jaiden was holding back laughter as she was holding her pose! Another fun reaction was when Mary Poppins and Burt and Jane and Michael throw out their hands as if to throw stars out to the audience and the light hits a big disco ball on the ceiling showering the entire room with "stars." There were audible gasps of excitement everywhere as the children looked all around pointing at the "stars"flying around them! So fun!!
Unfortunately those innocent child-like responses didn't happen during the evening shows of adults! But of course the adults appreciated things that the children didn't. I was excited to see it again! Thursday morning I went to the matinee again and took some pictures and videos. I wanted to test out my new camera (Sony A6000) and see how it would work with stage pictures. It worked great! The pictures and videos turned out very well!
Tonight Rick and I went to opening night. The young women also came for our YW activity. We had 13 girls come and 3 leaders and so it was a pretty good turn out! I wish I had thought to get a picture of them with the girls! I picked up flowers for my three girls and for Emily Williams, who was also in the show. The show went well -- even Rick was impressed! The leads all had strong voices and the big numbers like "Jolly Holiday," "Supercalifragilistic" and "Step in Time," were fun and energetic! The orchestra was small (only 12 members) but they overall did a great job with the difficult music. The scenery was well done and costumes were engaging.
Jack and Jenna had a great time playing the part of Micheal and Jane. I thought having actual kids playing those parts (instead of high school students dressed like kids) added to the show. I was SO proud of Jenna! This was her first real play -- not counting the little elementary school play she did last year (Willy Wonka Kids). She did an amazing job playing the snobby high-spirited little girl! When she was cast as Jane Banks I was both nervous and excited. Would she be able to handle all of the long rehearsals? Would she be able to memorize so many lines? Would she be able to act and sing and do the part justice? Well, she did all of those things -- and even had a cute little English accent all throughout the show!
Jaiden also did a great job as Neleus -- the statue that comes to life and dances around the stage. The statues all had to hold their "pose" for an entire scene -- their poor arms! Jaiden did two aerials in the show. She was the student choreographer and so she learned the dances quickly and then taught them to the other cast member. She also choreographed a short segment of "Step in Time" and learned the basics of tap dancing for a little "tap sequence." She had a few lines -- both speaking and singing. She has a great voice and fantastic stage presence! You can't help but be drawn to her energy and bright smile!
Janelle had a fun time playing the headstrong Mrs. Brill. She had several lines and a couple of short solos, which she did great once she got her voice back! One of her parts includes bursting into heart wrenching wails when the "heirloom" crashes to the ground and breaks. She nailed it! I thoroughly enjoyed the show and was grateful that my girls had the opportunity to be in it together!!
.jpg)
