Vocal Recital - Hooray for Hollywood!

These are some images from A's vocal recital - always a great tribute to Broadway - this year the focus was "Hollywood Musicals" - A sang lots of fun songs, including "Food, Glorius Food" from Oliver, "I want it NOW" from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins, "Cruella DeVil" from 101 Dalmations, "Kids" from Bye, Bye Birdie, and an AMAZING rendition of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" - so good that they are taking it to Access Broadway next year! (admire the Veruca Salt dress - I constructed it from a thrift store dress, lace, ribbon and buttons for about $10!)

Hope to have videos by the end of the summer!

A Sings "Journey to the Past" from Anastasia

A was asked to sing at the Choir concert last night... technically, she is not in choir, although she would love to be! Because both Band and Choir are full year electives, and the 7th grade schedule only allows 1.5 years of electives - she had to make a difficult choice! We encouraged her to stick with band, as there is nothing outside of school for her to do to keep that up - but we provide her with lots of singing opportunities outside of school!

Making a long story short - A has Drama for her .5 year elective (surprised? LOL) and the Choir teacher and the Drama teacher are one and the same. One day in class, A glanced at the piano and saw this song out, and remarked to the teacher "I worked on that song with my voice teacher last year!" Next thing you know, she's auditioning after school, and being asked to sing at last night's concert! (The theme of the concert was "Journeys")

If you are a grandparent or an aunt or uncle - I advise you to get your tissues ready now!!

Iolanthe - Gilbert & Sullivan

They may have written their Operetta's over 100 years ago - but their humor has survived the test of time! Tonight was A's final performance after 3 weeks of Operetta Camp down at the Opera House. She was cast as Celia, one of the supporting roles. Although supporting - A's solo was the first of the show! How cool is that?

Celia, singing about life as a fairy.

The fairies Celia, Leila & Iolanthe make fun of the Peers.

I call the above photos "Giddy Fairies 1" and "Giddy Fairies 2". A is on the far right.

It wouldn't be Gilbert & Sullivan without a happy ending, and with everyone paired off! The above photos are from the finale song!

A Cast Photo

Goofy A, at the afterglow! No smiling photo - because the camera memory card filled up with this lovely photo!

Joy - I took all these with the Rebel on ISO 1600 with no flash. I think I'm keeping it! I'll call you - Don't cash the check until I make sure John has covered it!!! I still have lots to learn - and I think that with a little more know how - I can get even better photos than these... but I was a very happy photographer tonight!!

Dance Season is Finally Over!!!

Now that A is no longer doing any sort of competition dance, recital weekend isn't quite the ordeal it used to be!!! She was only in 2 shows - only did each of her numbers once - and we didn't even go to one of them - because it was a number we'd already seen both at Access Broadway, and at the Vocal Recital. But Sunday, she was tapping, and we hadn't seen her tap at all this year (one disadvantage of no competitions!)

First, they reprised the "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" number - which was great - because it was the only one I didn't get any photos of at the vocal recital!


Then, it was time for tap!! A is so self-critical, I didn't know what to expect - but she and her class were fabulous! I don't know WHAT she was down on herself about! It was a cute number, with lots of complex tapping - I sure couldn't have kept up!!!



We've agreed - same type of schedule for dance again next year - it was just the right amount - and she does love to tap!!!

Star Struck - continued

I've been a bad blogger of late - but I have lots of posts swimming in my mind - perhaps I'll get them all done in the next few days....

But, I just wanted to do a quick post with a link to Broadway.com - they put up a video clip of Sutton Foster's visit to the Troy High production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. You can see what a great production it was from the clips, and Sutton interviews the cast.

Good Day Yesterday!

All around, yesterday was a good day!

We opened GLMM registration - and for the first time since we began offering online registration - we did not have any major hardware/software issues... I took perhaps six telephone calls ALL DAY! (and 3 of them were from the same person that I was helping through registering for a second person!)

What a relief!

Things were going so well, that we went out last night to the Redford Theater to see our friend Lance Luce play the Barton Theater Organ! He played some concert stuff - then he accompanied two Buster Keaton short silent films, and we had a SING ALONG!

We had an absolute blast! I took my mom and sister along, and our friend's the K's were there too!

If you are in the area, and you are looking for a great night of family entertainment - I highly recommend the Redford Theater! It's a vintage moviehouse - built in 1928 - and it's fully restored. It's beautiful inside - and to catch one of the nights when they are using the theater organ is just not to be missed! My teen daughter and her girlfriends love to come too - so it appeals to all ages! Only one word of warning - it's not in the greatest of neighborhoods - so go EARLY so that you are sure to get a parking space inside the fenced lot. We parked on the street once, and it was a little scary!

Star Struck...

What a night!

This summer, while attending an Eagle Court of Honor for the son of one of John's oldest friends (they walked to kindergarten together) we sat at a table with other friends from John's school days, and we got to talking about A's interest in all thing Theater, etc. The topic came up, because one of the group is the Tech Director at a local high school. He mentioned that it was possible that Tony Award winner, Sutton Foster might be coming to their Spring musical - as she is a graduate of said High School, and the school was doing Thoroughly Modern Millie - and that's the role for which Sutton won the Tony.

Anyway - to make a long story short - this possibility became a reality, and this awesome friend (who looks like he could be my brother-in-law's brother - and crazily enough - is in the exact same line of work - theatrical lighting!) remembered our summer conversation and called us up and hooked us up with these AWESOME tickets! We were in the 2nd row, AND we had special tickets to stay for a Q&A with Sutton (Who is oh so wonderfully humble about her acheivements!) and an afterglow.

It was truly special. The kids at this HS put on a GREAT performance - lots of talent! And the Q&A with Sutton was so cool - I think A just really soaked it all in!

They did some cast photos with Sutton at the end - all I had was my camera phone - so the picture is sucky - but it was such a way cool night! The guy with the mic is the HS teacher/drama director. He was there when Sutton was in school - and he's still there!

2nd Generation Blue Laker

Does it count when the first generation are your Aunts and Uncle? Because this mom never went - she went places like to sing with Fred Waring, and to study Journalism at Ball State - but all of this mom's siblings spent summers at Blue Lake... and then each one of them had the opportunity to go on the International Tour!

So, a few weeks ago, A comes home from school.

"Mom, guess what?"

"What?"

"Mrs. H. is setting up scholarship auditions for Blue Lake! And, I went up after class and I asked, 'Do I have to audition with my instrument (french horn) or can I sing?' and she said I could SING!"

"Awesome babe...."

fast forward another week or so - and audition day. She decided to sing "Amazing Grace" - which is one of the peices she had prepared for her Winter Recital. (If you click, you can listen to her!) She comes home and I say...

"So, how did the audition go?"

"Pretty good I guess. He stopped me before I finished and said, 'You're a talented young lady, we'll make sure you get a nice scholarship.'".

Gee - sounds like more than "pretty good" to me!

fast forward to today... an envelope from Blue Lake was in the mail!

There's a NICE scholarship in there - covers about 1/3 of the camp fees (now I have to come up with the other 2/3rds... anybody want to make a donation to A's Blue Lake fund?)

She may be a 2nd generation Blue Laker - but she'll be the first one to go for Choir instead of Band!

Winter Recital 2008

We had a wonderful evening on Sunday listening to about a dozen of Mr. K's students performing their solo/ensemble pieces. "A" performed in this recital for the first time - even though she is not doing solo/ensemble yet (not old enough!) She was the youngest singer, and the first up to perform - and she was unflappable. Take a listen, and see if you don't think she sings like an Angel too!

The Gryphon

This was opening weekend of "Alice in Wonderland", and A, my theatergirl is playing the role of Gryphon. (The most unrecognized character in the story! So much so, that when she first got the role - I had to pull out my Lewis Carroll anthology, and find the reference in the story! )

It's a very colorful and fun show - with a large cast! A is having a great time, and the rest of us are too. I'm chairing the concessions, and J is running the light board, and E has been running a spotlight!

Thanks so much to family and friends that came to see the show this weekend! She has 4 more shows next weekend, and we hope to see even more people then! If you come, please be patient - the "Turtle Tango" is one of the last numbers in the show! A spends a lot of time in the dressing room!

If you don't come... well, then "Off with your head!" hee hee!