Oh, the dramatic (Day 79, Year 2)

I don't have anything dramatic to report except that we did survive one more DRAMATIC tech week and weekend of DRAMATIC performances. This time around it was all three kids performing in Annie.  The musical was wonderful; but I am tired, bloated (from eating soft pretzels at intermission and sitting for 3 hours each day), and unable to stop singing "Easy Street," while doing jazz hands and shaking my shoulders. 

If you are envisioning what this all looks like, it is like Eileen Benes from Seinfeld dancing. Actually, it is worst than that. It is like I am in some sort of theater induced psychotic state that involves bad singing and dancing. 

But, man I love the theater. And it is so nice to not be the sport mom for a little while. Don't get me wrong, I am really proud of my children's athletic endeavors. It is just that I understand the theater more and I feel more at home amongst my people who wear costumes and eyeliner; not uniforms and eye black. I also know when to cheer and clap; unlike when a game is happening and I cheer at all the wrong times. 

As my kids have grown and taken hundreds of hours of classes and whatnot, their performances have gotten really very good. As my husband would say they are like "Restaurant Quality Meals." The singing and dancing is on point. The acting is great. And the facial expressions and "all-in" participation of our kids is really top notch. They have a wonderful community of other "theater children," as Lily calls them and have a space where they can sing and dance and act and express themselves with reckless joy. 

I mean how absolutely wonderful and freeing is that?

Like, all "restaurant quality meals," all of this is a lot of freaking work.  There are constant missing shoes and eyeliner and lipstick demands and panicked phone calls about bobby pins and missing "skins," the nude leotards and booty shorts they wear for easy, modest costume changes. 

I know my kids do the real work--the practices and the costume changes and the personality changes required to get them into character. 

Although, Chloe seemed to naturally transition from 13 year old girl to an angry street person named Eddie. And my children do fight like feral 1930s orphans on a regular basis. In fact, I am certain their fights inspired the Orphans in the cast to take their acting to the next level.

And, of course, there is the actual courage it takes to get up on stage and perform to a pretty large audience, knowing your mother is sitting in the front row, center, ignoring the prohibiton on recording and photographing while dancing like a lunatic with a soft pretzel in her mouth. 

Which reminds me, it's time, friends, to move on from "Easy Street" and start singing "Let It Go" (Frozen Junior is at the Middle School this May!) and "My Friend, the Dictonary" (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is in late May) and "King of New York" (Newsies is coming to the summer stage).

Here's to theater season, which never ends and only gets more "restaurant quality" with each performance.