We're Off to See the Wizard!!

Last weekend was opening weekend of The Wizard of Oz which both my girls were in!  Mikayla plays the roles of Crow, Poppy, and a Candy Shop Girl in Oz; and Izzy plays Toto during the Kansas scenes.

Mikayla continues to show no fear on stage, while Izzy has been riddled with anxiety since the beginning, but both girls are doing an awesome job!  The hours have been long, not getting home and in bed until about 11:00 this past week (which explains why at 10:30 on a non-play night they are both in their beds still awake and reciting lines from the play) but it has been worth it!  

The entire show has surpased my expectations, and those of most of our audience members.  We have sold out two of our 4 shows so far before even opening the doors, and are looking forward to another busy weekend of performances.  I'm not going to go into it too much tonight, but wanted to show you a few pictures for those of you haven't seen them on facebook already (my facebook friends are getting tired of hearing about the Wizard of Oz by now I'm sure)

Mikayla in stage makeup before dress rehearsal.  Mikayla loves being in plays and has no stage fear.  I wish I was more like that!  She is enthusiastic and a pretty awesome singer!

Izzy as Toto holding the Toto that sits with the narrator Dorothy.  Lots of things throughout the process of rehearsals and performances have worried Izzy to tears, and the late nights have made her pretty tired, but she is having a lot of fun making new friends and playing in the dressing rooms with the other kids.  She is such a cute Toto and gets lots of laughs and "Awww"s from the audience!  She is having fun and once she gets past each of the little details that worries her she enjoys herself quite a bit!

We have 6 Dorothys, 2 Totos, 2 Wicked witches, 2 Glindas, and some double-casted munchkins as well.  Partly to accommodate a very large cast of 115 kids!

Toto scoping out Professor Marvel's roasting marshmallow.

Mikayla in her crow costume for the scene where Dorothy meets the Scarecrow.  She likes being a crow, they get to sing and dance with the Scarecrow and tease him throughout the scene.

So you put makeup on her and she becomes a 13 year old?

Opening night was one of their sold out shows, and was a huge success!  

We are so proud of our kids!

If you are interested in coming to see the show, you should order online before it sells out! youththeatreworkshop.org

Renaissance Festival

A little over a week ago we went to the Renaissance Festival like we do every year.  The girls have always dressed up like princesses or fairies, or fairy princesses.  We didn't have anything to dress LM in so he went as a futuristic boy.

As soon as we got there the children's theater guy asked the girls if they wanted to be in the Pied Piper play that was about to start in a few minutes.  Sweet Pea did this same play 2 years ago and played one of the towns children, this time she played a mouse.

Direct quote from Babydoll as soon as she got up there, "I'm a children!"

She was the only one of the "children" who put on the hat. They didn't know what they were missing!

BD rode a llama

LM and I rode an elephant.  I was so glad he got to sit right up front, it's the only way to really get to feel the  elephant's skin.  He really liked petting it's ear!

Riding the butterflies

The giant horse and pirate ship swings were one of the few things that excited SP this year.  She was bored for some reason.

Also her and BD were arguing a lot.

Also LM was whining a lot and having tantrums about everything.  What had started out as a fun family day was quickly becoming stressful and not fun!

At one moment of hightened stress, we were also trying to traverse through a particularly crowded area with a stroller filled with angry two-year-old and all our crap.  Spence was getting mucho frustrated.

Come on hun, smile!!

 I'm glad we went, but I think we're ready for a Ren Fest trip without the kids for once!

It was exhausting!

Sleeping Beauty Pictures

Sleeping Beauty is over.  It was a great run but I'm glad to have things calm down again.  Last friday night I finally got my chance to see the show from the seats rather than backstage, and Spencer and I took Babydoll and Little Man too of course!

While we were waiting out front our director thoughtfully upgraded BD's ticket to the princess parlor package and she went in the princess parlor to have her makeup done and get dressed up by Sleeping Beauty and the fairies!

 LM loved running the halls before the show.  He found some wall art that he had to show us and look at for a while.

 Both kids LOVED the show! LM was pretty difficult until it started, but then he was completely glued to the stage.

LM loved the horse Samson and the Raven the most.  Babydoll's favorites were Aurora and Maleficent... go figure.  She has always had kind of a dark sense of humor so I'm not surprised at all that she was drawn to the villian.

When the show was over BD got to take pictures with the cast on stage!

Broom, Bucket, and Mop

Goons

Maleficent (BD thought she was "really funny" even when she was cursing the baby princess to death)

remember the dark sensed of humor? yeah.

Full size and mini Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather

Prince Phillip

Princess Aurora

Narrator (in red) and Ladies in Waiting. 

The ladies in waiting also play the Fairies for half of the run of the show

2 of the Woodland Fairies

LM and his Samson, but it was 9PM and he was too sleepy to be up for touching the giant stuffed animal horse.

Sleeping Beauty was a great experience for Sweet Pea and she looks forward to doing the next one... this time probably with Babydoll as well!  The next Youth Theatre Workshop production is scheduled to be Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer!

Like a Hunting Dog

Sometimes I feel like a hunting dog. 

Particularly an off-season-neglected hunting dog.

I'm kept in my home and yard most days out of the year.  So much so, that when I get to go do something, everyone (including me) is happy for me that I "got out".  Like my owners let me out of the mundane boundaries of the yard and took me to the dog park.

And then hunting season, or in my case theater season, comes and I'm so excited and end up overworking myself into a heap on the floor in front of the fireplace hearth.  Except I don't have a fireplace or a hearth, so really it's the rocking chair I collapse onto.

I go go go working hard for the family who "owns" me and love it, but get pretty worn out at the same time, and then "hunting" season ends and I rarely leave the yard.

So, though it's a bit stressful and very tiring, it is also really fun.  So I will enjoy this time out in the field until my family puts me back in my kennel.

Sleeping Beauty is Coming Up!

Forgive my lack of steady posting, I've been busy.  I've been busy running Sweet Pea and her friend back and forth to the theater for Sleeping Beauty rehearsal!  She has been busy rehearsing her roles (yep, she has 3!) as the Enchanted Bucket (I throw the "enchanted" part in because it makes her feel all the more special), a member of the King's Court, and one of the thorns that attacks Prince Phillip when he tries to rescue the sleeping princess.

The kids are really doing a great job getting ready for this show to open. They've been off book all week and for the most part are remembering their lines.  At this point, from what I can tell back stage, they are working on smoothing things out and getting into and staying in character.  I think once they start wearing their costumes next week the character development will improve.  Again though, I'm backstage and can't really tell what's happening in front of the curtain, but it seems to be going very well, considering they've only been working on it for a month!

We don't really have a set yet, which has me a little worried, but from what veteran youth theatre workshop parents have told me it isn't uncommon for the set to get done at the last minute. 

This is a fun show and it is super cute!  The cast is talented and are really enjoying themselves!  I'm really excited to see all the kids in their costumes, because the one's I have seen are adorable!

If you live nearby you should come see Disney's Sleeping Beauty at one of the many showtimes:

Friday, April 29, 7:00 pm

Saturday, April 30, 2:00 pm
Saturday, April 30, 7:00 pm
Sunday, May 1, 2:00 pm
Thursday, May 5, 7:00 pm
Friday, May 6, 7:00 pm
Saturday, May 7, 2:00 pm
Saturday, May 7, 7:00 pm
Sunday, May 8, 2:00 pm
Sunday, May 8, 6:00 pm

Click HERE to order tickets!

Nunsense and Laundry Detergent

First:
Last weekend Spencer and I went to see Nunsense which was being done by ERCT.  It was the most fun I have had in a long time!  The writing for this play is really funny, but without a talented cast much of it would have been missed.  The erct cast was indeed talented! I laughed my butt off and had a big smile on my face nearly the entire time!  It wasn't just the comedy, the singing was also wonderful!  I think it's rare to find a play that can be gut-busting funny for adults and still be family-friendly, Nunsense is one of those gems!  There's a few "hells" and an "ass" or two if I remember correctly, but it's a pretty clean show.  I can't say the same for the after party with the cast and friends though! :o)

Thank you to everyone involved in Nunsense for the fabulous entertainment!

Now, Second:
While Friday night was spent laughing, eating, drinking, and telling dirty jokes about a local bbq place... Saturday night was spent making soap.

Laundry detergent to be specific.

I've known it was possible for years, but never tried it.  I thought it would be too hard to find the ingredients, too hard to make, and didn't trust it to work.  I was wrong on all accounts.

I could have taken pictures of the process, but the blogger which posted the recipe that I followed already did that for me, so you can see her full post by clicking here.

What you need:
1 5-gallon bucket with a tight-fitting lid
Borax
Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 bar Fels-Naptha soap
After driving around and searching Walmart I ended up finding all the ingredients at Cub Foods in the laundry isle, and the bucket I got at Lowes.  Making the detergent was pretty easy, but I thought I had done something wrong because the next morning when it had cooled completely it was gross.  It was lumpy, slimy, and gloppy.  Not something I wanted to be messing with.  After posting a question on the above blog, and doing some internet research, I came to the conclusion it turned out exactly like it usually does... watery, slimy, and gloppy.  This really isn't an issue though because I used a funnel and a measuring cup to fill an old laundry detergent bottle up about 3/4 of the way, and I shake it up a little before each use just to make sure it's all distributed evenly.  I use an entire cap full (2/3 cup) plus a little more in each load, and have been really pleased with the job it's doing!  There was a blanket that the dog had been laying on and then had been left outside for weeks that was really stinky, one washing and it smelled fresh and clean!

The best part, and only reason I'm making it, is that it is SO cheap to make! For my initial batch of 5 gallons, I spent $16 (8 for the soaps and 8 for the bucket).  Since I only needed 1 cup of the borax and arm and hammer washing soda for each batch, those will last me quite a while.  The only thing I'll need to replace will be the Fels-Naptha soap... which only cost me $1.09!  That means in the future I'll only spend $1.09 for 5 GALLONS of laundry detergent! 

So to wrap all this up, if you get the opportunity to see Nunsense... go!  And if you'd like to save money and practically do your laundry for free, try making your own laundry detergent!

A Little "Nunsense" This Weekend

Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to go see Into the Woods, a Steven Sondheim musical.  Well, February is turning out to be a pretty exciting month regarding musicals!  This Friday night Spencer and I, along with some ERCT buddies, are going to see Nunsense!  I'm especially excited for this show because other than the woman playing Sister Mary Leo, I know everyone in the show!

Last summer I youtubed clips of Nunsense starring Rue Mclanahan as the Reverand Mother.  I absolutely adored this version of the play, and can't wait to see what kind of a spin my friends in Elk River put on it!

The premise of the show is that the convent cook accidentally poisons the soup, killing 52 nuns! The convent can't afford to bury the dead nuns so they put on a variety show to raise funds.  Luckily for us, the nuns that didn't drink the poisoned soup happen to be very talented and quite hilarious!

Since I have no clips of the ERCT show, I'll leave you with these!





This last one is of the Reverand Mother who has just been given a suspicous substance that Sister Robert Anne found in the girls locker room.  The poor Reverand Mother has no idea what she's about to do.


So if you like that, and want to see what the talented people of ERCT can do with it, come out and see the show!  Click here for showtimes and ticket info!!

"Into the Woods" I Went!

I don't know about you, but I had a pretty fabulous weekend!  It started Friday night when I went with some theater friends to see Into the Woods.  It is a musical by Steven Sondheim and it was fabulous!

Although the night was wonderful, it didn't start out that way.  When I walked out my door and into the dark garage, I didn't see a folded up metal dog kennel which had fallen right in my way.  I tripped on it, and started falling.  Of course my eyes hadn't adjusted and I couldn't see anything to grab on to so I just put out my hands and hoped it wouldn't stab myself on anything.  I landed right on my knees, my left knee in particular. 

Bad words were spoken, and not under my breath by any means.  There were no kids around and it hurt like hell so there was no holding back.  I managed to get up, stagger to my car door and get in so I could assess the damage.  My left knee was pretty scraped up but not really bleeding, and more importantly my pants had not ripped! So I started the van and moaned and groaned all the way to Target where I was meeting friends to go see the play.

Once in the Target parking lot I put some bandaids on (I always have bandaids in my purse) and waited for the others to arrive. 

This is me waiting. Can you tell I'm excited to be going out?

Here is a description of the play, copied from the Bloomington Civic Theater's website:

What happens after “happily ever after?” Into the Woods brings together some of the most well known Brothers Grimm fairy tale characters to help us find out. While the characters are familiar, their stories intersect through unexpected plot twists.

When a Baker and his Wife learn they've been cursed with childlessness by the Witch next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell, swindling, lying to and stealing from Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack (the one who climbed the bean stalk). Everyone's wish is granted at the end of Act One, but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later.

Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning score thrills us with cleverly crafted ensemble numbers as James Lupine’s ingenious puzzle of a story guides us to take a look at the inevitability – and treachery – of our innermost wishes.

What follows is a bold, darker look at what happens after the wishes are granted and the fairy tale ends. What began as a clever diversion touches deeper nerves. Ultimately, the characters end their journey aware of the moral consequences of their actions; each having learned valuable lessons about power, tolerance, personal sacrifice and the strength of shared community.

The play was fantastic and aside from an unnecessary costume element for the VERY MALE wolf we enjoyed it very much.

Although Rapunzel's voice left little to be desired, and Cinderella was.... eh, the very difficult music was performed exceptionally well. 

If you get the chance to see it, I'd recommend you do... but dont bring the kids. 

Here is a clip from the show, I believe this is the Broadway cast visiting the Rosie O'Donnel show.  It is The Baker's Wife singing with Little Red, and The Baker singing with Jack "No One is Alone".



"Into the Woods" I go!

Tomorrow night, or tonight depending on when you're reading this, I'm going to see Into the Woods.  I don't know a ton about this musical, except that some of the songs I've seen youtube clips of are pretty awesome, and it has to do with a different look at some well known fairytales. 

I'm sure I'll tell you about my evening out next week, but for now check out this Into the Woods song!

After the Storm

A few weeks ago, or several weeks ago, I've lost track, we had a storm.  That evening I was on a conference call with the Sound of Music producer, set designer, and my fellow paint manager when the storms started rolling in, the clouds got dark and creepy, and then the sirens started going off.  After finishing up our business (while simultaneously moving our family members to a safe location and watching the weather warnings) the kids and I cozied up for a little storm-time fun. 

We prayed that we would stay safe and that all our friends and family would stay safe, and that the storm wouldn't break our house.  Sweet Pea amended the prayer because she figured if the house broke we'd build a bigger house... I hope there isn't insurance fraud in her future! 

Spencer was in WI that night for Rockfest, so it was just me and the kids in the basement.  Since Sweet Pea and I had been obsessing working on The Sound of Music the first thing that popped into my head to do during a scary storm was to sing!  Now in the movie version Maria sings "My Favorite Things" with the kids when the storm comes, but in the stage version they sing "The Lonely Goatherd"... we sang both. :o)

When the storm passed I put the kids back to bed and went outside to take pictures.  The sky had turned from funnel clouds to this...

I just stood there and kept taking pictures, the colors were changing so fast and it was so beautiful.  I wish the pictures looked as good as it did in person!  It was a beautiful end to a pretty severe storm!