Magic and Mayhem

Say that 10 times fast!

I took the kids to audition for the local production of “Beauty and the Beast” this morning. Jack decided it was a little too scary and didn’t try out, but Victoria and Anna couldn’t have been dragged away.

They had the kids stand in a semi-circle on the stage from tallest to shortest, then step forward and say “When will it end? When will it end?”.

The oldest girls started out fairly loud and theatrical for the most part, but the voices got quieter and the girls got more bashful as they moved to the youngest ones.

For Victoria’s turn, she stepped forward and thrust her arms out as instructed and delivered her lines in a rather small voice. She did it exactly as instructed, with a bashful grin.

Anna was two children down. When it was her turn, she took a giant step forward, thrust her arms out and exclaimed “When will it end?????”. Thank goodness there’s a place to channel all that drama!

Victoria was cast as Gypsy #7.

Anna was cast as Claire, Beauty’s nice sister. Apparently all the rest are rotten!

Both girls get to sing, dance, deliver lines and otherwise fulfill all their creative impulses for the week. Anna gets to do quite a bit of it.

They have to learn their lines by Wednesday morning and Victoria has been helping Anna run through hers. I gave them bottles of sasparilla (like old time root beer) and sent them out in the shade to watch the baby in the sandbox while learning them. It worked out well for everybody!

Rehearsal is every day this week from 8 a.m. to 12:15 and then the show is Friday night and Saturday afternoon. It’s a neat little traveling theater company that helps communities raise money while giving kids a chance to take part in a real show.

In other news, the city is replacing our curb and sewer drain. They started construction today, which involved lots of bulldozers and big machines. The kids are getting a kick out of watching the work and Victoria got some pictures…

It should be a fun week!