Before Thanksgiving, Logan came home from school, and as usual brought in the mail. Once a week we receive a locally produced paper, which I can count on one hand the number of times I have looked through it. This particular day was one of the those days I felt the need to thumb through it quickly before throwing it out. A few pages in, I was excited to see an advertisement for the upcoming production of Les Mis, and that tryouts would be happening the next week. My first thought was to have Logan audition for the part of Gavroche. Logan loves the music to Les Mis, and in my motherly opinion, I think he would make the perfect Gavroche. After reading more about the auditions, I quickly realized that Logan was too young. Sadness.
After overcoming my initial excitement, then disappointment, James asked me if I was going to audition. I told him that I was thinking about it, but I wasn't sure if I should, knowing that there are way more talented people in this world than me and I didn't want to put myself through something scary, just to be disappointed.
The next night I went visiting teaching. During that 10 minute drive, I was deeply pondering whether or not I should audition. When I got to my "sister's" house, I sat down at her kitchen table, and looked down to see that right in front of me was the paper, opened up to the page advertising the auditions for Les Mis! I was so surprised to see it, that I even commented on it. That pretty much made my mind up, that I should indeed take the leap of faith, suck it up and audition.
About a week later, James joined me at Burley high school, supporting me while I sang in front of the play and music director. There were a bunch of people there, and I was kind of nervous, but not too nervous. I had prepared myself well, and I knew the song like the back of my hand. My turn came up, and then....I bombed it. Truly, I have never sang so poorly in my life. My initial feelings were anger. I was so mad at myself for screwing up so badly on something that I wanted so much! I can't explain why I did so poorly, but I had no doubt in my mind that I had not made the cut. Indeed, the day came and went that the director told us we would be contacted by if we had made the play.
It may seem silly, but I really stewed about this for a long time. Day after day it wouldn't leave my mind about how badly I had done and how much it FRUSTRATED me! (I realize that people have bigger problems than this, but seeing as I didn't have any other major problems in my life at the time, this was a big deal.)
Finally, a week later, I made up my mind that I was over it, and I was not willing to lend any more of my feelings towards the matter. The very next day I ran into a friend at the grocery store. She congratulated me on making the play! Talk about salt in the wound! I regretfully informed her that while I did audition (how did she know?) I had not actually made the cut. She quickly disagreed with me and told me that she had seen my name on the list of people who had made the play. I could hardly believe it. She told me where she had seen this list, online, so I called James and told him to look it up to confirm with me. This story is already long, but to shorten it a bit, lets just say, I made the play!
Rehearsals began shortly after the new year. I have loved every second of it, and it really helps that James is just as excited about me being in the play as I am. Logan is pretty excited to go watch the show too. The talent that is in this show is AMAZING, so I still don't know why I'm in it. ;)
It makes all the difference, that even though this is at the high school, they mostly cast adults. It brings the level of maturity up a lot. It was a fun surprise to go to the first rehearsal and realized that I was surrounded by people who love this story and music as much, if not more, than I do. Really, I am so impressed with how much talent is in this play and I'm excited to see it all come together. The pit orchestra is even made up of volunteer, professional musicians.
Anyway, it's going to be great. The performances are the last week of January, and tickets are $12 a piece. The budget they spent on this play is astronomical ($25,000) so if you want to support your local Idaho community, please, come and enjoy the show! If you click on the link below, you can buy your tickets and even pick where you sit, so take advantage now and get front row seats!
http://kingfineartscenter.
1 comment:
How cool! Wish I was closer, I'd totally come. Break a leg!
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