You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile

Tonight is the opening of our school musical Annie Junior!

I have had the privilege of co-directing the spring musical every year for the past three years. Theatre is in my blood, and always has been. There's something that just...sparks inside me every time I work on a show. This past week, I returned to my high school to speak at the National Honor Society induction ceremony, and while I was there I wandered backstage into the makeup room, the room where so much MAGIC happened in my high school years. I looked around at the mirrors, the props, the leftover flats with familiar paint from past shows, and almost came to tears. It was like I had never left. I heard that fabulous song from the musical Sunset Boulevard, "As If We Never Said Goodbye" in my head...

"I don't know why I'm frightened

I know my way around here

The cardboard trees, the painted seas, the sound here

Yes a world to rediscover

But I'm not in any hurry

And I need a moment.."

I mean, I met my HUSBAND through theatre. He was (still is in my eyes) "THE" guy in our department. His talent then, and now, still amazes me. Theatre brought us together, and it is still a passion we both share even if we aren't "actors" anymore.

My senior year of high school, I discovered that I loved directing as much, if not more, than acting. I directed a full show for our fall production and a show at the International Thespian Festival. When I was hired at my school, I just KNEW I had to find a way to bring my passion for theatre to my students! My principal informed me that no one had signed up to direct the school musical, and I instantly knew this was my chance! I immediately informed the social studies teacher on my team, who shared my zeal for theatre, and we signed up to be co-sponsors! Our first show was Schoolhouse Rock Live, Junior. Little did we know back then how BIG our productions would become!

Back then we had a negative budget, no costumes, and no knowledge of what we were actually doing. Let me tell you...directing a middle school production is HARD work! Luckily, our production was a huge success, and the "buzz" at school began about the quality of our production.

Last year we performed Honk Junior. I LOVED this show. It told the story of the Ugly Duckling through a clever and witty story. My husband saw this show performed by a performing arts school back when he was a senior, and I still remember him talking about how fantastic the characters were. The costumes were bright, the music was trendy, and the story-line tugged at heartstrings!  Since this was our second show, we had a much better idea of what we were getting ourselves into!

This year, we decided to finally pick a well known show, Annie Junior. Our first two shows were "unknowns" to our kiddos and audience. No one had any previous ideas about the story-line or the songs. We wanted to capitalize on the success of our first two musicals by choosing a show that everyone would be familiar with, to draw a large group of kids for auditions. Annie is such an instantly recognizably character, and the songs resonate with just about every little girl out there! I know I've been singing, "Tomorrow" since I was seven years old...not very well...but I still tried to belt it like a Broadway star. :)

This show has also been interesting in that I was absent for quite a number of rehearsals due to a certain wedding that happened spontaneously in the middle of February! For a while, I felt like I was playing "catch up" to stay up to speed on the show. Thank goodness I have a co-director, and other teachers who are willing to help! We really make a great team! Needless to say, I didn't truly feel "comfortable" with how the show was going until about three weeks ago. I was worried that our show wouldn't, "Shine like the top of the Chrysler building" like our past two shows had. Of course, that's every director's worry, and every year the shows EXCEED my expectations.

                                               

This show will be incredibly hard, because it's the first show that we have 8th graders who have been involved in all three of our productions. Last year, I had to deal with my first group of students from my first year leaving, and I bawled through the entire production. This year will be no different. When I see that curtain close for the last time on Saturday night I know I will be hugging and crying all of my 8th grade kiddos, knowing that it will be the last time I get to work with them again. Not to mention, they will be singing the song, "Tomorrow," which will only stimulate my tear ducts even more!

I was thinking last night, as I picked up dinner for my extremely tired and exhausted self, about one of the songs in the show this year, "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile." It's easy to get wrapped up in the stress of the end of the school year. It's easy to nitpick every little detail when directing. It's easy to get caught up in the trials of your day. But, you really are never fully dressed without your smile. I can't wait to watch my kids perform their hearts out on that stage tonight and tomorrow. I will miss so many of them dearly, and words cannot describe how proud I am of them. You can guarantee that I will have a smile "from ear to ear." Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to wear "from head to toe." :)