Drama Queen

I've mentioned before that my daughters both love dancing and singing and both have always wanted to get into acting.

Well, today is Day One of the realization of one of their dreams.

My eldest daughter auditioned way back, I think maybe September or October, for a role in the community theatre group production of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." They said they had close to 200 people audition and not everyone would be cast.(90 people were cast) They had an "info" night where the actors were taught a dance and a song, and then had to come back two days later for the audition.

This was a pretty serious audition as well. It was in front of a choreographer, vocal coach, director and producer. No parents were allowed in the room with their child, and the child had to perform the dance and song they were given in front of the panel.

We had encouraged our daughter to do her best, and we had spent many hours practicing her dance and getting the right pitch for her song.

We were THRILLED when she was cast. It's not a main character, by any means, but for a girl who has never done this before, amid some seasoned child actors, this was a thrill. She was part of the Oompah Loompah's. She is part of four numbers.

This started months upon months of rehearsals twice a week. And then, this month, to an even more fevered pitch. She has been having rehearsals four times a week. Some three hours long, some five hours long.

And today is the culmination of all of that hard work. She is at the theatre from eight this morning until three this afternoon. She will be performing two shows, each in front of three to four schools from the area. She repeats that schedule tomorrow as well. She then has performances Thursday, Friday and Saturday as well. Those luckily are "just" one show per day. Finally, Sunday is the cast party.

I'm excited and nervous for her, even more so because parents aren't allowed at these performances! I won't get to see her perform until Saturday night when we are going as a family. I'm also extremely proud of her because she started not feeling well yesterday, and went ahead today with a slight fever, headache and not much sleep. She truly is not up to her full "self" today, but she didn't want to let anyone down. I guess she has the "show must go on" attitude already.

This week is surely a busy one for us all. But it's also a beautiful moment. I get to see my daughter reaching for a dream she wanted to achieve, and seeing it through to the end, even when feeling like she'd rather just be lying in her bed. She made the commitment to this production, and she has sacrificed friends birthday parties, trips, and other activities she wanted to join, to pursue it.

As the lights go down on Saturday night, and music starts to resonate down the aisle, as clapping rises into the rafters......there might also be some silent tears.

And a bouquet of roses for the "actress extraordinaire."