Musical season is officially over for this year, and it is bittersweet. Although it is a huge relief not to have our lives ruled by the rehearsal schedule, it was such a wonderful experience, and such a fabulous play, that it is sad to say goodbye to it. Lily was in the ensemble in her school's production of Les Miserables, and she did a fabulous job.
Part of Lily being in the play, was my job as the co-chair for the lobby display, as well as doing all the photography. My partner, Beth, and I worked on the display starting last summer, coming up with all sorts of ideas of what we wanted to do. I loved working with Beth - we bonded over last year's display, and she has become such a good friend. (She even gave Lily rides home from the late night rehearsals, and then she was so sweet with Arthur when he wanted to help her with the letter board for the concessions stand.)
We worked on the display off and on for months, and the week before the play, we finally put the finishing touches on it. I just love how it turned out too - simple, and yet classic, with little touches inside the display that represent the play - a loaf of bread, silver candlesticks, French flags, beer steins, etc. But my favorite part, was the slide show of my pictures that we had running on the four school TV's in the lobby. And Beth's 3-D display also turned out fabulous.
On Monday, the first dress rehearsal, I got a personal showing of the play since I was there to take portraits during the performance. I did the same thing last year, and it was so much fun! I loved it! And it doesn't hurt that Les Mis is my favorite play, and they did such a phenomenal job.
Right when I was about to start taking pictures, I got a text from Kevin, who just happened to be awake (it was very early in the morning in Afghanistan), and so I asked if he wanted to watch the play. And so I was able to Facetime with him during the practice and he was able to watch almost the whole first Act, that is until my phone ran out of battery. It was a little tricky, since I was holding my very heavy camera and taking pictures the whole time, but I managed to wedge my phone between my knees and aim it at the stage. It was such an amazing blessing for him to get to see part of the play.
I just love how the pictures turned out! I took over 1600 photos, and then I narrowed it down to about 375, which was very hard. Then I spent two days working on pictures and the slide show, but it was worth it. Here are a few of my favorites.
On Tuesday night, it was the parent preview night, and so it was the perfect time to bring Arthur to see the play. He was SO excited!! And he just loved the play, even though most of it went over his head. It was the music that held him captivated. That said, he is still six years old, and he had a rough time sitting still. It is also a very long play, and so at intermission, which wasn't until 8:30pm, I took him home. Boy, was he mad at me, but it was school the next day, and I was not going to let him stay. he was crying on the way home, when I told him that he didn't really want to watch the second act anyway, because almost everyone dies ;). After I said that, he changed his mind and decided it was a good thing we didn't stay. Ha ha!
Wednesday was a daytime performance for senior citizens in the area, and Thursday was opening night. We had arranged to take our Young Women from church to the performance, and Lily loved having them there.
And wow, the energy of opening night was incredible!! Really, I cannot go on enough about how amazing these kids did with the play. Seriously, so amazingly talented! And I have seen four different broadway tours of the production. On Saturday, I took Derek to see the matinee while Arthur played with a friend. He loved it as well, and I loved getting to watch it again.
And Lily did such a fabulous job. She may not have had a speaking role, but she acted so well. In the inn scene in particular, she was amazing, and I cannot even tell you how many people told me what a great job she did, and how she played a pretty fantastic drunk - ha ha! Pretty ironic, since she has never really been around drunk people.
And when she was supposed to be serious or downtrodden, she was amazing! It was so great to see our Lily come back into her own - she had always been an excellent actress, but had lacked in confidence a bit in the past couple years (with all the moves and such), and I loved seeing this side of her again.
After Saturday night's performance there was a cast party, and a lot of the moms were going to be there hanging out, so I picked her up from the show, and we went to the party. I was so completely exhausted however, that I told her we had to go home at 11:30, since she still had another performance, as well as church on Sunday.
On Sunday, after sacrament meeting, I dropped Lily off at the school for their matinee and final performance. I went home to wait for the boys, who were getting a ride home from church. While I was waiting for them, I fell sound asleep - the late nights and crazy busy days were finally catching up to me, I guess. We had an early dinner, and then at three, I headed back to the school, very grateful, once again, that Derek can babysit (or I seriously could not have done all that I had to do).
I got there early enough to help out during intermission, but just before the end of Act I, a fire alarm went off in the middle school, which just happens to be attached to the high school. They couldn't find the source of what was tripping the alarm, and so they had to evacuate the building!! What?! Instead of helping them with the concessions, instead I got to usher people out of the building. Thank goodness it happened right at intermission, and luckily, it had only been about five minutes when they got the all clear. Craziness!! People were so amped up, we sold out at the concession stand, which meant that I could sneak into an empty seat in the back and watch the second Act one last time.
As the lights went down and the orchestra began playing, I started tearing up. It was so sad to say goodbye to the play, but especially to the magical experience that was this year's production. It really was phenomenal, and since we are losing 35 seniors, I wonder what next year will look like. But for this year, it was amazing, and I am so grateful that Lily and I got to be a part of it. As she took her last bow during curtain call, I was reminded why we put up with the crazy schedules and everything that goes on with one of these productions. It is about the experience, the magic, and of course, the friendships.
When the last of the crowd cleared out, we started taking everything down. I was back on the high ladder, and took down in seconds what took us hours to hang and set up. We hugged, we cried, and we were grateful for the little group of friends we have made in the musical community here in Dallastown. Here's to next year. And here is to actually getting some sleep.
