Teen Theatre

This was the last week of the July theatre arts program sponsored by our school district's youth council. The kids going into fifth through seventh grades constituted the junior group, and the incoming eighth through twelfth graders were the senior group. Son #1 is entering the ninth grade, so he was in the elder group, but this was his first time in the theatre arts program. Many of his peers had four more years of experience there, so he really picked up a lot and worked on his dancing skills (I had failed to visualize him performing hip hop numbers until I actually saw him do it, and he was good!).

The older kids' show, last night, had some standout vocal solos and some impressive ensemble dance numbers. They were quite talented. I have to admit that I didn't enjoy a lot of the actual material as much, as it was very far removed from actual show music and more about current teenage alternative genre. The younger kids' show, on Wednesday, was much more up my alley. It was a Wizard of Oz motif, loosely based on the original story, but also pulled in songs from Wicked, Into the Woods, Tarzan, and other shows as we followed the chronicles of our four friends wandering the forest in search of the omniscient, omnipotent one.

One of the songs, which I hadn't heard before, really did move me. Part of the reason for this is that the young lady who sang it was not miked up properly, and yet we were able to hear her all the way in the back of the auditorium, over the pit band. A shame about the mike, of course...but in the second act, one of the players called her on stage in between two other numbers and said that he didn't hear her song before...and asked her to sing it again. This time the mike was working. Stunning! The program said she's going into the sixth grade. I can't even fathom what she'll do in high school, with that big voice.

The song was "What It Means to be a Friend" from the musical 13. This really tugged on my heart strings and my memory threads. At that time of life, I was just discovering friendships in my own peer group at school and had major trials...but I'm also feeling it for Son #1 who's also an intellectual and an introvert (as I was) and even though it might not be as bad for a guy he's having the same kinds of struggles as far as I can tell. These lyrics hit home with me big time.

A friend’s not a cheap little phony creep
Or a jerk trying to make a deal
A friend is a person who, most of all,
Cares about what you feel;
And nothing is harder
Than learning a friend isn’t real

A friend sends notes back and forth all day
And doesn’t care that you can’t spell
A friend knows you’ve got a crush on your teacher,
But a friend would never tell
A friend’s outside waiting
The minute you both hear the bell

And if your heart is always breaking
Cause the world is just not fair
When you’re at your worst
Your friend’s the first one there
Giving you something to lean on
And that’s what it means to be a friend

And if your heart is always breaking
And you want to run and hide
When your hope is gone
Your friend is on your side

If someone moves in ‘round the corner
And you want to show him you care
So you give him all your last month of vacation
And all of the time you can spare
But then, on the first day of classes
He acts like you’re not even there,
Then he doesn’t know…
He doesn’t know!
He’ll never know what it means
To be a friend

So last night we finished in the auditorium at about 10:10PM, and then the kids had to change and take off makeup and collect all their things. My son had procured $20 from his dad so he could go to the diner with the cast afterwards, so I dropped him off and asked him to please call no later than 11:30. I got a text from him at 11:29, asking me to meet him out front of the diner but not come in. (How embarrassing, to have your mom come inside and be seen by everyone!)

I remember what it was like at that age, to feel like I was being accepted by a group...or hope that I was, and I was willing to travel anywhere or hang out with people I really only kind of enjoyed because I was gaining that acceptance and it gave me confidence to build on. Even though the entire cast reported to the high school at 7:00 yesterday morning for the early performance, and they really only got a break for a couple of hours in the afternoon, my kid didn't seem tired at all when stepping into the shower at midnight. Meanwhile, Mama Bear was ready to drop!

Naturally I'm not the picture of energy today, but my parental satisfaction meter is off the charts.