Adventures Under the Sea: Making a Splash

I come to you beaming with proud because the kids nailed! opening weekend! It was so great to see all their hard work finally pay off. And I was so impressed with the end product. Rehearsals had been going great, but there is something about a live show that really just amps the kids up. Everyone was making choices that were spot on with their characters, and a lot of kids who had been struggling with certain parts really hit it home. Our Sebastian especially was something to get excited about. She was clearly one of the crowds favorites with her comedic timing, and sass which had completely changed levels from what we saw on Thursday. The audience was having a great time because you could feel that the kids were having a great time. Even when things went wrong (because with children's' theatre, its bound to happen) the kids barreled through. They had a costume malfunction backstage which left our Ursula onstage by herself for several long moments, but she handled it with the grace and poise you would expect from a professional. Another one of our kids apparently threw up from pre-show sugar indulgence right before going on, but me and Kivan didn't even know until afterwards because of the way he dealt with it, and the kids determination to continue and use a table that had only been hastily cleaned from the throw up. At another moment, the music which plays under the dialogue during the climax of the play skipped to the next song, resulting in the music being paused, but the kids just rolled with it. All these snafus just made me more excited because I got to see them deal with it like the professionals they are becoming. It is so different to sit in the audience and not be cataloguing notes, like I had done during rehearsal. I always enjoyed watching the kids during their practices, but being able to watch and truly enjoy it as an audience member was definitely the greatest experience of the whole experience. I can't wait til next weekend to see what that brings. :)