Seuss Day #2

Well, we're now three-quarters of the way through Seussical! I can't believe we only have one show left.

Today we put on a Matinee and a Night performance. The Matinee was almost full - since they brought 75 Senior School kids over & tonight was sold out! Tomorrow night (finale) was sold out last weekend. Crazy!

All but one person I have talked to have absolutely raved about the show (and that one person is cynical about EVERYTHING!) & tonight I got to watch the whole thing! They did soooooooooooo well! I so wish we could've taped it so I could show the world how talented my people are! (dumb laws and stuff)

I could probably talk about Seussical for the next week non-stop! So many highlights. But here are my top 3 from today:
1. Getting to work with so many different kids, parents and teachers. I love that I work in a K-12 school (well apart from the big kids give me attitude in the playground). It has been fun getting to know kids that I don't teach as I paint stripes on their faces & I have loved catching up with kids I've taught in the past.... my first Year 1s are now in Year 8 (SO OLD!). Doing a musical has given us a chance to relate to kids in a different way, supporting and serving them & giving them a chance to shine (which I guess is what we aim to do every day... but it's a little more literal in the musical sense than the classroom sense)

2. A message I got from the girl who played JoJo tonight. She had to share the role with her sister, so tonight was her last show. I can imagine sharing a role could cause tension between sisters & I can see how it would be easy to feel sad that she wasn't in all the shows... BUT she (and her sister) have had the BEST attitudes the whole time (I can't say the same about the rest of actors...we have had a few divas and a number of meltdowns in the past few days).
I facebooked her to tell her how great she was tonight and hinted that she must be sad that it's all over after all the rehearsals. Her 11 year old reply blew me away

"i know but i am glad because we have made so much progress and i have so much more cofidence and i have improved in my acting alot! Oh and i have made a whole lot of friends." 
I love this girl's attitude!

3. This photo:

These girls were waiting to go on stage. But this one little girl couldn't help herself, she just started dancing. It wasn't to show off, she wasn't even aware that anyone was watching her, or that I had my camera handy - soooooooo glad I did (not that this is the most spectacular photo, it won't mean anything to anyone but me). It was a spontaneous expression of the excitement that was charging through her body, and it was beautiful!
Similarily (see how just used that conjunction to add more to point #3...hmmm maybe this post will go forever), last night, after the first show, our Junior School kids did not know how to deal with the energy and adrenaline they were experiencing from being on the stage. As they ran backstage they were just yellllllllling and clapping and jumping and cheering. I love the rawness of their emotions. They haven't yet learned how to internalise that feeling (and in someways I hope they never do...in other ways, this is not practical behaviour for normal school days. haha). Instead of subduing the kids, and reminding them of proper backstage etiquette, we joined in - giving them high-fives and cheering, their joy was infectious.

There are so many more things and pictures I want to share. But they are my "3" highlights from today.

Oh, here is a random tip from Leah & also Ellen : 60 minutes is a good show to watch after you eat dinner while you are waiting to go swimming

Oh, ok... here's just one more picture...