Families that PLAY together stay together

Two reasons for this blog entry. 1st because I have made it a habit of writing reviews of musicals that I attend. 2nd, and perhaps most important, because Kimberlee was in this musical.

Auntie Elna's Traveling Cupboardware Show. A musical without equal. Well, let me re-phrase that, a Syracuse, Utah musical without equal. Yes that is right, never in my 11 years in Syracuse have I ever seen an original Syracuse musical as amazingly good as this one. Come to think of it, I have never seen an original Syracuse musical.......until now.

A little background first. About 3 months ago my dear wife found out that the illustrious Syracuse Arts Council was holding auditions for a new musical play. Being the thespian that she is, she decided to tryout. She ended up with the roll of Ophelia. Apparently, they were looking for the most strikingly beautiful member of the cast to play this particular roll. Oh, and was she ever beautiful, cast as a small town girl with a knack for cleanliness and drama. More on that later.

Once she accepted the role the usual thing happened. The director discovered that she was by far the most talented and willing participant in making this particular musical happen. So Kimberlee became more than the relatively small roll of Ophelia. She became the musical co-writer and arranger for the three original songs in the play. Once she was done with that, she started working on the costume design and production. Sewing and ironing and cutting and stitching and stenciling and and and....oh and then there were the props. Our kitchen became the prop room and the stage ended up looking very familiar to our family. I am sure there is more that she did, but off the top of my head that is all I can come up with.

So with all of the pre-show stuff, I really hoped that the three-day run of the show was worth the effort. Anyone who knows my wife would also know that although she is pretty good on stage she isn't much of an actor off of the stage. I can tell if she is happy or sad, and she is terribly honest. Leading up to the show I didn't expect much. I mean, she really downplayed it to me. She said things like "the humor is really silly and over the top, and I am not sure people will really appreciate it." She never once really told me what she thought of it.

So here comes opening night. Thursday. Here is the problem with Thursday night. It happens to be one of the nights of the week. And if it is one of the nights of the week then it must be a night that our kids have a million things going on. Thursday is swimming for Bridge, football for Mal and dance for Felicity. So, with mom in a play, dad gets limo duty. So needless to say, I didn't see opening night and apparently neither did anyone else. Kim came home and told me it was a tiny crowd and that no one laughed. Did I mention that it is a musical comedy? Ughhh.

Friday night. I really wanted to enjoy this play. I mean I really was hoping it wouldn't be as bad as I was expecting it to be. But come on, some local woman wrote it, a bunch of amateur thespians were performing it, and one of the most important people in the dang thing (my wife) had hardly said a positive thing about it in 3 months of preparation. So I went in with VERY LOW EXPECTATIONS. But I had a good attitude, cause I really wanted to like this play. We got there about 10 till 7. There were maybe 20 people in the seats. But it started to look better as 7 rolled around and actually the rec center filled up quite nicely. We had front row seats just off center stage. I did what any self respecting father would do before the show started. I made all my kids go to the bathroom and then threatened them within an inch of their lives if they didn't be quiet and pay attention.

7:05 and it is time for the show. The show starts out with a re-written version of Hello Dolly. It was fine and my only complaint was that Kim wasn't miked so I couldn't hear her voice above the others, but she had great stage presence and her trademark big beautiful smile. After the first number, the show dragged a little and was ok, but nothing great and I sat in my seat and prepared myself for a slow but mildly entertaining show. Then about 20 minutes into the show, something happened. A musical number about multi-level marketing and a great line about how it is not a scam. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I laughed out loud and so did most everyone else. After that the ice was broken and the show got better and better, and I no longer had to want to like it. I liked it. Heck I REALLY REALLY liked it. In fact, by the end, I was really excited that there was one last performance on Saturday night.

This show was stinkin funny. In fact it was hilarious at times. These small time, amateur players were really pretty dang good and if I do say so myself, Kimberlee was excellent. Now for any of you out there that are parents, think to the times you have seen your kids perform. Dance, sports, school play, whatever. If you are like me you have a series of emotions running through your body. First you have nerves. Nervous that your child is gonna get out there and forget his/her part or make a mistake or something like that. Then you watch that beautiful baby of yours perform and lo and behold, they do great and you get this sudden welling up of emotion and it culminates in a tear or two streaking down your face. So I have felt that way lots of times with Lily and Bridger. Lily has more first place dance trophies than you can shake a stick at. She and Bridger won every karate tournament they entered, and now Bridger is like a younger, shorter more bow legged Michael Phelps in the pool. But here is something I didn't expect to happen this soon. I felt that way on Saturday at Malachi's football game and then I really got it Saturday night when Kimberlee flawlessly played her role as the lovely Ophelia. I literally teared up. I haven't really had the chance to feel that for Felicity yet, but with dance season coming I have a feeling that I will be tearing up twice as often as I used to when I only had one daughter performing.

Life is beautiful, my wife is beautiful and I only feel sorry for the majority of you out there that didn't get to see how beautiful and funny she was in "Auntie Elna's Traveling Cupboard Show".