My daughter was in her first stage play recently, Guys and Dolls Jr.. At the fifth to eighth grade level, all the plays are “Junior.” They shrink the scope and length down to allow for a middle school budget and staging. It is also to prevent middle school actors from passing out before the intermission. The younger version expands the size of any chorus group (Hot Box Girls, Crapshooters and Tourists in this case) to allow anyone interested to learn the ropes of performing.
I didn’t know anything
about the play. Basically, it’s a double anti-Grease. The two couples
progress through the story with the women lamenting over their “bad boy” men.
However, unlike Grease it is the men
who change their lives and cleanup their acts for the ladies. Yet, this play is nowhere near as popular
with the female set as the story of Sandy completely transforming herself for the
likes of Vinnie Babarino.
Women are weird.
It turned out to be a
useful educational experience as the script came with a glossary. Just what every ten year old needs, to be
fluent in depression era gambler slang.
My old high school was
doing the full version of it, and my daughter wanted to go because a couple of
senior troupe members from the Moving Company were Hot Box Girls like she
was. Considering we’d only seen them as
graceful and focused dancers, it was quite a shock to learn what excellent
comic timing they had. Their reactions
to Sister Sarah’s speech, and many other moments had us in stiches. It also takes massive amounts of dancing
talent to be able to perform awkwardly that well for “Bushel and a Peck,” then
switch gears to show their true talent in the Havana number, and finally
display an artificial version of the class and artistry they really possessed
in “Take Back the Mink.”
We ended up putting the
Soundtrack on our driving playlist after that. There’s some weird block in my
brain about theater music. I’ve yet to
hear the songs from a successful show and not like them, but I am incapable of
listening to them in the car until I’ve actually seen it performed. There must be some visual-auditory cross
wiring in my head.
I’m very glad I took her
to the full version. This was partially because of the amazing quality of the
show. The two female leads had professional experience, and all the other
performers were top notch. The school also brought in pro musicians and the
scenery, staging and technical aspects were excellent as well.
A more important reason
was that it helped Guys and Dolls Junior
to make sense.
Some of the songs and
dialogue cut from the middle school version were needed for punch lines that
stayed in.
I still haven’t figured
out what were the criteria for removal. Leaving
the whiskey verse out of “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat” would have made a
great deal more sense if the mention and effects of Bacardi before and during
“If I Were a Bell” weren’t still there.
Likewise, I understood the
complete omission of the suggestive “Take Back the Mink.” Then again the whole “Hot Box” thing was still
prominent.
In addition, Big Jule
was obviously scripted and directed for the generation of maximum subversive
giggles by constantly interrupting with, “Let’s shoot CRAAAP!” In a brilliant casting move, Big Jule was
portrayed by a gravelly voiced lad a good head shorter than everyone else on
stage, enhancing the comedy moments.
The rest of the cast
ranged from “better than expected for middle school” to “no one that young
should have that commanding of a stage presence!”
For obvious parental
reasons, we went to all three showings of the spring musical over the
weekend. Any long running play slowly
morphs over time as performers find ad libs that work, drop bits that don’t and
hone the timing based on audience reaction.
With such a short run time, I was amazed to see how well the kids
adjusted from one performance to the next.
No amount of rehearsal can substitute for true audience reaction. Within the weekend, subtle changes were made
that enhanced the gags, and emotional content of the show.
I was proud to see my
daughter even though she was one of a crowd, be one of the actors that figured
things out through the performances.
Opening night, she had her focused dance recital face on most of the
time, but transitioned more into a “Disney face” as the weekend passed. The biggest changes came in the Café Cubana:
The first night, she
brought up the end of the conga line, and passed unceremoniously off stage.
Saturday night, she
timed a little back leg kick right before she stepped out of sight.
On Sunday’s matinee
performance, she looked over her shoulder and whipped a smart aleck grin at the
audience with the kick, generating a crowd full of laughter and applause.
The showmanship of the
whole cast was all the more impressive considering they put the entire thing
together in only five weeks. I complemented the director from Pushcart
Players on this feat, and he clutched the nearby soundboard and his chest, swayed
and gasped while crossing his eyes, “Was that all?”
Yes, he was awesome.
I also thanked him
profusely for making my daughter’s first experience on stage make her desire to
have additional experiences, which is the best thing anyone can ask from a
Middle School Show.
Her getting to interact
with and form new connections with this group of talented schoolmates as her
horizons expanded made me completely ignore the fact that her stage debut was,
for all intents and purposes, as a stripper.
Oh look, there goes some
more of my hair falling out.
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