"The King and I"

Went last night to see 'The King and I' as performed by the Light Opera Group of the Negev.

Inevitable comparisons to our own shows.

If there were some way to have men in our cast (eunuchs?) then it really adds to the choral harmonies.

Hmm... maybe not.

But the scene changes were also impressive because there was no tape on the stage but they must have had six different arrangements of where to put walls and steps and trees and such, and it was done super-fast and accurately, each time. I believe they have a person just in charge of the set and where it goes.

Musically, ambient music (something playing while people are not singing, or just talking, or whatever) makes ALL the difference. Why couldn't we audition a couple of strings and a wind instrument to be in our show, just like we audition dancers and actresses? Or even have subtle recorded music to play over certain speaking rolls - it just would take us to the next level.

And maybe someone in RBS wants to 'audition' to be our musical coach as well, working on harmonies, etc? Or maybe if we have additional instrumentation, one of our existing musical ladies could focus more on the singing?

As for voices, they had clearly been coached, and they had some superb natural talent (although Anna was either getting a cold or getting over one - well hidden, but not entirely - but she still had more voice than ME on the video, but I'm not harping on that point, oh, not at all...). Our children are better directed than their children, more effusive and smiley and warm (although they DID line up PERFECTLY for their finale, on the first try!).

Back to their sets, they were nice because each piece was exactly the same flate, painted style - so their trees were flat painted trees, bookcases flat painted cases. Not that flat trees are better than leafy glue gunned trees, but everything looked like it matched - and it was lovely. They were also very creative with four sets of stairs, arranging them back to back to make raised platforms, all in a row to make steps up to a dais, all on the side to make bleachers for students to sit like in school, etc, one standing alone with a ship's steering wheel on it to be a prow, etc.

Their costumes were lovely, all bright and silky, but mildly disappointing because Anna's skirt wasn't very big, IT WAS TOO SHORT which was inaccurate and distracting, and she only had one skirt change (she wore the same skirt for most of the play with different jackets, etc). Her skirt is far too key a piece for it to have stayed the same so long. It was a pity.

But sach hakol, all I came away with was, "we're just as good and just as entertaining, except they have strings and wind instruments."

Oh, and if we ever do this play, I get to hit the gong, alright?

Dream about next year's play

I had a dream again.

So it was auditions, and the kids and the adults were auditioning
simultaneously in two rooms, like in the matnas or something. So
C.'s going back and forth, and a few of us previous play
participants are running interference for her, answering questions and
handing out scripts and stuff.

I go up to C., and I'm like, "Okay, everyone keeps asking, WHAT
play are we doing?" And C. says: "Cats. But don't tell them
that, just tell them to try and sing a song from there."

So I go into each room, and tell them "Please get ready to act out the
scene from 'A Little Princess,' ...AND if you know any songs from
'Cats' that would be good to hear too!"

And in the adult room, everyone is sharing the strap-on peg leg and
pirate swords for when they get up there and do their scene from Peter
Pan.

Interpretation?

Clearly, C. will surprise us all by doing some story about a
little girl whose father leaves her alone in a boarding school with a
bunch of Lost Girls, and one night they fly out the window to
Neverneverland, where they will all put on lots of furry makeup and
will sing "Memory..." while discussing how only The Great Tom Cat
(also referred to as 'Hashem') can end the Boer War so Shirley Temple
can come home again, but not before she grows a tail.

I LOVE IT!

Why do I dream about swimming?

I had an elaborate dream that my husband and I were with some anonymous family members of ours in Yerushalaim for shabbos, but I had to go Friday night. So we just excused ourselves before candlelighting, and got in the car - to drive to RBS so I could go to the pool! And before we get to RBS, when we're only in Beit Shemesh, I go "Oh my gosh, I'm such an idiot, why didn't I just go in YERUSHALAIM, because now it's going to take forever to walk back!" So we decided I would just go in Beit Shemesh, since it's closer than RBS... and my husband was going to drive back to J-town before shabbos, and I'm like, "you don't have enough time," and he's like, "sure I do," and I'm like, "no, look!" and the sun was almost totally down. So he pulls over and puts his wallet and keys under a dumpster and off we go on foot in Beit Shemesh (which oddly enough, resembles Bayit Vegan) looking for a pool. Finally I stop and ask a woman where it is, and she's says I'm right in front of it... and there's a line of women around the building (which has a very sketchy half sized door to go in - probably due to tznious). So we go in (yeah, my husband too, whatever), and there's a pool in the room I'm in but it's filled with blankets (aside: no I am NOT on drugs!) so we have to wait for the other one, and I forget that part, and then my husband and I are packing up getting ready to walk (note: the prep room was like a hotel room, so it had a tv and everything, but because it was shabbos already I couldn't turn the tv off, so we just turned down the volume before we left), and we're like, should we walk to RBS to change into better shoes and then walk to Yerushalaim? Nah, it's fine. Wait, should we just ask one of these women if we can come for dinner, because we'll miss dinner back in J-town? After all, it's going to take at least AN HOUR to walk to Yerushalaim from Beit Shemesh, right?

And then I woke up, with the full realization that all of this could never have happened, because the walk would be transgressing tchum shabbos. Well, duh.