We did it! We made it through another crazy Pykles family adventure. And a few days later I think we are actually very glad that we had this experience together.
This summer our community theatre did a production of The King and I. We tried out back in March and we really hoped that we would all make it in so that we could have the theatre experience as a family again. It was a bit of a scary experience because of the professional nature of the whole thing. The director is straight from NYC and comes here each summer to direct these shows because he is so impressed with the local talent-much of it linked with the school of music. So it was no small miracle when he accepted the whole family. (minus little Lincoln who was just too young). Ben was asked to play 2 roles- the ship captain, and Sir Ramsey, the British diplomat and the kids and I were royal children and wife. This was the perfect situation for our family because given our roles Ben and I were never on stage together except for one 5 min. scene and because of that we were able to always have Lincoln with us-being watched by one or the other of us. That relieved a lot of stress for us and truly made it a family experience. It ended up being TONS of work-a practice nearly every night since the second week in June and many days we found ourselves questioning why we had taken on such a big commitment. But... what a wonderful experience we had. The things we felt our kids gained-from the confidence, to the musical training, to the wonderful people we met-and then to be able to be on stage together (I suppose there will always be a soft spot for theatre for Ben and I). It will be something that we never forget.
The transformation to be Siamese was quite the process each night-spray tanning, black hair, and crazy eye makeup. Most nights it took close to an hour to get hair and makeup done for myself and the kids. Then... take it off each night and start all over again the next night. It was exhausting but the kids loved it!
I was so proud of my kids for seeing this through. It wasn't easy but it was so much fun and they were so good and patient. Jamison was the youngest child in the cast by 2 years and every night when he walked out on stage all by himself to meet the King there was an audible sigh. He was so little and small, but he did just what he was supposed to do and he did it every single night-just right. I was one proud mamma.
Great memories, great experience, great people , etc. etc. etc!
7 comments:
Wow--how cool for you guys!!! Way to go to your littles! I'm way impressed. You look so cute all dressed up. Nice lipstick Ben!!
What a great experience! That is an amazing accomplishment. You guys have so much talent and that is fun that your family could do it all together. What a blessing that everything worked out with Lincoln too! Good job guys.
You guys look awesome! What a fun thing to do as a family. I wish we'd known you were doing it, we'd have run over and seen it!
Wow! That is very impressive!
I would have loved to come and see you too sing and act on stage. I'm sure it was FABULOUS!! I'll definitely fly out when you hit broadway. I wish I could get Roman and my boys to do something that cool!
That is really cool Chelise. What fun family memories!! Enjoy some downtime now that it's all over.
So cool! I plan on dragging my kiddos on stage in the next couple of years - once Matthew is a little bit older. I wish I could convince John to join us.
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