Weeks of Annie Comes to a Close

The cast party is over, the performances were ALL sold out, and in the supermarket, Asa gets stopped by a little 3 year old girl with awe in her face: "Mama, ANNIE is in the store! Look, there's ANNIE!" Asa still has her red curly hair, and to a child this age, it's as if she's stepped out of the storybooks and into the grocery store. Asa goes over and gives her a hug. What a sweet moment!

Myself, I am just in awe, completely thunderstruck that our little girl transformed on the stage into this character so completely. Asa's a bit of a fidgety kid, and in the past it's never easy for her to hold focus on the stage but now she's just matured into the ability to remain in character, literally for hours. As I helped her erase the underlines she put in her script so that it could be turned back in, I am amazed at the sheer number of lines and songs that she memorized, all the choreography. Wow. Just so proud. Oh yeah, not to mention that's my dog Sophie playing the role of Sandy. At only 7 months old, she did a great job and I'm just amazed she didn't look out at all of those people in the audience and bolt! Wayne did a great job of being the dog wrangler and animal manager, too.

And let me gush on a little bit longer about this cast. No one over 17 in the cast, yet the maturity of these young actors and actresses, their ability to capture emotion with a gesture or expression, to get the comic timing down, to turn a phrase, well let's just say I came away more than impressed with all of them. Not to mention a director willing to take on a cast of 87 kids (!!!!!) Can YOU imagine doing that? Not me. And transforming them into a singing, dancing bunch of professionals on that stage. And an all-youth orchestra with a music director who burned the late-night oil to make sure that they sounded terrific. Wow.

So please, take a minute and VOTE for Upstart Crow Studios application for a Pepsi "Refresh Everything" grant. This will allow them to buy curtains, microphones, and other much-needed items for this non-profit theatre.