The sun will come out . . .

I awakened to the beautiful sound of the weatherman's voice this morning, ". . . change in the weather pattern. It will be sunny today, with a high near 70 degrees . . ."

Ahhhhh! That's so much better.

More sunshiny news - DancingDiva and I auditioned for a local production of Beauty and the Beast. The cast list came out last night and both of us are in the cast, DD as a dancing plate and myself as a crony/villager. While I'm not surprised DD made it (she was asked, along with her dance team, to audition by the choreographer), I was a little surprised to see my name on the cast list, instead of on a list of stagehands, with a nice typewritten note saying that my audition was such that they are proud and happy to announce my placement behind the scenes.

I haven't auditioned for a musical theater production since college umpteen years ago. While I was an all out drama geek in high school and college, the necessity of earning a living, marriage and raising kids kind of took center stage for awhile. I've sung in worship groups for years but even that has been on the back burner for the past 9 years. So auditioning for this production was kind of a fluke.

Because this theater group caters to families, the audition notices stated that preference would be given to people who auditioned as families. Now, since there is no way anyone else in the family would audition (Peeps wanted to but she was too young), I was elected. And, after some careful thought, I figured it would be a great encouragement to DD to see me audition along side her anyway, so I was game.

DD and I were early, so we picked up our applications and filled them out and picked up our numbers before most people had begun to arrive. We happened to be numbers 2 and 3 on the list. Our group of 10 was taken into the singing portion of the audition first. After a couple run throughs of the music, we took turns singing sections into a recording devise. While I was certainly okay, I deliberately didn't make a huge effort to shine in the vocal audition. It might have intimidated DD more, so I just sang the song as nicely as possible and moved on to the next audition.

Following the singing was the acting. The Producer and Director were there and they put us through a few acting exercises before handing out copies of the script. Given that our group was short a few men, I actually was asked to read for the Beast. WHAT A HOOT! I took my role seriously and growled and paced and snarled my way through the audition. Frankly, although I was reading a rather scary part, it must have been a scream to see a rather heavy-set middle-aged woman stalking about, pretending to be a Beast. I walked out chuckling and laughing all the way to the dance audition.

Yup - I had to dance. You thought I was laughing before . . . The Choreographer, who happens to be one of DD's dance instructors, taught all 10 of us a short dance routine. After a few practice runs, we performed it in groups of 3 or 4 to music. The Assistant to the Choreographer is a good friend of ours and she had a twinkle in her eye as my turn to audition arrived. To make matters even more ludicrous, DD was in my line and she nailed the routine next to my bumbling attempts to step, together, step, touch, kick ball change, chaine' turn . . . The contrast between us must have been hilarious, especially when you notice how alike DD and I are facially.

While DD shined as the best (only) true dancer in our dance audition group, what encouraged her the most was to see me fumble my way through the dance audition. It gave her confidence that her rather timid vocal audition wasn't so poor after all, at least when you compare it to my total incompetence in dance. We talked extensively about the fact that there are few people who excel at all three disciplines. There will always be weak areas for most musical theater performers.

Out of 220 people who auditioned, they cast about 100 performers. So DD and I are very proud to have been included. And also a little humbled. I happened to know a few of the other people who auditioned and didn't get parts. I know that some of them are far better singers and actors than I am.

My best guess is that the Director and Producer liked my chuzpah. Or saw some comedic potential in my goofy portrayal of the Beast and dance abilities. Anyway, it should be a grand adventure.

Who knows, maybe my drama geek mojo is on the rise.