A Giant Peach

My little boys had their first experience in a theatrical production this month--"James and the Giant Peach." I had never seen this show, and I fell in love with the music from the first note I heard. The music is fun and upbeat, the scene changes are pretty minimal, and the costumes are crazy awesome!

The boys were part of the ensemble, a good first show role. It showed them how a performance is put together and gave them lots of costume changes and roles. My favorite part was when they were dancing stumps.

Hyrum tried to show me a dab with his limited arm motion, and this picture shows how awesome they looked when they tried to dance.

These stumps were so cool--metallic insulation stuff (no idea what it really is called), painted and drizzled with caulk. So creative and not that uncomfortable, considering they were portraying stumps. Hyrum was elected the "Mascot of the Weeds," and they dubbed him "Donald Stump." Kids are so funny.

They also portrayed waiters, an Oompa Loompa (Hyrum), a construction worker (Micah), waiters, and the head (Micah) and butt (Hyrum) of a shark.  Hyrum was pretty miserable during rehearsals, but they had a great time in their first show once the performances started.

Karli and I took the little girls to a quick dinner at McDonald's before one of the performances. Once they settled down in their seats for the show and the music started, both girls couldn't sit still in their seats because the music jiggled them--shoulders up and down, tapping toes, clapping hands, even shouts of joy. I loved watching them love the show.

I love that we live where we do and that my kids have opportunities to participate in community theatre. Being onstage teaches them confidence, cooperation, dedication, hard work, and how to deal with frustration.

Thanks, AYT--another great show.