Tonight, a great friend and I went to see my niece and nephew in their elementary school’s production of Schoolhouse Rock, Live! Ok, so it was the juniorfied version of the show. phooey! A year ago our community theatre did a production of the full 21 song-filled show in which I was the central character, Mr. Mizner, on his first day as a teacher. The 80 kids on stage tonight delivered a very fun, energetic (but shortened) version. The kids were broken down into four groups each of which were on stage in turn during certain songs (you try putting 80 kids on stage at the same time). I attempted to find my two stars and easily spotted Elizabeth when she was on stage. However, my godson, Joshua, decided to hide himself whenever possible. BUT, I did catch him getting into the dances a few times.
I was pretty impressed with the work put into the show. Lots of high energy (as it should be) and choreography that even I could have done. There were only eleven of the songs from the full version present. I was surprised that “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly” was not included. I thought that the kids could have done a good job with that and had fun. Most disappointing, to me anyway, was the absence of “The Tale of Mr. Morton.” But, as Megan pointed out repeatedly… “It’s the JUNIOR version… j-u-n-i-o-r!!!” I thought… ok, but… I don’t see why I got to sing the song and the young man playing Tom did not. THAT IS HIS BIG NUMBER. I would have been disappointed if I were him and did not get to sing it. The kid did a good job in the part, but he could have shown a little bit more apprehension at the beginning.
Tonight’s version of “Do the Circulation” featured a soloist resembling Elvis Presley singing the song and doing some moves. This was a fun bit, but I liked our idea of turning the cast members into gym equipment (treadmills, weight benches, etc) and having the kids in the choir operate them. Since our version had a female singing the song, it would not have worked.
I also missed the added dialog that our wonderfully gifted and talented director and awesome friend added to the show for a more cohesive and flowing plot. Tonight, the constant raising and lowering of the lights between each song was at times tedious but I don’t suppose there was anyway around it with all the kids coming on and off stage. I wonder how many parents had to be behind the scenes to corral all 80 of them. Carol… could you have done THAT by yourself? You only had 30 to work with. Here is your chance to COMMENT on our blogs… hmmm.
A fun evening although our plan to eat at the Olive Garden before the show did not work out. Promise Megan that we will go there reaaaaaaly soon… thanks for coming. And you can comment, too. I know you are both out there reading and lurking in the shadows 🙂 .
