Around Halloween, Joshua auditioned to be part of the Meadowbrook Spring Musical. They had decided to do "The Sound of Music" which, even upon the first announcement of the show brought back all sorts of nostalgic feelings for me. I distinctly remember watching it at home and singing along with Julie Andrews to all of the songs. Josh decided that he wanted to try out to be Kurt Von Trapp, the precocious 10 year old boy in the family. After 3 call backs, it was determined that there was a literal tie between Josh and one other little boy for the part of Kurt. Apparently there were close races between other parts as well, so the directors made up several different Von Trapp families, photographed the members, and then used those photos to determine who would play who. Josh was selected as the understudy for Kurt. He was a little disappointed, but we tried to tell him that, since this is only his second musical, it would be a great chance to see all of the work that goes into being a lead character without the pressure for this time. Being the understudy meant that he had to attend all of the rehearsals for the children (essentially all of the rehearsals) but without the opportunity to actually perform unless the stomach bug unexpectedly took down Kurt #1. He also was cast as a Villager, but think about the Sound of Music--- there aren't any scenes in the movie where there are people outside of the Von Trapp family, unless you're a nun (he didn't qualify as one of those) until the very end when the Nazis are coming. Toward the end of the rehearsal schedule, Josh was given an opportunity to be on stage 4-5 other times for small parts (an attendee in the party scene when the kids sing "So Long, Farewell", a soldier who comes into the musical competition at the end looking for the family when they have run away, and as a contestant during the competition).
When it was his turn to come onto the stage, no matter how small the part ended up being, he was so proud and so happy. He delivered his lines with confidence and put in the work to be ready with such a good attitude. I wish I could say that my attitude matched his, to be honest. The last few weeks before the show are grueling-- with a lot of late nights, schedule adjustments, and oh my word the food issues. A group of parents works together to provide dinner for the kids each night as they rehearse for the long week before the show. They were starting rehearsals around 1 and ending at 10 pm each night. But for our purposes, that meant that I needed to time the dinner (usually around 4:30) and get something there for Josh to eat when everyone else did. One of the nights, I provided the dinner for the 85 cast members just so Josh could eat and go through the line with the rest of the kids. He seemed pleased with that.
During show weekend, we attended the opening night and loved seeing Josh do his thing. His polka dance number was hysterical--- had the audience clapping along and really enjoying it! There isn't a lot of comedy in this show, and Josh, Levi and Sabastian provided a moment of levity when one was needed. We absolutely loved it! Saturday afternoon's matinee was the one that all of our family attended--- the Lewistown crew as well as Aunt Sheri and Grandma were all on hand to support Josh. And then Saturday night and Sunday afternoon were my opportunities to serve at the concession stand so that someone was there with him but we didn't want to watch the show all 4 times. Throw Daylight Savings Time in there on Saturday night, and you have the recipe for absolute exhaustion---- for all of us.
All in all, this was a weekend to remember. Josh was so sad for it all to be over, which made me feel super guilty for rejoicing in all of our non-committed time following the end of the show. There were definitely tears on his part when it was all said and done, but I had a few as well as Mara and I snuck into the back of the auditorium at the end of the Sunday matinee. At the end of the curtain calls, the cast made three gestures. They all pointed first out into the audience to the sound/tech crew, then over to the director's box with the accompanist and adults that had been helping them, and then finally, up to God in a gesture that represented that everything they had done was for His glory. Truly, there was no moment that made be prouder to have a child up on that stage. All of the time that we had put into running to and from rehearsals, all of the weekends that we were stuck at home because there were rehearsals that Josh needed to be at, all of the late nights and packed lunches and leave-the-office-early afternoons to get him what he needed--- it was all worth it.
My suspicion, based on the way this whole weekend went, is that this won't be the last musical we're part of. And, regardless of the part he plays, I hope Josh will always use his gifts to be a part of things like this. It was a tiring weekend, but a blessed one on all accounts.
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