I saw a high school musical yesterday. No, not the wildly popular movie . . . a real High School Musical. Every year my high school puts on a musical – this year it was "Beauty and The Beast" It was a "girls day out" with me, Mom, my sisters, and my nieces.
When I heard that this year’s musical was "Beauty and The Beast" I wondered how in the world they would be able to pull off such a production. When I was in high school, we did the traditional Broadway musicals – "Oklahoma," "The Music Man," and "South Pacific". And even though each musical was wonderful, you could tell that it was a high school production.
Oh. My. Gawrsh. Was I ever surprised. It was a fabulous production!! Okay, it wasn’t Broadway quality and certainly not the quality of the Disney movie, but it was very good. The set was gorgeous and I couldn’t believe that they had made it all themselves there at the school. And the cast! The director did a great job casting the parts. The kid that played Gaston was perfect. At one point I thought to myself, "Gee, I hope he’s not like that in real life," because he was having a little too much fun throwing the kid that played Lefou around. The boy that was Lumiere was hilarious!! I couldn’t believe he was just a sophomore. Belle, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, Maurice, Babette . . . they were all perfect. And the little kids that made up some of the Enchanted Items during the "Be Our Guest" segment were just too cute for words. All the cast did a great job – not a bit of nerves to be seen anywhere. No flubbed lines or forgotten words.
I don’t know why, but I’m always amazed at the wonderful talent of the students that attend my little high school. It’s not a big city school – just a small school out in the middle of nowhere. Farm kids. Small town kids from the middle of nowhere Ohio. But the talent they showed yesterday was amazing . . .
For three hours yesterday afternoon those farm kids and those small town kids made me forget that I was in a small high school auditorium and made me believe in an Enchanted Forest and the power of true love.