musicals in America today, bringing all-time favorite Dr. Seuss characters like Cat in the Hat and Horton the Elephant to life.
Bursting with vibrant colors and energetic dance and musical numbers, “Seussical Junior” regales the tale of Horton the Elephant who finds himself responsible for protecting both his friend JoJo and an invisible community of Whos, as well as guarding an egg abandoned by a careless friend.
Jordan’s middle school drama club had been in rehearsal for “Seussical Junior” since mid-October, and for the past three weeks she has been in rehearsal every day after school for no less than ninety minutes a day: Friday evening was opening night, and the jitters were setting in.
As the opening night’s performance sold out immediately, our family opted to attend the Saturday matinee. With Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Bobby, Nana Bonnie and flowers in tow, we piled into the minivan and headed over to Jordan’s school, excited to see her Who debut.
I made a conscious decision to NOT bring the camcorder and rather sit back and enjoy the performance as it played out (of course we were all still armed with digital cameras as we weren’t prepared to quit cold turkey).
The performance lasted just over an hour and passed with the blink of an eye. We kept our eyes trained on Jordan and watched her light up when she finally spotted us in the audience. Decked out in khaki pants, a neon yellow t-shirt and full stage makeup, she suddenly looked much older than her almost twelve years.
The level of talent in the lead roles was amazing: The strong vocals and stage presence of these young children were impressive, and I only hope these actors pursue their passion in the years to follow.
Jordan was talking a mile a minute before we even reached her backstage: "Oh my God! That was so fun! At first I thought I was going to hurl, I was so nervous. But then I got out there and I felt much better. Did you like it? I think we did a great job! The grownups really laughed a lot. We killed them!"
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Jordan and Jamie |
As she jumped in my arms for our customary body bear hug, I noted her legs were draping well past my kneecaps. Jordan hugged everyone (even her brother), took pictures and then disappeared to join her fellow cast members for a late lunch prior to their final Saturday evening performance.
The student playbill allowed all cast members to present a brief biography, and Jordan's read as follows:
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Jordan's #1 Fan |
"Jordan hopes to become a movie actress one day. Her hobbies are wrestling, drawing and swimming. Something most people don't know about Jordan is that she likes to skateboard. Jordan would like to express special thanks to her mom for making her who she is."
For all the good, bad and ugly that parents go through every day, it really doesn't get any better than that.
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