Aah, The Musical!

I find that it's either something that you love or hate or dislike. (Hate is kind of harsh.) In today's world of strange media...videos,reality shows, all of the cirrus radio and digital stuff, it's nice sometimes to remember the good old fashioned musical. Wow, I just realized that I'm basically writing about television again.
Today, I actually stopped on a show called "When Vacations Attack!" Anyways, it was refreshing to come across "Mama Mia." it is a musical and colorful and emotional. This enjoyment of the musical genre has been with me for a long time. The 1st musical that  I was in, was in 9th grade at a private girl's school(Derham Hall) that I went to for one year. The boy's school was across the game fields. It was my 1st experience with the whole try outs scenario.
 Pretty scarey I must say when you are a peon freshman and are a stranger to all of these kids who have grown up together and who to me, were considered to be "city kids." It was actually a little bit of a culture shock for me. So, the try outs were intense...pick a song, learn it in 15 minutes with the accompianist provided and sing it, in front of everyone, and act like you know the song inside and out and love it, and have all kinds of confidence. What was I doing here? I don't know, but I just had this feeling that I would be good at it. I think I thought, since I'm not good at sports, I needed to find my thing.
So, the singing part went ok. The second day, it was learning lines for that part of the audition process. Not too bad. By the 3rd day though, it was very nerve racking. It was time for the physical part. Doing lifts with strange, boys from the famed Cretin Hall, the military school. I didn't like boys much in the 1st place, but these guys were like from a whole different planet. They had crew cuts, officer type uniforms, ties, and like with all teenage boys, some were extremely awkward and some were like Mr. Perfects.  The thing was, we all had to do lifts with each other. Can you say cooties? Icky, sweaty hands. It was shear misery to me, who was not graceful in the least and who was socially awkward around these strange kids! Got through it and was in the chorus of the musical "Anne of Green Gables." I think I was one of Anne's friends. Did a lot of hopscotch, singing and pretending to be talking with the other extras on stage. It turned out to be quite an experience. I became social with the other kids, but not too social. I always felt a little out of place, but hung in there. Cast parties were quite interesting. I discovered how close actors could become after spending so much time together while working on a play. I also learned how to make friends with all types of kids. Some were in 9th grade all the way up to the highest power, the seniors.
Well, that's my story for the day. I always say how fortunate I am to have been able to be a typical teenager and to have had the experiences that I had. Sometimes, (like at this school in 9th grade), I felt like I was in a movie. I'll save "the mixer" story for another day. Mixer=dance. yikes, that was sure an eye opener.
Ok, take care and I'll do the same!