Cinderella

I could very easily make this one of the longest posts ever because of all the wonderful things I have to say about musical, but to spare you, I will shorten my novel. But I must warn you, there is some mushy and gushy-ness... Basically, doing musical was the best decision I've made in high school. I have made so many friends. Not just "musical" friends, but lasting friends. It's awesome having such a large group of friends that have a common interest and goal and are just as crazy, if not more, than myself. I have developed talents I never thought I would, and I've just had an overall amazing experience. I was fortunate enough to play the part of the Queen in "Cinderella." It was stressful, fun, incredible to expand my talents the way I did, and just amazing. My very talented and loving grandmother, with the help of my aunt, made my gold queen dress. It's absolutely incredible. I don't know how someone can have so much talent to make a dress so stunning. She was very kind to make it for me and I'll be forever grateful to her. I'm also to thankful for my Dad who spent a lot of time helping me find my scarlet dress. And of course my mom, who helped me put together everything. Like I said, I could go on and on, but I'll just post some pictures instead for your enjoyment.

{Lionel, Queen, King, Prince Christopher}

{The hilarious stepsisters}

{Oh, and in case you wanted to add something to your list of useless facts, my full name was Queen Constantina Charlotte Ermintrude Guinevere Maisie Marguerite Anne. Yup, it was in a song. My son's name was long too.}

{On my off night I was a peasant girl dying to catch the eye of the Prince...}

{...until the ball when I fell asleep dancing with him.}

{My amazing Grandmother- the one who made it all possible. Love her!}

{King, Queen, Cinderella, Son}

{The King and I}

{Cinderlla, Fairy Godmother, me, Prince}

And you can't forget about the backstage fun! (Oh, and before I forget, the preshow Princess parties were super fun too.)

{My counterpart and me}

{I seriously would not have survived musical without these girls. They are the best.}

So that's pretty much Cinderella in a nutshell! Thanks to all my family and friends who read this who came to the show. It really did mean a lot to me and I love you all so much!

(Photo credit to my family and, once again, the amazing Annie. Oh, and the last photo is Emily's)

"Crazy For You"

This year, my high school put on the musical production, "Crazy for You." It is a Gershwin musical comedy with classic music, crazy tap dancing, bright colors, fun costumes, and lots of energy. The story is about a man named Bobby Child. Bobby's family owns a bank, but Bobby wants nothing to do with it. He wants to sing, dance, and act. Despite his wishes, his mother wants him to go to Deadrock, Nevada and take a theatre that has not paid its mortgage. Bobby goes to Nevada and immediately falls in love with Polly, the only girl in the town, who is also the owner of the theatre. She falls in love as well, until she finds out who he is. She realizes he's there to take the theatre and gets upset. In order to win Polly back, Bobby dresses up as a man named Bella Zangler, and brings his follies with him to Nevada. He teaches the cowboys to act and dance, and attempts to put on a show in the theatre to pay off the mortgage and win Polly's heart. The musical is filled with mistaken identities, comedy, and romance, and of course everything turns out right in the end. I had such a fun time learning how to act (I've never done something like this before) and learning all the different dances and choreography. I've also made a ton of new friends. More than I ever thought I would--love it. We spent many hours rehearsing and preparing for the show, and it definitely paid off. We had great audiences and every show ran smoothly and wonderfully. We could not have done it without our amazing director, Angela, as well as our many choreographers, costume directors, stage crew, and Larry, our choir director. The talents these people have are so incredible. The following pictures are from the show. Most of the photo credit goes to Annie, and some to my parents.

{Bobby and Zangler's Follies in "Can't Be Bothered Now."}

{Bobby (Taylor) and Polly (Jenna) dancing soon after they first meet.}

{The "Girls Enter Nevada" after Bobby has his brilliant idea to become Zangler. (I'm the one in pink and blue in the mid-left-ish.)}

{"Dis iz Deadrock, Nevada, yah?!"} 

{The showgirls teaching the cowboys how to dance.}

{"Slap that Bass!"} 

{Polly and Bobby (dressed as Zangler) in "I've Got Rhythm."}

{"The Real American Folk Song"}

{Bobby and the real Zangler mirroring each other. This was my favorite scene because it was so funny.}

{Bobby and Zangler, grieving over their hard-to-get girls in, "What Causes That."} 

{"Stiff Upper Lip." We had cool chair flipping actions in this scene. And as a side note, on the back of our chairs we had our names written on a slip of paper. Whoever wrote mine put, "Jesson" as my name, and I have since then been known as Jesson throughout the musical. Funny thing is... I still don't know who wrote it.}

{Finale!}

{Grandma and Grandpa}

{I had much love and support from my family and friends, especially from my Mom. Thank you all! You are so wonderful!}

{Bobby, me (aka Lola), and Zangler! In our next production, "Cinderella," these fine fellows are my son and husband! Details to come later.}

~Behind the Scenes~ 

{My eye makeup and super long lashes.}

{Sara, Grace, me, Jane}

{Chante and Me}

{Me and Erica (aka "My name is Shelly!"}

{Me and Erica on her "on" night as Bobby's mother. I love her. :)

{Grace!! Don't think I would survive musical without her.}

{The lovely Miss Emily D!}

{Trisha and me. We are counterparts for the part of Queen Constantina in "Cinderella."} 

{Hayden (the other Bobby) gave all the girls roses on closing night. How sweet is that? :) 

{After Hayden's closing night we went to Chili's (it took an hour to get our food, and an hour to get our check. This put us home at 12:30am... bleh.) Anyway, Natalie and I shared this divine treat. Other nights we went to In-N-Out and Village Inn. Yummy! I love cast parties.}

I've gotta admit that I almost didn't do musical. I had my schedule changed four times, and eventually decided during the summer to do it. I definitely do not regret making that decision. Musical has been one of the greatest things I've ever done. I have discovered talents I didn't know I had, have created friendships that will last a lifetime, and have added many things to my 'high school memories'-- when I look back on my senior year, I will remember how much fun I had thanks to musical.

Honestly, I'm a little relieved, but sad, Crazy For You is over. As a cast we put it to 'bed,' and are now starting to work on Cinderella, which I'm super excited for. Prepare yourselves to see the 'ch' in cheesy!