Kini's Place

Phoebe has had a wonderful journey for the past three months!

She auditioned for a role in the local community theatre’s production of ‘Disney’s Cinderella Kids’ back in March. After a call back, she had the role of one of the adorable little mice in the Mouse Chorus.

It has been a wonderful three months of making new friends and learning new things! When she first tried on her costume for a fitting, she was slightly disappointed that she was the blue mouse rather than the pink one! However, that quickly went by the wayside when it was pointed out to her that Cinderella’s ball gown is also blue!

She had a little more than basic theatre stage makeup:

(And, I became really good and quick at applying it by the end of the show’s run!)

Our fantastic set build guy even crafted this awesome mouse trap which Gus found himself stuck in!

Phoebe became really adept at maneuvering around the set during her scenes:

She was thrilled to sign autographs for other kids during the “meet and greet” following each performance:

It was not without its pitfalls, however.

This is what a little girl looks like after the second Friday evening performance:

The theatre was VERY hot. The air conditioning was supposedly working, however, being part of a school campus, the timers for the temperature settings were based on when the buildings *should* be empty of students/faculty/people. Therefore, Friday’s were always hot, she really just was only very tired. We thought…

As it turns out, she woke up Saturday morning in hysterics. Her throat hurt very, VERY badly. I took her to the doctor and it was determined that she did indeed have strep throat. In June. She was given antibiotics and a recommendation to stay home until Tuesday. Tuesday? Oh my. She had a performance that evening and the show closed the next day. Phoebe was more hysterically upset about missing the shows than how much her throat hurt. Then her doctor conceded that she might be able to go, if she felt up to it. To cover my bases, I checked in with our director (as well as a few other people involved with the show). The consensus? If she felt up to it, she was more then welcome to be there. One of our costumers even said they’d make her a cozy little mouse hole to rest in while she wasn’t on stage! Our makeup lady practically scolded me for considering pulling her out of the show and regaled me the stories of having “puke buckets” in the wings during certain shows. (Then again, they don’t do understudies… and the show must go on you know… so….)

I left it entirely up to Phoebe whether she felt good enough, and wanted to go (and was convincing of her ability to do it).

She went and did an amazing job. The hardest part was during the meet and greet after. Little girls were constantly streaming up to her for her autograph (isn’t that sweet?). Finally, we had to just sneak away to get her out of her hot costume, cooled off and resting.

On Sunday, she felt MUCH better, thankfully! She made it through the show and the meet and greet marvelously. She was clearly more reserved and quiet than usual, but not unexpectedly.

Posing with Alex after the meet and greet for the closing show which, by the way, was a SOLD OUT performance! The theatre’s FIRST EVER sold out kids show! Woohoo!

After the meet and greet, everyone helps to clean the theatre and all the areas and strike the set. Awards and gifts were handed out while we were still at the theatre, then we all headed to the cast party. What else would a cast of a musical theatre production do at their cast party? Why, karaoke of course!

You did a truly awesome job Phoebe! We are all so very proud of you!