A Little More Prepared

Tonight's the night! It's the second performance of the Way Off Broadway Vaudeville Show.

I really hadn't heard too much about it. A few months ago Beth brought home a paper saying they were going to have show and if you wanted to perform, let the leaders know what you wanted to do and they would have a auditions.

So Beth said she wanted to sing Bring Him Home from Les Miserables. I filled out all the appropriate boxes on the form and she took it back the following week. After the auditions we found out she had made it and so she began practicing her song.

A few weeks later she brought home a flyer with all the information on it so we made some copies and she handed them out to people at church. 

It's a low-budget show, everyone in the show has special needs and those that choose to sing really can't sing and those who are doing skits can't really act.

But that's not the point. 

The reason they do it is because the kids absolutely love performing! They have smiles as wide as the grand canyon, everyone cheers and every act results in massive applause!! It's fun and happy and a great way to spend an evening!

As last weeks show begins, I'm realizing each act has props or small sets that they've painted or created and there's audience participation with waving American flags during a patriotic song...

And then Beth gets up to sing. She's just wearing the brown outfit she wore that day. No costume. No props. Nothing. 

Now it may be that the volunteers have asked her during the last few weeks if she wanted to make something or wear something and she said no. I'm fully aware that's probably what happened. But my heart sunk! Even in the world of special needs Beth is often the odd-man-out.

BUT!!

I asked her about getting a costume and she said yes. This week we've been to Target, The Party Store, Dollar Tree... trying to find something she could wear (even just a hat!) that would represent Jean Valjean when he sings this song. We finally found something at Goodwill, a blue shirt and red vest that will slightly resemble the costume worn in the Broadway production.

I printed up some song sheets that we'll put on each table and I asked her about waving a giant red flag as she enters but she said no to that. 😀

So this week we're a little more prepared than we were last week. I'm writing this at about 3:00 on Wednesday and the show starts in 3 hours. She's downstairs practicing right now! I'll let you know how it goes!