Oh gosh where do I even start.
Once upon a time, in 2006, The Disney Channel made a tv show called High School Musical. It is shocking to me that the number 2006 is 20 years old. I thought 20 years ago was about 1995 but it turns out that is quite a bit farther back in time. This 20 year anniversary of course meant that our school would have to put on the play, and when I went to the first of the parent meetings about it and heard the director talking about the vastness of the draw this show would be, I didn't really believe him. He doubled the number of performances and asked parents to prepare for an onslaught of people all hungry to make purchases of food, swag, and mementos. He warned us that we would likely see stars from the show and surprise visits and news coverage. Seriously? I just didn't believe that was all going to happen.
Well...I was 100% incorrect. I'll just go ahead and spoil the punchline here. That dang show was SOLD OUT most nights. I have never in my life seen every seat full with even more people standing in the back of the auditorium and around the perimeter. But it's true. I saw it myself.
Emma knew about what this show would be for months in advance and talked about her dream roles quite a bit. I'm always nervous when she does this because I know she gets her heart set on something but there are just so many variables and so many talented kids that I dread the possibility of her being disappointed. It's happened a lot to both of my girls. But also I don't want to shut down her dreams so I do my best to walk that balance between encouragement and tempering her expectations. I expect I fail most of the time. But both girls have handled their disappointments quite well when they have happened.
I'm happy to report that in this instance, Emma was cast in the role she was hoping for most. She was called back for two supporting characters - Kelsie and Taylor - if you know the musical you know who I mean and if you don't then don't worry about it. Her hope was to be cast as Kelsie, the shy composer of great music. And happily, that's exactly who she was cast to play. The show was double cast and it was particularly fun that her counter part was one of her very best friends. Here she is in costume:
She was so cute. I love watching Emma on stage.
The show was everything the director had expected. I tried to help a lot with concessions and thus I had the chance to chat with a lot of people who came to see the show. There were people who had come from quite far away to see HSM performed at the HSM high school. We kept a list of where people were from and would it surprise you if I told you that the list included locations like New York, Kansas, California, Japan, and France? Admittedly some folks just happened to be in Utah for other reasons but some people did come just for the show. One cute gal came every night, dressed as a different character. Needless to say, HSM was her thing, and this was kind of a dream come true for her.
One really wonderful thing happened for me, which was that I was feeling a little sad and sorry about missing my family. My siblings are all so far away and my parents are both passed on. I had been hoping to see one of my brothers that week and it didn't work out. I was just feeling a little low. I was outside of the school, waiting for Troy to arrive with his mom, so I could walk her inside. I checked for his location on Find My Friends, and who did I see pop up? My other brother and most of his whole family. I confess, I had a little weep right then and there. They couldn't even stay in SLC for one night. They drove up early, stayed for the afternoon show, came to visit me that night at the party for Becca, then drove back home. It made me feel so incredibly loved. I mean...obviously they weren't there for ME but it kind of felt like it. I was so grateful.
Here they are standing on a piece of the gymnasium floor that Zac Efron himself actually danced on. The floor had to be torn up a few years ago after a flood but it was kept and auctioned off during the run of the show. I think it went for about $2000 maybe. There were other little pieces of the floor that you could just buy for $10-$15. Many many things were being sold. All I can tell you is that the drama teacher told us that this show by itself basically funded the next 10 years of the theater program.
I took a couple of photos of the auditorium as it was filling up - like I said, I have never seen that auditorium fill up to capacity and beyond before.
The energy was amazing. Funny - most of my coworkers are of the age that they were young teens when HSM first premiered. They were all crazy about it, especially my office mate Holly. She rounded up about 10 other staff members to come see the show, and did some cute photos as well as a tour, and they got to meet Bart Johnson, the actor who played Troy Bolton's dad in the show. He's a native Utahn and was very supportive of the show.
We were so proud of Emma. She did a great job - she's really a wonderful little actress and singer. We just adore her. She was so excited to be part of this. The cast was on the news a couple of times and had a few other cast members show up like Lucas Grabeel and KayCee Stroh. I'm sure we will never see anything like this again!
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