Starring the BSCult ch4-10
Part 1
Chapter 4, and it's a Stacey chapter.
It's audition day, and she's understandably nervous. Unless you're conceited and overly sure of yourselfJessi, you're going to be nervous. And it's worse when you have to sing.
Very realistically, Stacey does want her mom to go with her, but she realizes she needs to do this herself. And a very cute greeting with Sam! She ran toward him, both ready to hug, then pulled back, unsure how on earth they should say hello in public. Awwww, this was a pairing I really liked. Too bad Stacey decided to date every single guy under the age of 18 with a third leg after this. But everyone, even Mary Anne, is there! But she's not auditioning, just to support her friends.
The auditions make sense. I've been to quite a few, including ones with little kids. The little kids went first, but when the director said the parts for kids, Karen interrupted to ask what about Tinkerbell! Not traditionally Tink is a light, but hell hath frozen over and I agree with Karen. For a community play, let a kid play Tink. But when she was told that Tink is usually a light, out comes the Karen we all know and despise.
Which means you know Tink will be a kid, and that Karen will get the role. I'm not giving a spoiler or giving anything away. We just all know that Karen always gets her way. Always. She's the Veruca Salt of Stoneybrook.
Kristy tactfully (did aliens replace her?) apologized and removed Karen from the stage and took her to the back of the theater to give her a talking to. I'm so confused.
Matt Braddock was the first kid to audition, and his audition is in no way snarkworthy. Halley explained he's deaf, but would like to audition for a non-speaking role, and the director of course agreed. Only an asshole would say no.
Karen went next, and the poor director turned green at the sight of her. I'm not kidding! At least one person in town doesn't like her. Her audition went well, until she decided she was going to SHOW him she could be a fairy! I hope she wasn't like this.
(Story: Intern lied about being sick to get Halloween off, then this picture of him surfaced, his lie was blown, and he was fired. This was viral a few years ago.)
Poor Mr. Cheney looked frantically for Kristy, who again showed herself to be an alien by forcibly picking up a pissed-off Karen and making her sit on her lap so the auditions could continue. After the rest of the kids went and it was time for the kids to dance in groups, Kristy told Karen in no uncertain terms no more fairy stuff.
Wow. I'm liking Kristy here. She's not giggling it away and sighing, "Oh, that's just or Karen," while gently gazing at her and patting her head.
This chapter ends with Stacey being called for her audition. Interesting place to end it.
Chapter 5, Peter Pan, or at least she certain she will be
Jessizilla started her notebook entry by talking about how she wowed everyone. Nope, no conceit. At all.
Ms. Conceit noted how she's glad she's not one of the kids who didn't prepare a song or dance because she choreographed her own dance to the song "I'm Flying," and she's dead-sure the director won't even need to hear it all to know that she is destined to be Peter.
Stacey's audition went pretty good, Kristy's was great. Jessi gave unsolicited advice because the's The Pro on these matters, and got pissy when Kristy said it won't matter inside the sheepdog costume if her stomach muscles were tense.
Blah blah, Sam did great and Logan not so much, etc..
Tiger Lily auditions! Kristy got bossy for a good reason here. Dawn was nervous about Cokie, but Kristy told her to get going, she'd regret not trying out for a reason like Cokie being a bitch. Kristy was actually nicer about it than I just typed. Wow. Alien.
Dawn blew everyone away. Even Madame Jessi was impressed. She was more impressed that Dawn had even prepared a waltz, and did it so well solo that Jessi could have sworn there was an invisible person with her. Too bad Cokie did as well. The solution ends up being a cop-out.
Jessi will be up soon, and she isn't nervous at all. She watched the Mary martin version nine times to watch Mary's rendition and because Squirt had decided his new favorite movie was that version and he threw a fit to keep watching it. My toddler's current favorite is Phantom of the Opera, but not the crappy movie version that Andrew Lloyd Webber regrets, but the 25th anniversary production at The Royal Albert Hall. We've watched it SEVEN times since yesterday. Which brings the total up to 14 times in the last 10 days. After seeing it the first time, it took a few days to buy it.
Embedding is disabled, but watch the title song here Watch it. WATCH. Try not to be impressed as hell at the end. I dare you. (I took a break to watch this again. Sierra Boggess has incredible pipes, and Ramin Karimloo has a voice and acting talent that will break your heart.) (And my daughter woke up from her nap, and it's now playing for an eighth time.)
And since no one cares about that, back to Peter Pan!
Oh! What the hell is this? Jessi bolted to the stage to introduce herself, sure that Mr. Cheney must remember her because of a rare bit of continuity! She informs us, the readers, that she especially impressed Mr. Cheney during a trip to Vermont. That's right, she's referencing Winter Vacation! Really, she thinks he was that impressed with her.
Despite this, she starts rattling off every role she's done. When he tried telling her he didn't need all that info, she ignored him and continued, at least until he managed to get a word in edgewise and tell her a resume is NOT necessary. Jessica Ramsey, did you forget for a moment that he as already decided you've got the role? Yes? Okay, shut up now and just go through the formality of auditioning.
Damn, she can't shut up. She had to sing, and she knew she wasn't so great there, but of course her dancing ability will make up for her other shortcomings. I'll spare you the wretch-worthy self-back-patting here.
Others audition, but Jessi's too stuck on herself.
Mr. Cheney announced names of people he wanted to stay a bit longer, including Dawn and Kristy, Sam and Stacey, Cokie, and a few others, but not Jessi. Dawn was worried, but Jessi soothed her fears that being held back is good and means a director is impressed. What about Jessi not being called? Pish posh, she knows without a doubt that that is only because Mr. Cheney had already cast the role of Peter, and she's got it.
Let that sink in before continuing.
Chapter 6, Cokie. Um, yeah.
Cokie's entry explains this. Jessi asked her to write, and since Cokie's sure she's the star of the show (she's confident she'll be Tiger Lily, which is actually a supporting role), and it's for the school paper, which as we all know, may as well be the New York Times or something, of course she agreed.
Jessi wrote after that that she will call Cokie a "conceited jerk" to her own friends. Jessi? Honey? Re-read the end of the last chapter.
Back to Cokie. What kind of name is Cokie? Is it short for something, like how Peggy is short for Margaret, or Bill is short for William?
Cokie's life must be dull. She's proud of managing to get five classes with her best friend. In high school, I got all my classes with my best friend, and it was as easy as asking the counselor if we could because we were a great help to each other. Plus I was less of a pain in the ass to the teachers (who, oddly, liked having me in class, probably because I pulled the class GPA up) if Rachel was with me. So she's proud of that, and she and Grace watch General Hospital. How dull.
Ellie, a girl snarked by Cokie for not having a great complexion, passed a note that the parts were posted. "The parts have been posted!!! There on the wall by the office. Try to beet the crowd!!!!!" Cokie is a brat about this. At least "there" and "beet" are correct spellings, just the wrong ones. She should try reading anything by Klodeeuh.
As soon as the bell rang, as you can probably imagine they darted to the list. Cokie is Tiger Lily. Surprised? I was the first time I read this. Cokie won, Dawn didn't get the role. Since this is pre-bitch Dawn, I was sad.
Oh shizzz, Peter Pan isn't Jessi. Nope. Kristy got that part. And Dawn got the part of...Wendy. Cokie's reaction to Dawn always was funny. She wanted to gloat that she got the Tiger Lily role, but Dawn got the female lead. So how do you gloat? She doesn't know either.
Claud got to the front and yelled out her friends' parts. Logan's a pirate, and Sam and Stacey are Mr. and Mrs. Darling, which is ADORABLE. In a break from tradition, the same actor will not be playing Mr. Darling and Captain Hook.
Cokie's actually a good choice for this whole section. She's an outside observing the others.
Kristy was a bit stunned. She wanted non-speaking roles where she wouldn't be seen, and got the lead. I can see a kid who didn't want to speak being shocked, and even upset, by this. I'm surprised Mr. Cheney starred a kid who didn't want to dance or anything, even if she was the best in auditions.
Jessi's a pirate. Not even a named one, like Logan, who is Noodler.
Since this is a production with roles that can have as many as the director wants, everyone got a role. Pirates or Lost Boys or Indians. So I actually can't blame Mr. Cheney for casting Karen as Tink. I wouldn't trust that brat to not decide to try being Tink by running on stage.
Jackie is Michael. Aww. I like that this poor kid will get some good spotlight.
Cokie saw the second page and that Claudia will be on sets and Mal on costumes. Like a champ, she picked on Mal and told her she better make her look good, and that Claud better do a good job. Alien-Kristy defended Mal, and Claud defended herself. I'm so confused. What happened to Kristy?
Chapter 7, Khladeh
No snark for her entry aside from spelling, and that's boring by this point. She was a bit uncomfortable being set designer. She just wanted to paint, but she's in charge.
The meeting wasn't comfortable. How could it be when Jessi was so overly sure she got the lead and instead got a catch-all role while having to sit there looking at the person who got the lead?
Kristy, still not her usual self, wasn't sure how to feel. She never thought about the lead, or anything other than getting to be a furry. She acknowledged not having experience, and Jessi's a brat. Compliments for Kristy were met with Jessi muttering or snorting and refusing to sit with anyone, and was ignoring even Mal.
They're all surprisingly tactful here, trying really hard not to make Jessi feel bad.
Even when Dawn aired her feelings of nerves, Jessi snorted.
Then she exploded. Basically a how dare they feel nervous when they all got either just what they wanted or bigger roles. By the time she was done, Kristy actually apologized! Mal tried to find the silver lining in Jessi's role. But no, Jessi wasn't having it! She told Mr. Cheney she wouldn't be a "puny pirate role." Clearly this is a girl who thinks she'll be hired into the American Ballet Theater right as a soloist or principle. The pirate role is equivalent to the corps. Even though he asked her to be assistant choreography to help with the children (a role Claudia knew was just to appease Jessi since Ms. Halliday could have done it), she's pissy.
Mal asked if she asked why she didn't get the role of Peter.
“He said he wanted other kids to have a chance to perform. He said I’ve had a lot of starring roles already. He said…um, he said I’m too good for the part…Yeah, that’s what he said.”
Nice spin job, Ballet Girl. Think you could pirouette as well?
Stace pointed out that it's true she's on stage a lot, and this is a chance for other kids to have a chance on stage, and Jessi snorted again. Kristy told her to stop, that she sounds like a horse. Ha! About time someone knocked Jessi down a peg, and I'm glad that the one she passive-aggressively insulted was the one who did it.
Claudia may not be good at spelling, but she's a good observer. She felt bad for Jessi since she knew she was disappointed after talking all week about having the lead, but she points out if Jessi hasn't done that...
And the snarkable things from Jessi aren't even close to over.
Chapter 8, Mary Anne
Well, the she will be at rehearsals after all. She took the Braddock kids to a rehearsal and ended up helping keep the young kids organized. Poor Jackie didn't know whether he belonged with the little kids or the big kids with the main parts.
The hard part about snarks is when there's nothing to snark. In this chapter, she tends to minor "emergencies" (as kids see them), and was asked to help with the kids and extra supervision for Jackie.
*mutters like Jessi*
Chapter 9, and this time it's Mal
Her entry makes me laugh. I've done costuming for theaters, and she starts her entry with how she had envisions it would be her in a room surrounded by glorious fabrics and laces and beads with an ancient Singer machine, making a costume and covering it with sequins by hand.
Oh dear.
Even in the professional world, when at all possible, costumes are repurposed or borrowed with costumes from scratch being when nothing else will work and for roles that absolutely must have a perfectly fitted item, and even for those costumes, depending on complexity perfect fit might be sacrificed for borrowing. Like this:
That's an actual production I worked on of The Producers. That gown which IS on a guy, this sequence is called "Keep It Gay") wasn't a 100% perfect fit, but the cost of a making one of those gowns from scratch is in the five figures. I'm all giddy looking at photos and reminiscing.
Anyway, Mal's idea of what theater costuming is, especially for a small children's production, is hilarious. I'll bet she has no idea that accidents could happen, like the one involving a sewing machine that required a 911 call (another costumer slipped and the needle went through her finger and the machine froze...).
Dumb Mal's first assignment was to help measure people, and she was humiliated! Oh heavens, touching boys! Even Pete, who plays Nana and the croc. Um, why? Those are big, one-size-fits-all things. I do feel bad that she got stuck with Cokie, as well as the most popular high school guy. But Dawn? Jackie? Karen? Alan? And if she thinks this is embarrassing, then she wouldn't be able to handle fittings when someone is standing in their underwear in front of you. I've had to touch some of the finest human specimens you can imagine, male and female. You crack a few jokes, you move on.
While measuring Dawn, she saw Margo crying with Mary Anne, and did what any sister who loves her siblings would do and checked on her. While searching for Karen, she saw the triplets misbehaving, and told them to knock it off. This pissed Mary Anne off, and MA steely told Mal not to forget that SHE is the babysitter, not Mal. Well shit, MA, there's one of you and a few dozen kids, and these are Mal's own siblings. Don't forget Mal is the SISTER.
Chapter 10, Feminist Dawn
Yeah, we're back to that Dawn. Pissed that the roles women had in society in 1904, Dawn decided this meant changing the lines in the production.
While Mary Anne helped her memorize her lines, she jumped into a bitchfest about how Peter only wanted Wendy to be a maid. Um, no, not exactly. Peter was a kid who wanted someone to take care of him, and one of the things that really excited him was the thought of being tucked in at night. This is part of what makes a child a child. My child wants me, her mommy, to feed her and keep her clean and safe, and it's not being a maid. It's nurturing my child. Peter is a parentless child wanting a parent to take care of him like parents do. Dawn is a brat who is taking for granted that she has parents.
Dawn took it to the point of man-hating and calls Peter one. Dawn, he's a KID. She insisted Peter was just trying to bribe Wendy with the promise of adventure, and that the entire play sends the message to kids that women are servants, and that Peter is just a stupid boy because he couldn't sew his shadow back on. I know plenty of people, male and female, who can't thread a needle. Don't we all? How does this make for a stupid boy? Especially one who never had anyone to teach him. You know, like a parent.
*sigh* Even as a kid, what I got was a boy wanting a mother to love him. Did anyone else get the message that women are servants to boss around?
At the next rehearsal, when on stage with Kristy, she changed the lines and told "Peter" she'd be glad to go and teach him to cook, then teach him to sew. After a couple warnings to stick to the script, she launched into a tirade about men's and women's roles and even on how there shouldn't be wars.
Mr. Cheney contained himself much better than I would have, ignored Dawn, and told them to stick with the script in a tone that knocked Dawn into line, for a couple dates at least. At the part for sewing on his shadow, she argued that she should be teaching him to sew, to which Mr. C told her to think of it as she's helping him. Dawn gets pissed and demands she's "just a girl," countered with "one who knows how to sew." Dawn, even more pissed, told him Peter wants a mother.
Did Dawn ever see any version of the movie or play? Why audition if she was so against everything in it? She finally gave it a rest when Kristy told her to.
Well. Who'd have thought Kristy could be tolerable and even likable? And Dawn...is Dawn.
Up next. Someone gets kicked out of the production! A BSC member!! And there's another flounce by another BCS member! To find out whom and whom, stay tuned!
Chapter 4, and it's a Stacey chapter.
It's audition day, and she's understandably nervous. Unless you're conceited and overly sure of yourselfJessi, you're going to be nervous. And it's worse when you have to sing.
Very realistically, Stacey does want her mom to go with her, but she realizes she needs to do this herself. And a very cute greeting with Sam! She ran toward him, both ready to hug, then pulled back, unsure how on earth they should say hello in public. Awwww, this was a pairing I really liked. Too bad Stacey decided to date every single guy under the age of 18 with a third leg after this. But everyone, even Mary Anne, is there! But she's not auditioning, just to support her friends.
The auditions make sense. I've been to quite a few, including ones with little kids. The little kids went first, but when the director said the parts for kids, Karen interrupted to ask what about Tinkerbell! Not traditionally Tink is a light, but hell hath frozen over and I agree with Karen. For a community play, let a kid play Tink. But when she was told that Tink is usually a light, out comes the Karen we all know and despise.
Which means you know Tink will be a kid, and that Karen will get the role. I'm not giving a spoiler or giving anything away. We just all know that Karen always gets her way. Always. She's the Veruca Salt of Stoneybrook.
Click to viewKristy tactfully (did aliens replace her?) apologized and removed Karen from the stage and took her to the back of the theater to give her a talking to. I'm so confused.
Matt Braddock was the first kid to audition, and his audition is in no way snarkworthy. Halley explained he's deaf, but would like to audition for a non-speaking role, and the director of course agreed. Only an asshole would say no.
Karen went next, and the poor director turned green at the sight of her. I'm not kidding! At least one person in town doesn't like her. Her audition went well, until she decided she was going to SHOW him she could be a fairy! I hope she wasn't like this.
(Story: Intern lied about being sick to get Halloween off, then this picture of him surfaced, his lie was blown, and he was fired. This was viral a few years ago.)
Poor Mr. Cheney looked frantically for Kristy, who again showed herself to be an alien by forcibly picking up a pissed-off Karen and making her sit on her lap so the auditions could continue. After the rest of the kids went and it was time for the kids to dance in groups, Kristy told Karen in no uncertain terms no more fairy stuff.
Wow. I'm liking Kristy here. She's not giggling it away and sighing, "Oh, that's just or Karen," while gently gazing at her and patting her head.
This chapter ends with Stacey being called for her audition. Interesting place to end it.
Chapter 5, Peter Pan, or at least she certain she will be
Jessizilla started her notebook entry by talking about how she wowed everyone. Nope, no conceit. At all.
Ms. Conceit noted how she's glad she's not one of the kids who didn't prepare a song or dance because she choreographed her own dance to the song "I'm Flying," and she's dead-sure the director won't even need to hear it all to know that she is destined to be Peter.
Stacey's audition went pretty good, Kristy's was great. Jessi gave unsolicited advice because the's The Pro on these matters, and got pissy when Kristy said it won't matter inside the sheepdog costume if her stomach muscles were tense.
Blah blah, Sam did great and Logan not so much, etc..
Tiger Lily auditions! Kristy got bossy for a good reason here. Dawn was nervous about Cokie, but Kristy told her to get going, she'd regret not trying out for a reason like Cokie being a bitch. Kristy was actually nicer about it than I just typed. Wow. Alien.
Dawn blew everyone away. Even Madame Jessi was impressed. She was more impressed that Dawn had even prepared a waltz, and did it so well solo that Jessi could have sworn there was an invisible person with her. Too bad Cokie did as well. The solution ends up being a cop-out.
Jessi will be up soon, and she isn't nervous at all. She watched the Mary martin version nine times to watch Mary's rendition and because Squirt had decided his new favorite movie was that version and he threw a fit to keep watching it. My toddler's current favorite is Phantom of the Opera, but not the crappy movie version that Andrew Lloyd Webber regrets, but the 25th anniversary production at The Royal Albert Hall. We've watched it SEVEN times since yesterday. Which brings the total up to 14 times in the last 10 days. After seeing it the first time, it took a few days to buy it.
Embedding is disabled, but watch the title song here Watch it. WATCH. Try not to be impressed as hell at the end. I dare you. (I took a break to watch this again. Sierra Boggess has incredible pipes, and Ramin Karimloo has a voice and acting talent that will break your heart.) (And my daughter woke up from her nap, and it's now playing for an eighth time.)
And since no one cares about that, back to Peter Pan!
Oh! What the hell is this? Jessi bolted to the stage to introduce herself, sure that Mr. Cheney must remember her because of a rare bit of continuity! She informs us, the readers, that she especially impressed Mr. Cheney during a trip to Vermont. That's right, she's referencing Winter Vacation! Really, she thinks he was that impressed with her.
Despite this, she starts rattling off every role she's done. When he tried telling her he didn't need all that info, she ignored him and continued, at least until he managed to get a word in edgewise and tell her a resume is NOT necessary. Jessica Ramsey, did you forget for a moment that he as already decided you've got the role? Yes? Okay, shut up now and just go through the formality of auditioning.
Damn, she can't shut up. She had to sing, and she knew she wasn't so great there, but of course her dancing ability will make up for her other shortcomings. I'll spare you the wretch-worthy self-back-patting here.
Others audition, but Jessi's too stuck on herself.
Mr. Cheney announced names of people he wanted to stay a bit longer, including Dawn and Kristy, Sam and Stacey, Cokie, and a few others, but not Jessi. Dawn was worried, but Jessi soothed her fears that being held back is good and means a director is impressed. What about Jessi not being called? Pish posh, she knows without a doubt that that is only because Mr. Cheney had already cast the role of Peter, and she's got it.
Let that sink in before continuing.
Chapter 6, Cokie. Um, yeah.
Cokie's entry explains this. Jessi asked her to write, and since Cokie's sure she's the star of the show (she's confident she'll be Tiger Lily, which is actually a supporting role), and it's for the school paper, which as we all know, may as well be the New York Times or something, of course she agreed.
Jessi wrote after that that she will call Cokie a "conceited jerk" to her own friends. Jessi? Honey? Re-read the end of the last chapter.
Back to Cokie. What kind of name is Cokie? Is it short for something, like how Peggy is short for Margaret, or Bill is short for William?
Cokie's life must be dull. She's proud of managing to get five classes with her best friend. In high school, I got all my classes with my best friend, and it was as easy as asking the counselor if we could because we were a great help to each other. Plus I was less of a pain in the ass to the teachers (who, oddly, liked having me in class, probably because I pulled the class GPA up) if Rachel was with me. So she's proud of that, and she and Grace watch General Hospital. How dull.
Ellie, a girl snarked by Cokie for not having a great complexion, passed a note that the parts were posted. "The parts have been posted!!! There on the wall by the office. Try to beet the crowd!!!!!" Cokie is a brat about this. At least "there" and "beet" are correct spellings, just the wrong ones. She should try reading anything by Klodeeuh.
As soon as the bell rang, as you can probably imagine they darted to the list. Cokie is Tiger Lily. Surprised? I was the first time I read this. Cokie won, Dawn didn't get the role. Since this is pre-bitch Dawn, I was sad.
Oh shizzz, Peter Pan isn't Jessi. Nope. Kristy got that part. And Dawn got the part of...Wendy. Cokie's reaction to Dawn always was funny. She wanted to gloat that she got the Tiger Lily role, but Dawn got the female lead. So how do you gloat? She doesn't know either.
Claud got to the front and yelled out her friends' parts. Logan's a pirate, and Sam and Stacey are Mr. and Mrs. Darling, which is ADORABLE. In a break from tradition, the same actor will not be playing Mr. Darling and Captain Hook.
Cokie's actually a good choice for this whole section. She's an outside observing the others.
Kristy was a bit stunned. She wanted non-speaking roles where she wouldn't be seen, and got the lead. I can see a kid who didn't want to speak being shocked, and even upset, by this. I'm surprised Mr. Cheney starred a kid who didn't want to dance or anything, even if she was the best in auditions.
Jessi's a pirate. Not even a named one, like Logan, who is Noodler.
Since this is a production with roles that can have as many as the director wants, everyone got a role. Pirates or Lost Boys or Indians. So I actually can't blame Mr. Cheney for casting Karen as Tink. I wouldn't trust that brat to not decide to try being Tink by running on stage.
Jackie is Michael. Aww. I like that this poor kid will get some good spotlight.
Cokie saw the second page and that Claudia will be on sets and Mal on costumes. Like a champ, she picked on Mal and told her she better make her look good, and that Claud better do a good job. Alien-Kristy defended Mal, and Claud defended herself. I'm so confused. What happened to Kristy?
Chapter 7, Khladeh
No snark for her entry aside from spelling, and that's boring by this point. She was a bit uncomfortable being set designer. She just wanted to paint, but she's in charge.
The meeting wasn't comfortable. How could it be when Jessi was so overly sure she got the lead and instead got a catch-all role while having to sit there looking at the person who got the lead?
Kristy, still not her usual self, wasn't sure how to feel. She never thought about the lead, or anything other than getting to be a furry. She acknowledged not having experience, and Jessi's a brat. Compliments for Kristy were met with Jessi muttering or snorting and refusing to sit with anyone, and was ignoring even Mal.
They're all surprisingly tactful here, trying really hard not to make Jessi feel bad.
Even when Dawn aired her feelings of nerves, Jessi snorted.
Then she exploded. Basically a how dare they feel nervous when they all got either just what they wanted or bigger roles. By the time she was done, Kristy actually apologized! Mal tried to find the silver lining in Jessi's role. But no, Jessi wasn't having it! She told Mr. Cheney she wouldn't be a "puny pirate role." Clearly this is a girl who thinks she'll be hired into the American Ballet Theater right as a soloist or principle. The pirate role is equivalent to the corps. Even though he asked her to be assistant choreography to help with the children (a role Claudia knew was just to appease Jessi since Ms. Halliday could have done it), she's pissy.
Mal asked if she asked why she didn't get the role of Peter.
“He said he wanted other kids to have a chance to perform. He said I’ve had a lot of starring roles already. He said…um, he said I’m too good for the part…Yeah, that’s what he said.”
Nice spin job, Ballet Girl. Think you could pirouette as well?
Stace pointed out that it's true she's on stage a lot, and this is a chance for other kids to have a chance on stage, and Jessi snorted again. Kristy told her to stop, that she sounds like a horse. Ha! About time someone knocked Jessi down a peg, and I'm glad that the one she passive-aggressively insulted was the one who did it.
Claudia may not be good at spelling, but she's a good observer. She felt bad for Jessi since she knew she was disappointed after talking all week about having the lead, but she points out if Jessi hasn't done that...
And the snarkable things from Jessi aren't even close to over.
Chapter 8, Mary Anne
Well, the she will be at rehearsals after all. She took the Braddock kids to a rehearsal and ended up helping keep the young kids organized. Poor Jackie didn't know whether he belonged with the little kids or the big kids with the main parts.
The hard part about snarks is when there's nothing to snark. In this chapter, she tends to minor "emergencies" (as kids see them), and was asked to help with the kids and extra supervision for Jackie.
*mutters like Jessi*
Chapter 9, and this time it's Mal
Her entry makes me laugh. I've done costuming for theaters, and she starts her entry with how she had envisions it would be her in a room surrounded by glorious fabrics and laces and beads with an ancient Singer machine, making a costume and covering it with sequins by hand.
Oh dear.
Even in the professional world, when at all possible, costumes are repurposed or borrowed with costumes from scratch being when nothing else will work and for roles that absolutely must have a perfectly fitted item, and even for those costumes, depending on complexity perfect fit might be sacrificed for borrowing. Like this:
That's an actual production I worked on of The Producers. That gown which IS on a guy, this sequence is called "Keep It Gay") wasn't a 100% perfect fit, but the cost of a making one of those gowns from scratch is in the five figures. I'm all giddy looking at photos and reminiscing.
Anyway, Mal's idea of what theater costuming is, especially for a small children's production, is hilarious. I'll bet she has no idea that accidents could happen, like the one involving a sewing machine that required a 911 call (another costumer slipped and the needle went through her finger and the machine froze...).
Dumb Mal's first assignment was to help measure people, and she was humiliated! Oh heavens, touching boys! Even Pete, who plays Nana and the croc. Um, why? Those are big, one-size-fits-all things. I do feel bad that she got stuck with Cokie, as well as the most popular high school guy. But Dawn? Jackie? Karen? Alan? And if she thinks this is embarrassing, then she wouldn't be able to handle fittings when someone is standing in their underwear in front of you. I've had to touch some of the finest human specimens you can imagine, male and female. You crack a few jokes, you move on.
While measuring Dawn, she saw Margo crying with Mary Anne, and did what any sister who loves her siblings would do and checked on her. While searching for Karen, she saw the triplets misbehaving, and told them to knock it off. This pissed Mary Anne off, and MA steely told Mal not to forget that SHE is the babysitter, not Mal. Well shit, MA, there's one of you and a few dozen kids, and these are Mal's own siblings. Don't forget Mal is the SISTER.
Chapter 10, Feminist Dawn
Yeah, we're back to that Dawn. Pissed that the roles women had in society in 1904, Dawn decided this meant changing the lines in the production.
While Mary Anne helped her memorize her lines, she jumped into a bitchfest about how Peter only wanted Wendy to be a maid. Um, no, not exactly. Peter was a kid who wanted someone to take care of him, and one of the things that really excited him was the thought of being tucked in at night. This is part of what makes a child a child. My child wants me, her mommy, to feed her and keep her clean and safe, and it's not being a maid. It's nurturing my child. Peter is a parentless child wanting a parent to take care of him like parents do. Dawn is a brat who is taking for granted that she has parents.
Dawn took it to the point of man-hating and calls Peter one. Dawn, he's a KID. She insisted Peter was just trying to bribe Wendy with the promise of adventure, and that the entire play sends the message to kids that women are servants, and that Peter is just a stupid boy because he couldn't sew his shadow back on. I know plenty of people, male and female, who can't thread a needle. Don't we all? How does this make for a stupid boy? Especially one who never had anyone to teach him. You know, like a parent.
*sigh* Even as a kid, what I got was a boy wanting a mother to love him. Did anyone else get the message that women are servants to boss around?
At the next rehearsal, when on stage with Kristy, she changed the lines and told "Peter" she'd be glad to go and teach him to cook, then teach him to sew. After a couple warnings to stick to the script, she launched into a tirade about men's and women's roles and even on how there shouldn't be wars.
Mr. Cheney contained himself much better than I would have, ignored Dawn, and told them to stick with the script in a tone that knocked Dawn into line, for a couple dates at least. At the part for sewing on his shadow, she argued that she should be teaching him to sew, to which Mr. C told her to think of it as she's helping him. Dawn gets pissed and demands she's "just a girl," countered with "one who knows how to sew." Dawn, even more pissed, told him Peter wants a mother.
Did Dawn ever see any version of the movie or play? Why audition if she was so against everything in it? She finally gave it a rest when Kristy told her to.
Well. Who'd have thought Kristy could be tolerable and even likable? And Dawn...is Dawn.
Up next. Someone gets kicked out of the production! A BSC member!! And there's another flounce by another BCS member! To find out whom and whom, stay tuned!