You Go Girl

So I'm sounding off today. Being the mother of a trained actor I have a few notes on Carrie Underwood's performance of the television event last week of the beloved "Sound of Music" and her performance as the lead Maria Von Trapp.

First thing's first:

• Underwood's vocal performance was amazing! Being on stage live with Broadway veterans like Audra McDonald and Christian Borle couldn't have been easy for her yet vocally, I think she held her own and did a great job with the music.
• Stephen Moyer was dull and uninteresting and there was no chemistry between the Captain and Maria.
• Carrie Underwood is not Julie Andrews. But really, is anybody? Queen Julie is an icon. Those are some seriously large shoes to fill. 

Ok, so Carrie is not a trained actor, nor does she claim to be one, but she was chosen to play the part and what was she going to say? No? I doubt anyone would say no to a role like that. I'm thinking that Carrie did her very best, being a singer and entertainer, at being an actor. At this point I would say that the acting was her biggest failure. Acting evidently does not come easy to her. Was she miscast? It's possible, but again, would you turn down the role if you got it? 

I think that Carrie did what they wanted her to do which was look and sound pretty. The production is at fault for more than just Underwood's acting chops. While there were highlights, there were far too many lowlights that I think people wanted to blame on Carrie. All I could think of is that could have been my baby girl Frick, and the pressure that preceded and followed the live performance must have been monumental.

How do you solve a problem like the haters? Haters gotta hate and hate they did. Social media blew up almost immediately with venom and mean, mostly directed at Underwood and I'm sorry but she wasn't the only problem here. Evidently the criticism got to Carrie because she responded in a classy way via social media and I give her kudos!

"Plain and simple: Mean people need Jesus," the singer tweeted on Friday, Dec. 6, a day after the live special. "They will be in my prayers tonight... 1 Peter 2:1-25," she added.

Little Miss Woods, Comma, Elle, Part II

Encore! 

It was a long weekend and a great time was had by all. Sorry about Friday bloggers, but we had out of town family that came in to see the show with us and the schedule was quite hectic. It's amazing to me that my child is graduating high school and going off to college. Like, when did this happen? I never gave my permission to this, yet the whole thing continues to progress getting realer and realer as each day dawns. 

And Frick? She's growing and maturing into quite a young lady. She had all her girls from the show stay over on Saturday night. They "rolled" in about 1:30 (her curfew is 12 midnight) after a late night Wendy's run, and all 8 of them went down to our basement where they did Lord knows what till Lord knows what time.

Actually, I do know what Lord knows what is. While making the crew breakfast on Sunday morning, I could not locate the salt shaker. 

"Where is the salt?" I inquired.

"Oh, we had nachos late last night, downstairs," they responded. 

This seemed logical and I dismissed the entire thing until I went downstairs to assess the damage done to the basement and I found 2 shot glasses and about 20 chewed out lime wedges strewn around the coffee table. The missing salt shaker immediately clicked.

I chuckled, and gave Frick a free pass. Like mother, like daughter. 

Anyway, we are all slowly coming down from our high, so by request, I post this video I shot from Friday night. What a show! The Weston High School Theater Company should be quite proud. People were actually saying it was better than Broadway.

This was Frick's big moment on statge, but forgive me the horrid quality. I shot it with my 3GS iPhone and the quality sucks. But you can hear Frick, and you get the point. 

If you want to see more of Frick's performance, go to my Facebook page and click any of the three other links. Crystal's Aunt captured the videos on Saturday night and they are awesome quality. 

Bravo Frick! 

Little Miss Woods, Comma, Elle

She's been preparing for this for what seems like her whole life.

It's opening night and she's about to live a dream, in front of all of us.

She's been working so hard; they all have, and tonight they get to dazzle us with their theatrical prowess. Performing for a sold out crowd, a first time ever for their high school.  For Frick, the role of Elle Woods, is the brass ring on her high school merry go round and the proverbial "cherry" on the musical theater sundae. See? Dreams really do come true when you work hard and you believe in yourself.

I'm watching you grow and reach for those stars I always knew you would land among. I've been waiting for this day to come, but somehow it snuck up on me and caught me a little off-guard. Now that it's finally here, I couldn't be prouder.

 I'm in awe. My baby girl is all. growed. up.

Frick, I wanted to find a quote about opening night that would give you some sort of great inspiration for this evening. Something you would always remember and call to memory in the hundred of other opening night's you will have in your career. But you know your mom.... I think I found one that best puts tonight into perspective.


"The best audience is intelligent, well-educated, and a little drunk.
Alvin Barkley"

Break a leg kiddo.
xoxoxo

OMG You Guys!

Sometimes the best laid plans aren't laid at all.

They are spur of the moment decisions that can end up really good or really bad. Yesterday my spur of the moment decision was one of the best I have made in a long time.

Let me rewind a bit and say that Frick, a true thespian at heart, (not lesbian) has been obsessed with Legally Blonde, The Musical ever since it hit Broadway a few years ago. "Her dream role", Frick has seen Legally Blonde, The Musical once in Boston and thousands of times on YouTube thanks to MTV. She, like every other 17 year old theater geek, can sing and recite the ENTIRE show. Let's just say that the character of Elle Woods gets a lot of face time in Frick's bathroom mirror. We had heard back in June, that Legally Blonde was coming to the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine at the end of August. Since Ogunquit is a mere 10 mins away from our beloved summer spot, York Beach, we though taking the trip there would be a piece of cake and sort of filed it under "Z" in our minds.

Well yesterday the "Z" file popped up and we searched the internet for the show only to find that it was indeed, opening night last night. With the summer winding down, the back to school countdown at the single digits now, and Frick having to work her hostess job for the rest of the week, we made the snap decision to drive the hour and a half to Ogunquit to watch the show. Frick, myself and My Nephew made the drive after work, stopped for pizza and saw an AMAZING show, then turned around and came home in the wee hours of the morning.

It was awesome. Not only did we see a professional production of the show, with an original Broadway cast member, but seated a mere 10 rows in front of us was former President of the United States, George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara. That was the cherry on top of a great evening. It was a historic moment, being in close proximity to a surviving American President, and I needed to remind the uninterested kids about the little slice of history they were sitting near. He has lost a step, for sure, in a wheelchair and he looks a bit older, but he still had his magnetic smile and was appreciative of the audience's applause and standing ovation acknowledgement.

Frick regaled us on the ride home with her spontaneous renditions of the music from the show and I haven't seen her so happy in a long time. Time well spent, I would say and all done in the flash of an instant. It's the memories will live forever.