Mary Poppins Flies Away . . .

I have only written one new blog post since March began. My excuse is summed up in two words: Spring Concerts.

But lucky for all of you, I forced myself to sit down at my computer this weekend. I have several blog post topics rattling around in my head, from surviving Treefort after forty to my husband, Dan, shaving his beard for his birthday after I bought him a beard grooming kit. (O. Henry couldn't have written it better.)

This week, however, I am going to tell you all about the 5th and 6th grade spring musical shenanigans. Here. It. Goes . . .

REHEARSAL SHENANIGANS:
This year, the 5th and 6th graders performed Mary Poppins. I began to realize how attached the students were becoming during one lunch time rehearsal. I was demonstrating how to evoke emotion on stage, trying to pull some more poignancy out of a scene between Mary an the children. The room fell silent. All eyes were glued to what was happening on stage. When the scene was over, my actors started saying things like, "That just made me tear up," and "I'm going to cry."

One 6th grade girl said, "Well, this whole thing is making me cry anyway because next week will be the end of it."

We also had rehearsal on April Fools' Day. I was just waiting for the kids to prank me. I thought for sure one of my lead characters would tell me they were moving away or something.

Here is what really happened . . .

We were rehearsing. It was the first time all day I had seen any of the kids, and the boy playing Mr. Banks started to say his first line. He croaked it out, sounding like he had laryngitis. The other actors and I looked at him incredulously.

"Did you lose your voice?" I asked, trying not to panic.

He was quiet for a second. Then he grinned real big.

"I'm fine. April Fools'!"

TECH WEEK SHENANIGANS:
First of all, let me just say I love that my students know and use the term, "tech week," among other important theater vocab. It's pretty rad if you ask the theater nerd in me.

My students also get very excited about tech week. Such as . . .

Student #1: What time will we start setting up chairs?
Me: 8:00 in the morning.
Student #1: Okay, I’ll be there at 7:25.
Me: Wait!
Student #2: What time do we move into the gym tomorrow?
Me: 7:30 a.m.
Student #2: Okay, see you at 7:00!
Me: Wait!

If you haven't guessed already, I kind of enjoy the mania of the theater. People always ask me if I am relieved when the spring musical is over, and usually, I am sad when it is over . . . at least for a few days. Then I'm glad to have my life back.

I think tech week is so fun for me because that's when the kids take over the show. It becomes theirs, and they evolve into the "professionals" I keep telling them to be. Plus, my stage managers and crew—man! I can't say enough wonderful things about those kids.

I often say the teachers and parents do more work than I do. I don't have to worry about costumes or sets. Teachers help out with hair and make-up. Most of the staff members wear show shirts the day of the program.

I always finish tech week feeling like a valued part of my school. This year, during one of the first tech rehearsals, someone left a Milky Way (which became my lunch) with an anonymous note on my music stand. I also received the most beautiful flowers from the parent volunteers and staff.

The teachers help keep kids away from me at the necessary times too. I tried implementing a "no-talking-to-Mrs.-Duggan" rule 30 minutes before rehearsals and performances. I stole the idea from another music teacher friend of mine. The kids occasionally tracked me down, but the teachers were really good about not letting kids "go ask Mrs. Duggan something" (which the kids insisted dramatically and with several exclamation points at the end).

BACKSTAGE SHENANIGANS:
After the show was over, I heard about all kinds of crazy backstage goings on. Yep, my 5th and 6th graders had also become total theater nerds. Even we adult actors have our backstage rituals throughout the run of a production. Here are some of the silly things my elementary students were doing backstage:

• They did the Macarena during "Step in Time."
• The boy playing the old man, Dawes, Sr., pretended his cane was a kite and waved it aroundduring "Let's Go Fly a Kite."
• Apparently, there was ballroom dancing happening during "Chim Chim Cheree."
• Dawes, Sr., (again), made up a rap with one of his lines of dialogue, "Fiddlesticks, boy! Feed the birds and what have you got? Fat birds!" Now that I've heard it as a rap, I can't un-hear it as a rap.

The week after the play, I was told that the 5th grade boys were singing, "Sister Suffragette" on their way to recess.

   

Needless to say, I had show withdrawals the weekend after it was over. One of my teacher friends told me she was also nostalgic for the program.

"Does it mean I'm having withdrawals too if I woke up singing 'Feed the Birds?'" she asked.

"Yes, yes it does!" I said.

The week after the program, I made kids write letters of advice to next year's 5th and 6th graders. We called our advice letters, "How to Survive the Spring Musical."

Every year, I come away from those letters thinking, "Huh! They really did listen to me."

Here are some examples of Mrs. Duggan's Theater Life Lessons that showed up in the letters:

• "Practice makes permanent."
• "Don't talk to her during rehearsals or when she is trying to set up. You will just stress her out."
• "Always listen to the director, meaning Mrs. Duggan. She knows what she's talking about."
• "Don't whine or complain, especially about costumes."
• "It's fun, even if you don't get the part you want."

And then, just like that, Mary Poppins was over. It felt as though Mary Poppins had left us, like when she flies away at the end of the story because her job is done, because the family has learned the lessons they needed to learn.

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