The Sounds of LIttle Women

One thing that impresses me about Brita and Leah is their confidence to audition for plays. There's no way I could have been forced to do that when I was their age. Dixon performed Sound of Music this year and Provo High did Little Women. Both girls had to audition. Brita took it semi-seriously and some of her friends also auditioned. Leah thought she could just show up and sing something without practicing at all, and she was genuinely surprised and disappointed to be in the ensemble instead of a major part. Brita was also in the ensemble.

Months of after school practices followed. It was a good experience for them and I'm sure more work than they expected. Leah was a nun and a town-person in a couple of scenes while Brita was a hag in one number and she got on stage a few other times helping move props between scenes. I was surprised by Leah's bitter attitude about being in the ensemble, as if they had somehow ignored her amazing talent. Brita was more humble about it, because the high school musical is a different league, and she may have felt intimidated by the talent level there.

Lon and Mozelle attended the performances with us, which was fun but also a little nerve-wracking because they like to be critics, just like me. Both plays were surprisingly good considering the age and inexperience of the performers. Both of the girls doing the lead parts were great singers and the rest of the cast was good and well-directed. Brita made sure to get in the front of her dance group so we could see her and she looked comfortable on stage. Leah, as always, did a great job singing because she opens her mouth and enunciates so well it's almost comical. We were all genuinely impressed and entertained.

I can't help speculating why there are so many talented girls in theater and so few guys. Not that the guys in the production were bad, but there was a significant talent drop-off compared to the girls. Maybe girls are just better at that sort of thing. Maybe some boys might be good at it but they aren't interested and are playing video games or sports instead. Maybe they are developmentally disadvantaged at this age because their voices are changing and they haven't figured out how to deal with it. Whatever the case, I hope Brita and Leah will try out for the school musical again.