End of an Era: Last School Musical
For the last fifteen years, I've attended my school's annual Musical, the first ten years as part of it and the following five to see my little brother in it. This year, he's a 9th grader and finishes his last year at the school, where we both have spent ten years. It's a small school just shy of 200 pupils, who all play some part in the Musical, mostly as actors but some also as the band and the choir or in charge of costumes and props or creating the flyers and documenting the process. Teachers and pupils come up with a creative idea and string together an over an hour performance with at least five home-made songs to go along with the home-made script.
Next year, we won't be going to the Musical. For someone who isn't very fond of change this notion isn't very nice. I'm purposely staying away from the word hate here because I'm working on overcoming this. The Musicals have always had a place in my heart and the heart of my old school, which always focused a lot on music and art on equal standing to more academic courses. I wasn't always that fond of Musicals while at school, as having to get up on stage wasn't natural or fun to me as I grew older but especially since I've left school, I've gained even more respect for the whole thing. And it has been so great to come back and revisit my old school once a year and catch up with old teachers.
Maybe, the change allowed me to view it more objectively or I just got wiser with age, but it's a great concept. It allows children to overcome what could develop into stage fright at a very young age but doesn't pressure speaking roles onto those, who doesn't want it. Those who thrive in such situations can, on the other hand, shine as much as they want. The positive energy and constant applause of the audience is granted either way. Even if someone gets nervous and forgets a line, it doesn't matter. The teachers will yell out a cue and the audience will pretend not to notice the mistake. Everyone is so supportive no matter what.
There are always two showing in the big rented tent sat up on the football field. An early one at 5 PM and a later one at 7.15 PM. In all our time, our family always went to the late one, mostly because our parents' work schedules wouldn't allow them to attend the earlier showing. So they'd come meet me, my brother or just one of us with take-away from our usual pizza place. On rare occasions, our grandparents on my mother's side got to attend too but mostly it was just the four of us.
When I first started at the school, the musical was in the beginning of the school year and not towards the end. It switched up some time midway through my school time. It's odd to think it was in the autumn of 2000 where I first attended a Musical. Back then, they taped the whole thing and you could buy it on VHS afterwards. Man, that makes me feel old. It was our own take on Harry Potter and as the part of "Kindergarten Class" I played the train that took the young wizards to Hogwarts. We had painted individual cardboard pieces that was cut out to resemble the side of a train and "drove" across stage.
Now, in the spring of 2016, my brother was on stage wearing his old winter coat with added white fur on the sleeves and a funny furry hat as he played an evil Russian business man that wanted to support the conversion of Denmark's coastline into a beach resort. He was always the performer of the two of us. I can still recall watching some silly performance he did when he was just 6 years old, shortly before he started at proper school, and he just kept goofing around on the "stage" by dropping his big hat too many times. It was adorable. He's grown much taller than me now but he's still my adorable little brother. However, he's also growing into a very capable young man and even though he thought it was a bit annoying the have Musical during exams, he still poured his heart into it.
His performance this time, where he played a character with a too complicated name for comic effects; Vladimir Igor Plutski Rasputin Pitin was likewise hilarious. He was the beneficial to Mr Tramp and the Danish Prime Minister, both played by classmates of my brother, who had made the decision to turn Denmark into a resort and that all children should be taught service work and nothing else. The clear parallels to Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Lars Løkke were just plain hilarious and also testament to how much my brother and his close friend had affected the script, as it is rarely so political.
As often the case, there was also a love story involved; one of the government's accountants, who was against the whole idea as it would bury the country in debt, and the hippie daughter of the Prime Minister, who rebelled against her father, fell in love. The accountant was played by a girl from my brother's class, wearing a moustache and she was named Preben. My brother's "wives" were played by boys' with huge prop boobs. Gender bending is nothing new for the Musical as it often happens. But upon deeper thought, it's actually quite awesome it's so natural and not a big deal.
I thought everyone was great and that is was such a perfect way to finish an amazing era. We even got to sit first row, something that has never happened ever in all the years. It's a bit of hit and miss as it is you're just able to buy what ever number the count has gone up to before you and they're placed different every year. But we got to sit front and as close to the middle as possible as well. Just perfect. I could hear my brother's voice, not literally but figuratively, as certain lines were delivered. Eight days from start to finish. Impressive.
I'm going to miss it. But I'm also just happy I got to experience so many of them and have such great memories, both from being a part of them and just as an observer after I finished school. It's good to remember your roots.
Next year, we won't be going to the Musical. For someone who isn't very fond of change this notion isn't very nice. I'm purposely staying away from the word hate here because I'm working on overcoming this. The Musicals have always had a place in my heart and the heart of my old school, which always focused a lot on music and art on equal standing to more academic courses. I wasn't always that fond of Musicals while at school, as having to get up on stage wasn't natural or fun to me as I grew older but especially since I've left school, I've gained even more respect for the whole thing. And it has been so great to come back and revisit my old school once a year and catch up with old teachers.
Maybe, the change allowed me to view it more objectively or I just got wiser with age, but it's a great concept. It allows children to overcome what could develop into stage fright at a very young age but doesn't pressure speaking roles onto those, who doesn't want it. Those who thrive in such situations can, on the other hand, shine as much as they want. The positive energy and constant applause of the audience is granted either way. Even if someone gets nervous and forgets a line, it doesn't matter. The teachers will yell out a cue and the audience will pretend not to notice the mistake. Everyone is so supportive no matter what.
There are always two showing in the big rented tent sat up on the football field. An early one at 5 PM and a later one at 7.15 PM. In all our time, our family always went to the late one, mostly because our parents' work schedules wouldn't allow them to attend the earlier showing. So they'd come meet me, my brother or just one of us with take-away from our usual pizza place. On rare occasions, our grandparents on my mother's side got to attend too but mostly it was just the four of us.
When I first started at the school, the musical was in the beginning of the school year and not towards the end. It switched up some time midway through my school time. It's odd to think it was in the autumn of 2000 where I first attended a Musical. Back then, they taped the whole thing and you could buy it on VHS afterwards. Man, that makes me feel old. It was our own take on Harry Potter and as the part of "Kindergarten Class" I played the train that took the young wizards to Hogwarts. We had painted individual cardboard pieces that was cut out to resemble the side of a train and "drove" across stage.
Now, in the spring of 2016, my brother was on stage wearing his old winter coat with added white fur on the sleeves and a funny furry hat as he played an evil Russian business man that wanted to support the conversion of Denmark's coastline into a beach resort. He was always the performer of the two of us. I can still recall watching some silly performance he did when he was just 6 years old, shortly before he started at proper school, and he just kept goofing around on the "stage" by dropping his big hat too many times. It was adorable. He's grown much taller than me now but he's still my adorable little brother. However, he's also growing into a very capable young man and even though he thought it was a bit annoying the have Musical during exams, he still poured his heart into it.
His performance this time, where he played a character with a too complicated name for comic effects; Vladimir Igor Plutski Rasputin Pitin was likewise hilarious. He was the beneficial to Mr Tramp and the Danish Prime Minister, both played by classmates of my brother, who had made the decision to turn Denmark into a resort and that all children should be taught service work and nothing else. The clear parallels to Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Lars Løkke were just plain hilarious and also testament to how much my brother and his close friend had affected the script, as it is rarely so political.
As often the case, there was also a love story involved; one of the government's accountants, who was against the whole idea as it would bury the country in debt, and the hippie daughter of the Prime Minister, who rebelled against her father, fell in love. The accountant was played by a girl from my brother's class, wearing a moustache and she was named Preben. My brother's "wives" were played by boys' with huge prop boobs. Gender bending is nothing new for the Musical as it often happens. But upon deeper thought, it's actually quite awesome it's so natural and not a big deal.
I thought everyone was great and that is was such a perfect way to finish an amazing era. We even got to sit first row, something that has never happened ever in all the years. It's a bit of hit and miss as it is you're just able to buy what ever number the count has gone up to before you and they're placed different every year. But we got to sit front and as close to the middle as possible as well. Just perfect. I could hear my brother's voice, not literally but figuratively, as certain lines were delivered. Eight days from start to finish. Impressive.
I'm going to miss it. But I'm also just happy I got to experience so many of them and have such great memories, both from being a part of them and just as an observer after I finished school. It's good to remember your roots.
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