A while back Kayla's dance teacher sent out an email about an "opportunity". If she could get enough people together they could audition to be munchkins in the National Tour of The Wizard of Oz when it came to Tulsa. The auditions required that the kids already be part of a dance or choir group. They had to audition as a group of 12, and either the whole group made it or none of them did. I misunderstood the original email. I did not realize it was a group thing - as far as everyone in the group was either chosen or not chosen. So, being the good mom that I am, I did not even mention it to Kayla.
That night at dance her teacher asked me if Kayla was going to audition. And of course Kayla was standing right there. So our name was then put on the list. Once the teacher had 12 girls that wanted to audition they were signed up. They had to learn to sing Ding Dong the Witch is Dead. The girls stayed after class 2 times to practice. Keep in mind that they are a dance group, NOT a singing group. So to be brutally honest I did not think they stood a chance...at all. I was pretty sure there would be musical theater groups auditioning that stood a much better chance.
March 7 arrived. Audition day. The auditions were held in Tulsa during the Baby Fest. Can you imagine having a booth at that festival and having to listen to the same song for 4 hours? There were 11 groups that auditioned. The Munchkin Coordinator said that the only audition that had more groups was for a show at Madison Square Garden in New York! The process started with the entire group reviewing the song. Then group by group they took the stage to sing. Each group got to sing the song two times with no choreography. Then they taught the kids a little bit of the choreography that is actually in the show. This took forever. She taught the first four groups, the next four groups, and finally the last three groups. Then it was time for the real audition. One by one the groups went of stage to show what they had learned. They got to practice is once and then it was time for the audition that counted. Here is our group. Kayla is in the front row, 3rd from the left. The footage is terrible...I was not actually looking in the camera. I was more or less just holding it up.
The judges then took about 5 minutes to discuss it. Our girls huddled together while waiting for the results.
Then it was time for the big announcement...
Not the best footage but it gets the point across. It was so exciting!
So...what does this mean? The tour comes to Tulsa June 15-20. Their first rehearsal with the cast is on the day of the first show. Her teacher has been given video footage of what she needs to teach the kids. They are to be "performance ready" when they show up for opening day. They have already started practicing. They are in 4 scenes. Their names and a picture of them will be in the Play Bill. They will be on the big stage at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center with a professional cast. They get to come out and bow at the end of the show. They are in 8 shows (1 on Tuesday, 1 on Wednesday, 1 on Thursday, 1 on Friday, 2 on Saturday, and 2 on Sunday). It will be exhausting but so much fun. There will most likely be local media events leading up to the show. It is such a big deal! The girls (and moms) are so excited.
I have more pictures that I wanted to post, but I can't get this to let me load them. If I get that worked out I will post the pictures later.
