The Backstage Experience

Tonight was my night to be chaperone. It was so much fun getting to see this side of the show.

Here are the girls waiting to go backstage

They all have a certain spot at the table assigned to them. Kayla is "Lullaby 2". Their shoes are under their chair, their hats are on the table, and their munchkin outfit is on the back of their chair.

Here is Kayla at her spot

Once it is 30 minutes to curtain they can start getting dressed. Kayla's costume consists of several layers. They are all pretty heavy. The costumes were already assigned to them before they got there based off some measurements we had sent in. It also depends on the part they are playing. There are 2 lullaby, 2 lollipop, 4 band memebers, and 4 officials. Kayla was so excited to be a lullaby because they get to wear a dress.

They first put on their beautiful socks

Then it is the first layer of her dress.

Time for the next layer

When the hair people arrive, the kids have to get in their seats and wait their turn. It does not matter if they are finished getting dressed or not.

Here is Kayla waiting her turn

Wardrobe continues working on them

Now it is time for hair

The hat is the final touch

Another adjustment from wardrobe

Ready for showtime!

Here is the entire outfit. Check out those shoes!

Katie (the other lullaby) and Kayla

The 2 chaperones with the munchkins

The munchkin wranger was who rehearsed the girls yesterday. Before showtime tonight she came for a visit. Here she is going over some notes regarding changes/corrections that needed to be made in show tonight
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The Wizard of Oz comes by every show to visit with the girls. He just spends some time with them talking about life in the theater. Tonight it was all about how to get a job like his.

During the second act the girls are Winkies. They are not on stage very much in these outfits. Here is wardrobe helping Kayla into her costume.

Kayla, Landry, and Brooklyn

The happy Winkies

The Winkies in character

I think she is the cutest Winkie of all

Here are the girls with their wardrobe lady, Annie. She is super nice. She works for the PAC in Tulsa, so it was really fun talking to her about some of the other shows that have been there. She does a wonderful job helping the kids. She is with them every show.
One show backstage was enough for me. I am looking forward to watching the show from the audience again tomorrow!

Costume

Here is a picture I found on facebook of Kayla in her costume. She is the second one from the right in the orange dress with the white hat.

TV Appearances

It is just after 7 in the morning, and I am sitting here waiting to see my little girl on the morning news. Kayla probably got to bed around 11:30 last night. I felt really bad having to wake her up at 5:30 this morning. We had to meet at the dance studio bright and early this morning for the first TV appearance for the munchkins.

Nothing like a healthy breakfast of a pop-tart and a glass of milk to start the day off right.

These are the shirts that the girls were given when they won the audition. It says "I was a Munchkin in the National Tour of The Wizard of Oz."

They are ready to go!

I wanted a group photo, but they left in a big hurry to get to the station on time. I did not get a chance. They are going to be on Channel 6 at 7:15, and then on Channel 8 at 9:00. Watch if you can! For those that don't live here, I am recording it and one of the moms is putting it on a DVD.

Way to go Munchkins!!!

http://www.newson6.com/Global/category.asp?C=118553&nav=menu682_12

Cast Party

The girls did a fantastic job tonight. We did get to watch their final rehearsal and I will try to blog about that later.

They got invited to a cast party after the opening show. Before we walked into the party the girls were asked for some autographs. That was so much fun for them.


Then it was off to the party. There were a lot of cast members there. Here is Kayla with the girs who plays Dorothy. She is so young!

Kayla with the lion.
Kayla and a fellow munchkin (Brooklyn) with Glenda.

Kayla and the wicked witch.

Kayla and the scarecrow.

And the powerful Wizard of Oz.

We talked to him before the show. He told us that our girls were going to tell us that some old man kept coming in their dressing room. He spent quite a bit of time with them tonight teaching them all about theater. He is super nice. Kayla thinks it is pretty cool that she is going to be able to say that she really knows the Wizard of Oz.

Here is Kayla with her dance teacher, Ms. Rachel.



We are so very proud of our munchkin. They looked like pros up on that stage tonight.

Opening Day!!!!

Today is the big day. It is opening day for the Wizard of Oz. We are all so excited. We met up at the studio this afternoon to head downtown. Here are some of the girls waiting for everyone to arrive.

We loaded up and had a big caravan to the Performing Arts Center in downtown Tulsa. The girls had to be at the stage door at 1:15. Here is everyone running through the parking lot at 1:10.

Once inside the stage door, all of the girls had to sign in.


Here is my munchkin outside of the stage door. Look how cute she is! I can't believe we are here.
Here is Kayla with Katie and Jada. They are waiting for the munchkin wrangler to come and take them backstage.

Still waiting...

They finally came and got the girls at 1:30. We went up some stairs and down a long hall. We dropped the girls off outside the door to their dressing room, and we went on to our meeting. This is where we left the girls.

It was really strange leaving her. Maybe I am too controlling, but I am having a really difficult time with not knowing what is going on. We get to go back at 6 tonight to watch the final rehearsal. We have to sit in the back of the auditorium. We can take pictures, but no flash or video. The great thing is they will be rehearsing with no costumes or lights. So I am pretty sure those pictures won't be that great.

The two teachers will be able to take pictures of the girls on the stage tonight after the final bow in costumes with the entire cast. After the last performance on Sunday they will get "Toto time" if they have behaved around Toto during the run of the show.

Kayla is so excited, and I am a bit of a nervous wreck. I absolutely can't wait to see her. I hope that she has the time of her life. This is such a wonderful experience for her.

4 Year Visit

Today was Caroline's 4 year visit at the doctor's office. She is 38 1/2 inches tall (24th percentile) and weighs in at 28 pounds 6 ounces (4th percentile). She is slowly gaining weight! She had to get 4 shots today. We know the nurse and she felt so bad having to do that to Caroline. She was wishing that there had been another nurse available, but there was not. Caroline came out of it pretty good. She got a sticker, a lollipop, a coupon for 2 free cookies from a yummy bakery, and a certificate for a free taco and cinnamon twists from Taco Bell. And I am not convinced she even realizes she got shots. The nurse told Caroline that she was going to pinch her. After it was done Caroline told me that the nurse pinched her too hard.

The cookies made everything better.

Imagination

My little Caroline has a big imagination. She spent ALL day talking about her old family. A few times she even cried (real tears) because she misses them so much. She has created an entire past for herself. She has an older brother that is 5. She calls him PepPep. She has an older sister who is 18. She just calls her sister. They live in a 2 story house in the woods by Aunt Jenny in Texas. The living room is downstairs. It is a really nice living room with no crumbs because they don't eat anything in there. However, the table is horrible. When you go upstairs her brother's room is to the left, her sister's room is to the right, and her room is straight ahead. They have a bathroom that has flowers on the wall. Caroline's toothbrush is pink to match her bed, her sister's is purple to match her bed, and her brother's is blue to match his bed. She has a dog and a cat. They are both named Suzie.

There are no animals in the woods. No bears and no rabbits. She asked tonight if her old family was almost here. They are coming to pick her up. She did say we could come and spend the night. She already told us where we would each be able to sleep.

It is amazing how serious she is when she talks about her old family. We are her new family. It is as if she really believes it. Andy is slightly concerned. It is crazy! She just goes on and on about them, and she really gets sad because they are not here.

I am pretty sure that there are a bunch of details that I am leaving out. This is all I can remember right now. I wanted to type this up before I forgot. Her creative side is coming out!

Best Friends

I just thought the girls were so cute in their matching ballet swimsuits. We spent the afternoon at Brigi's house swimming. She is Caroline's best friend from school. The girls had a great time playing together. Kayla was able to take a friend with her. It was a fun day, but I need to get a little better at applying sunscreen. Kayla and I came home pretty red!