Yesterday, I wrote about our local school’s musical, “The Wizard of Oz.” My son has the role of the “Tin Man.” He has worked hard learning his part and practicing his songs. He also spent countless hours helping to build the set for the play. On Saturdays, he would leave the house to be at play practice at 9 AM and after practice ended at 1 PM he would stay to work on the set till 11 PM. Many long days constructing the various scenes.
Today I thought I would tell you about one of the little complications we encountered as we got closer to the show date.
As the “Tin Man” his was the only costume that was not created or repurposed from another costume by the ladies handling the wardrobe. (They created over 100 costumes for the various characters and did an excellent job.) The director rented his costume so it would look authentic. His costume arrived a week before the show and he put it on for the rehearsal. That night, he came home complaining that he didn’t feel well and he hated his costume. He said it was heavy and he felt like he was going to faint on the stage and on and on. I listened, but didn’t think there was a major problem, since teens complain about a lot of things, and I thought maybe he was just exaggerating.
The next night of rehearsal, he was wearing the costume for a couple hours and told the director he felt like he was going to faint. Well when he took the headpiece off they found he was red and had welts all over him and he was talking different. He complained of tightness in his throat and found he was allergic to the latex in his costume. They had to give him benedryl to combat the swelling in his throat. After a while he felt good enough to get back on stage, but still could not sing. That night he came home tired and telling me….”see, I told you that costume made me sick!” Just what a mom wants to hear!
So here we are a week before the play and he doesn’t have a costume. They found one, but it looked more like something a silver ninja would wear. It was bright, flashy silver and full yoga type pants. He said it was very comfortable, but sure didn’t look like the “Tin Man.”
So they ordered another costume that came two days before the first show. It was a little shinier than they expected, so they spray painted it, and that did the trick.
So for opening night, I wasn’t sure how he would look. Much to my amazement his costume was perfect. He looked like the real “Tin Man.” They could not have found a better costume.His performance has been flawless the past two nights. I am just so proud of him and the rest of the cast. Even though there were lots of little problems along the way with such a large cast, they all pulled together and made it a success.
The whole cast has put their heart and soul into this production and it shows.
It is so fulfilling to see something your child has spent so many hours laboring over be so wonderful.
One more day to watch them perform. I’m a very proud and happy mom!
Tell me about a complication you have had leading up to a big event? How did you resolve it?
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One of the worst complications I have had was when I was doing a presentation to a group my mother attends. I had the powerpoint ready with my notes in the margin and was comfortable it would go smoothly. However, when the lady in charge connected my computer to their system, she loaded it such a way that only the pictures showed. All my notes were gone. I was thankful I had been going over and over my notes in my head the night before since that enabled me to make the presentation from memory and no one knew about the problem but me.
I think the parallel to your son’s presentation is that he was well prepared and the costume issue became secondary to his performance. It is great that the final costume was a success! If he had been spending his time worrying and complaining instead of practicing, things might have turned out differently. Way to go Tin Man!
Your experience had to be nerve-wracking as well. Glad they both turned out successfully.