Thelins Center Stage

Of course, this is Steven's week to be center stage, with his fabulous graduation, spectacular talents, and numerous accomplishments, but hopefully he won't mind sharing a little limelight with his cousins on the blog! Challenged by all of my many technological handicaps, I have been trying to edit and upload these clips for literally weeks and I have finally accomplished it, almost. So I need to publish what I have done NOW, before the next onslaught of performances and activities hits me!

This spring has felt like we were part of a never-ending series of theatrical productions. It seemed like every week there were new costumes to be made, songs to be sung, lines to be learned, and performances to attend. Wait...it didn't just seem like it...that is actually the way it was! I am desperately behind in blogging these many excellent events, so sit back, relax, and play a video clip every so often throughout the day...it will seem like a whirlwind tour onstage with the Thelin thespians. Welcome to my world!

We'll begin with Heidi, who loved being part of her middle school's rendition of Beauty and the Beast in early May. . Heidi played a lovely milkmaid in the village scene, an unlikely but very cute barmaid (we really enjoyed the beer mug dance), and an enchanted napkin (in pink behind Belle) in the castle's 'Be Our Guest"number. We love watching our beautiful girl on the stage and look forward to many more performances in years to come! Here are some scenes from her darling play:

I also felt especially close to this production as I was heavily (as in way over my head) involved in costuming much of the cast. I was inadvertantly viewed as some sort of magician once I showed up at practice one day bearing a bucket of giant silverware costumes that I explained I had borrowed from my sister Jill, the queen of costumes. Things sort of snowballed from there, but we all had a lot of fun doing the show.

Jeffrey was a featured soloist in his spring choir concert, which highlighted many different show tunes. His favorite part was playing Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. We borrowed some fabulous costumes (again that Jill had created) which really did make the scene amazing. What was not so amazing was that someone in the sound booth didn't get Jeffrey's mic turned up. He still belted it out and sounded awesome, but one can only imagine what it might have been had he been given some electronic assistance with the volume. Before you listen, you just need to crank up the volume on your computer! It really works out quite well that way! Jeffrey was actually fine about the whole thing; it was just me, the mom, who might possibly get over it by the end of the millenium. (a note for Jill--the dark haired "Z" boy beside Jacob is the one who stole the shirt. So sorry about that! Can I replace it?)

Then there were the little Thelin girls who performed in their first piano recital. Both of them did such a fabulous job! Amy, the youngest performer, played an animated rendition of "The Zoo" and Holly's fingers danced across the keyboard as she played "Cinderella's Waltz." We were all so proud of them! It is nice to be able to hear the piano still being played even though Chris is gone!

Stay tuned for Part II featuring excerpts from Jeffrey's British comedy, "See How They Run,"

and the girls' up and coming performance next week of "The King and I!"