As usual, the craziness that is Pineda Summer Conservatory overwhelmed all else this July, thus, the silence on my blog. Fear not, sweet ones, I have returned with highlights of this summer’s sweatfest at the CDC theater. There’s definitely some crazy ozone depletion going on since temperatures in the non-air conditioned theater never dipped below a chilly 80 degrees. Choreographer and dance instructor Señor Chris - returning as a permanent member of the Pineda staff - rarely changed t-shirts less than twice a day. Stop with the aerosol cans already, people! The newly vamped Cabaret Night aka Walking On Sunshine went off splendidly. Our own Frankie and Annette, Chris (choreographer/co-director) and Trish (musical director/co-director), spun a modern day Beach Blanket Bingo theme around the talents of our high school campers. This year we upped (read: added) production values with full set, props and even - gasp! - costume changes.
No doubt I’d have enjoyed this year’s Pineda Idol had I not been frantically painting a trolley car behind the second black traveler while our contestants warbled away. I did, however, get to hear all the wonderful talent as well as the wise and sometimes odd comments of judges Señor Chris, Jaygee (my lovely Kim from Seaside’s Miss Saigon) and Lori (last summer’s zany middle school dance instructor visiting from her new home, Italy!). I do hope Jaygee got her shoes back after excitedly hurling them at our wide-eyed contestants. And I hope they were flats, as a spiked-heel to the forehead is not a sexy look. I know that from experience. Don’t ask.
Starlight Theatre’s (our elementary school program) production of Disney’s Aladdin upped the “awww” factor with the young’ens strutting their stuff Arabian style. How could one not get teary-eyed watching two ten-year-olds awkwardly fall in love to the strains of “A Whole New World”? Of course, that’s only when the young Aladdin manages to stay awake during his princess’s verse. I kid you not. I know, they’re young and it’s really hot in that theatre, but it’s still amusing.
Our middle-schoolers got all hormonal with this year’s production of 13. Full of backstabbing, sexual politics, boy-on-boy kissing, drinking, bar mitzvahs and cheerleading (sounds like my trip to Fire Island last weekend), the Pinedas once again proved they are moral pillars of the community. Seriously, though, if this is an accurate depiction of the lives of today’s 13 year olds, what they hell are they gonna’ be up to when they’re 18?
Finally, we ended the summer with a gorgeous - if I do say so myself - production of Meet Me in St. Louis which I choreographed with Señor Chris' assistance. It's amazing the quality of work you can produce under panic conditions. All in all, the trolley trauma proved worth the hassle. The act one closing tableau will surely grace our literature for years to come. And I only had to lose my sh*t once during tech week. Honestly, is it that difficult to learn ones lines after having ones script for six weeks? Back in Colonial times when I was doing summer stock with a young John Wilkes Booth, we’d have cranked out five fully staged productions in that same time frame. So much for work ethic. Oh well, according to 13, teens these days are too busy drinking and fornicating to concentrate on the trivialities of discipline and responsibility. Kidding. Not. Oh, and I also want to give a shout out to Michael Miguel and Deanna Killmer for helping our teens perfect their gorgeous period 'dos. Holla!
So there you have it. Six weeks, four full productions and four very exhausted Pinedas (plus Señor Chris, Chris Grimm and Mr. B - our newest staff addition at the piano). It’s going to take at least until next summer for us to recover, but those March auditions always seem to creep up on us so quickly. And no, we do not know what shows we are producing next year, so don’t ask until at least December.
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