Choir Photos

Ron Kramer took a good many photos at choir rehearsal and posted them on Flicker .

You can also view a slideshow here.

Leland School's Halloween Concert

When kids are preschoolers, all it takes to make a costume is a hat or a mask. In kindergarten or first grade, they need a whole costume, but they really believe in the transformational power of the clothing. If you have a real baseball uniform, you will be able to hit the ball. I once met a first grader who wanted a chicken costume so that he could hatch out a fertile egg.

By third grade, kids start to appreciate the humor of impersonating another character. The kids in grades 4, 5, and 6 make the most of Halloween and the chance to make fun of what scares them, whether it be monster, politicians, or the opposite sex.

Alanna as Gwen Stephani, Anna as a business woman, and Lydia as a Klondike Woman, with Guy looking on.

Grownups in costume were admitted free. Everyone else had to pay a dollar. Joe and Mary Povolo were a Monk and his Candy Corn.

Mr. Evans manned the door as a Recently Canned Mouseketeer.

Austin took the challenge of dressing as a girl to new heights by aptly portraying his mom, Deb, in the background.

A Halloween concert is a great idea. Nobody gets stage fright in costume -- if you make a mistake, nobody knows who you are, anyway. If you get nervous, it's probably because of the monster next to you. The kids sang Halloween songs, made good use of the percussion instruments, and practiced entering and exiting wearing all sorts of impediments. It was all great fun.

Ethanol Once More

Above: Liz and Carley, as drunks, in Leland School's 2004 production of "Lucky Stiff"

The Traverse City Record-Eagle ran a nice AP article on ethanol fuel this week.

Meanwhile I've been thinking about ethanol as drink. At work I was required to take TIPS training, as in Training for Intervention, as in intervening with people who want to drink more than they should. The training included a lot of quantified, scientific information that we are supposed to use to estimate how intoxicated a subject will become. For instance, a 150 pound male of average build will have a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of .05 after two drinks on an empty stomach. Unless it is a carbonated drink, then the alcohol will be absorbed more quickly. Or if a person carries more body fat, then the alcohol will be absorbed more quickly because fat and alcohol don't mix. If they've eaten a full meal recently, alcohol works more slowly. If they took prescription medicines, then drank, well that's just a wild card. Anything could happen.

I'm a gaming employee. Everything is a game for me. I tend to be pretty competitive, although my mind works in ways that allow me to redefine the game until I've found goals that are attainable; until I find a way to win the game. What bothered me about the TIPS training was that I was being asked to use a bunch of subjective observations-- starting right out with the old "Guess my Weight" question from the carney's booth-- to deduce someone's Blood Alcohol Content. The cop parked outside of the casino lot gets to actually test for BAC, but I have to guess. Yet they made a big deal of my personal liability in this and emphasized that an actual BAC test is the only thing that matters in court. There is no way to win the game, unless I make sure that nobody ever gets more than 2 or 3 drinks.

I'm not complaining about having to monitor alcohol consumption. I just wish there was a more scientific way to do it.

BUT THEN...I read this article about a prison inmate who swigged off a bottle of hand sanitzer and got drunk. It seems that your basic Purell-type hand sanitzer is about 60% ethyl alcohol, or 120 proof.

The 49-year-old inmate, who was not identified, was treated for alcohol poisoning. His blood alcohol level topped .33 percent, Doyon and Welsh wrote in a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine today.

“We’re primarily concerned about at-risk patients,” Doyon said. “Patients who intentionally do this to get drunk, especially those hospitalized, institutionalized or in rehabilitation or nursing care facilities.”

There is also a concern about middle and high school students drinking hand sanitizer to “be cool,” Welsh said. “It’s important for parents and school personnel to be aware that it is happening.”

He suggested parents treat hand sanitizer like any other potentially harmful household product, including storing out of reach of small children and instructing children not to drink from it.

In the casino, we have a problem with people who have been cut off continuing to try to get a drink, get their friends to buy them drinks, or even sipping off their friends' drinks. Now we have to monitor their hand sanitizer as well?

Thinking about this at work, I helped myself to a big dollop of Purell in the breakroom, spread it on my hands, and then licked the back of my hand to see what it tasted like. Not bad. Not so great, either. Kind of like if you had made gin with lavender instead of juniper berries. Would I choose it for a night out? No. Would an underage drinker mix it with Mountain Dew? There's probably already a name for this homemade kiddie cocktail.

But what about the extremely underage? I was thinking about babies licking the stuff off of hands. But when we talked about it in the breakroom, Rob asked if it could be absorbed by the skin.It turns out that skin absorbtion, or even inhaling the fumes are ways to get alchohol into the bloodstream.

If a 150 lb guy needs 2 ounces (4 Tablespoons) of 120 proof to get borderline drunk, then the 15 lb baby needs a little over a teaspoon. Maybe less, because babies have a high percentage of body fat. Maybe more, because babies are always eating. The mom who slathers Purell all over the pacifier that fell on the ground or the bar of the shopping cart or her own or her child's hands at every opportunity may be planting the seeds of alcohol dependency as she kills all those germs. She may be getting the kid drunk. Those compulsive hand-cleaning people that reach for the hand sanitizer every 5 minutes may be getting enough to get buzzed up, or at least to relax a little.

The breakroom conversation was getting funny. Rob asked me "So how do you know if a baby is drunk?" I got out my TIPS training manual and reviewed the list of "behavioral cues for approaching intoxication".

"Well, you have to see whether the baby has lost his inhibitions. Or has impaired judgement." It seems being drunk pretty much means acting like a baby, so a baby could be drunk quite a bit and no one would know. Of course if your baby gets to the impaired reaction phase and starts "lighting more than one cigarette" you'll know something's up.

Showtime!

I have lately seen a lot of traffic from people looking for costume and set building ideas for Seussical and Honk! I noticed a similar trend last year at this time, as people everywhere started planning their spring musicals.

This year Leland is staging Schoolhouse Rock Live. Once again I find myself scouring the internet for information on a show that has existed beneath my personal radar. I liked the Repertory Actor's Theater's description of the show:

The show is a little campy, a wee bit corny, kinda patriotic, but definitely A LOT of fun! For many, myself included, Schoolhouse Rock Live! is a charming sojourn back to bygone innocent Saturday morning memories, a brief eighty minute escape from current world worries and woes. My hope is that it entertained and uplifted the spirits of all who had the chance to see it. As we struggle through these uncertain times, one thing is for sure,..."Knowledge is Power!"

Anna auditioned for the show, but she is still waiting to see if she got a part. It is a high school production, but in a school our size everyone needs to pitch in. I wonder if this show will somehow end up with someone playing the part of a bird?

Seussical pictures

There are more pictures from Leland Public School's production of Seussical posted here at Shutterfly. Some of you have been stopping by looking for costuming ideas for your own productions.

I never got a good picture of Liz as Gertrude. She had a blue satin dress with a sort of a bustle housing many yards of feather boas that were pulled out when her tail grew.

Seussical, The Musical

This year Leland Public School is combining forces with St Mary's School to present Seussical, The Musical.

The first parent's meeting was last night. The casting is done and the kids have been rehearsing. there is only one commercial CD of the music, but the kids have been listening to it night and day.

Peformances are planned for two weekends, May 12 and May 19, at the Performing Arts Center at Leland Public School.

I've found some links that will help us old folks get up to speed. First a synopsis of the show. This article from Playbill gives some insight as to why Seussical is so popular. There is also a photo of characters in costume, but I offer this only as a suggestion. Our cast is creative and our budget is small, so I expect our costuming to look less commercial and more interesting.

Maybe like these photos from the production at Western High School in Parma, MI. Or this extensive slide show of costumes from a production near Vancouver, BC. Or Santa Monica College's production. Here's another high school production. Those folks must love to sew!

This page takes a long time to load, but it showcases the work of a middle school art class that created the props for their school's production. I was clueless when Jeremy talked about needing props for this show. Now I'm starting to get it.

You can learn more about the composer and lyricist of this show by checking out the Ahrens and Flaherty website. The photo at the top of this article is from the photo section of that website.

More HONK! Costume Photos

It's that time of year again! Time to stage a school musical. I've been getting hits on my HONK! review from people who are searching for costuming ideas for their own HONK! productions, So I might as well share some pictures from last year's show. Here is Derek Telgard playing the part of the Bullfrog, and Kevin Price as Ugly:
John Gleason as the cat:

Shelagh as Dot (the wild goose fight attendant)

Ugly is taunted by the other ducklings:

Check out my HONK! review for more costume shots.

The Chicken Farmer Reviews HONK!

Derek Telgard plays a turkey in the opening barnyard scene
There is something inherently entertaining about people impersonating poultry. Remember the classic hypnotist's schtick? The climax is always when the subject is told to strut and cluck like a chicken.

People often act like poultry. They can't help themselves. I started working at the casino the first year I raised baby chicks. I spent a lot of time watching the baby chicks and I spent a lot of time watching casino patrons. After enough time and enough sleep deprivation, the group of guys standing around watching one guy play blackjack was indistinguishable from the group of chicks standing around watching one chick pick at a hole in the newspaper lining their pen. Craps players flocked from one crap game to the other, just as seagulls flock between picnic tables. Just last week I sat in the waiting room at the hospital next to a group of ladies that cackled and picked at each other like classic "old biddies".

So it may be that HONK! draws upon some sort of common ancestral memory. The show opens with a square dance inspired song and dance number that introduces the inhabitants of the barnyard, including the evil cat, modeled on the classic silent film villain. When the barnyard birds cackle, cluck, and peck the cat into temporary submission, the audience is moved to spontaneous applause and cheering.


The players won their audience over in that first number, and they didn't let go for the entire show. High school productions typically suffer from lost lines, lost characterizations, and arduous scene changes. There was none of that in Leland's production; the players took full advantage of their small but well equipped stage and minimal sets to move the show along from one scene to the next. They smoothly moved between playing people and poultry with perfect comic timing. (Who would have thought that hatching out a clutch of eggs required a Lamaze coach?)

The small size of Leland's student body means that athletes are pressed into roles that they might never attempt in a larger school. Director Jeremy Evans used these guys to their full potential, choreographing numbers that borrow more from the WWE than from your mother's musical theater. (The second unexpected burst of applause is towards the end of the Cat's song "You Can Play with your Food," when, after a long series of chases and feints, the Duckling and Cat suddenly lock arms and tango. I suspect the applause is not for their dancing, but for their stamina.)

HONK! 's score is full of these tempo changes, but it also features several songs that stand on their own, like the lovely "Now I've Seen You." The second act's showstopper, "Warts and All," was a hit even before the chorus line of young frogs makes its appearance, dancing and singing with pure joy. Just when you think that the number couldn't get any better, the orchestra breaks into the bump and grind (this part is your mother's musical theater) that signals every available cast member onstage, as frogs, singing and dancing through a happy, green legged collage of frog philosophy. If you can't get on board, you might as well, as the frog says, "hang it up."

The story line of HONK! is familiar, it is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's "Ugly Duckling". Familiarity does not diminish the emotional impact of the show's themes; when Kevin Price, as Ugly sings of his loneliness and confusion in "Different", we are moved. When Ugly's siblings taunt him (crossing the people/poultry line with ease), we are nauseous. Anna Pentiuk's depiction of Ugly's long lost --but still searching-- mother is a moving testament, not just to mothers, but to all who struggle to do right in the face of ridicule and disappointment. Her song "Hold Your Head Up," while initially introduced as a swimming lesson, serves to bolster Ugly through his seasons of wandering.

John Gleason, as the Cat, morphs back and forth between mustache twirling villain and raunchy tomcat with ease and glee, providing the comic relie needed to balance the heavier themes. The supporting cast, working their way through a treasure trove of simple costumes, seem larger than life. They switch roles with their costumes at a dizzying speed, depicting all of Andersen's original characters and a few updated ones, most notably a television news crew and a flock of navagationally challenged Canada geese whose dialogue is lifted from a family car trip.

This is, after all, the reason for musical theater. Out of a classic story and some wonderful songs, with the aid of some simple props and costumes from the attic, the players open a door and show us our own lives, reflected in their characters. The players respect our ability to use our imagination; we allow ourselves to go along for the ride. We laugh, we cry, and in the end we know a little more about ourselves. And we have some new songs to take home. At the end of the show the players go back to being our kids, but a little wiser, maybe. And maybe a little more like poultry.

The cast of HONK! will present their show again on Friday May 20th, Saturday May 21st, and Sunday May 22nd in the Leland Public School Performing Arts Center. All shows are at 7 pm. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students.

If you aren't there, you missed it.