Monday, June 28, 2010

Orphans on Stage

On Friday night I went to see a play at the Huntington Beach Playhouse. I won tickets to see a production of "To Be Announced" at the volunteer luncheon a couple of months earlier.

The play was Annie. It seems everyone loves the story of this lovable orphan. I must say that previous to the play this was not the case with me. In the inset you will learn why I have always had it in for little orphan Annie.
It started on the last day of fourth grade. The teachers did not have the normal curriculum planned to the end of the day. Instead, the teachers had all three classes of fourth graders move into one classroom and we started watching the movie Annie.

About half an hour into the movie, my class was told to leave and go to gym, which is what we usually had at that time of day. However, the other two classes were allowed to stay and watch the movie instead of going to their normal music or art classes.

I was upset, why did my class have to go to the last hour of class for the year and the other two could just sit there and watch a movie? Gym that day was boring, and when it finished we went back upstairs and had to go back to the room and move our chairs out. When we did this, the movie was still going on and the other students were still watching. It looked like the end; all the characters were very happy and they were having a party. The characters had a great great adventure and most of the other students watched it, but I had to go to gym class instead. Ever since that day, I have had negative feelings toward Annie.

While I was not feeling 100% after my trip (more on that in a future post "The Grand Expedition"), I realized I could not remember the last live theater performance I went to (then I remembered I watched KA the night before).

I went to the theater and took my seat. I started talking to the couple next to me and discovered they had won tickets the same way I did. Eventually I learned the ninety year old gentleman had participated in the invasions of North Africa, Italy, and the Philippians. It was a good thing I spent countless hours watching the History Channel a decade ago, or else I would have no idea what he was talking about.

This was not just any performance of Annie, it was opening night. Based upon my experience, few things are as exciting as the opening night of a production you have spent the last couple of weeks preparing for. I could feel excitement in the air. As I have mentioned before, I have a background in theater. In fact, I was involved with stage crew for six different productions at that very theater. Sitting in the audience watching the performance brought back a lot of good memories.

I enjoyed the play. You can find more information about the play at hbph.com under the Now Playing section. It runs until July 25th and you should check it out if you are around.

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