The Audition

The girls began their rigorous rehearsal schedule for 'The King and I' on Feb. 4th. And it's been a roller coaster ever since. Actually, this story began months ago. Elisabeth had been asking me to find a play for her to audition for for about a year, I found one but was still trying to decide if we could make that kind of time commitment. She begged and begged, and so Jon and I finally decided to give it a go.

The audition was way back in....Nov. I think. We asked Adam and Sarah if they wanted to audition too. Adam was a definite no go. Sarah needed to think about it. The morning of the audition I was printing up a head shot and resume for Elisabeth, and she was putting on a nice dress, we were nearly ready to walk out the door, when Sarah says "So, should I sing Castle on a cloud or..."

"What?!" I said "You're auditioning??"

"Yeah, I decided."

So I quickly made up a resume, and asked Jon to crop a black and white head shot from one of her photo's. I ran up to get her a dress and brush her hair. Of coarse we couldn't find any of her nice shoes. Jon printed the picture, resume and a copy of her music. Sarah put on some old, dirty, pink flip flops and we raced out the door to get to the audition. Sarah would sing Castle on a Cloud, and Elisabeth would sing Carrick Fergus.

When we arrived the lobby was filled with hopeful singers. And I couldn't help but notice that most of them were about Libby's age. At first I had thought that Sarah might not have a good chance because of her blond hair and blue eyes (They are supposed to be Siamese Princesses. But now I could see that it was Elisabeth who would have the lesser chance. There were far fewer little kids, and Sarah has a good loud singing voice. I felt the first twinge of fear. Isn't that how life usually plays out? The one who wants it most doesn't get it, and the one who comes along last minute, hardly caring at all, is the one who takes the prize.

I wasn't allowed to watch the audition. The kids were taken it 10 at a time, and my girls were in one of the last groups. When they came out I asked all sorts of questions to try to find out how it went. I'll never forget what Sarah said.

"You know how when Connie Talbot (little girl on Britain's got Talent) sings, and the judges look at her like 'she's so cute!' and they smile at her? Well,,, that's how they smiled at me."

She knew they loved her. It was hilarious to see her face when she said this. My fears for Elisabeth were getting stronger. So I talked to them on the way home about how auditions work. How, when there are so many talented kids, they end up choosing the person who looks right, or is the right age, or right height, etc. I told them how just being at the audition was a great experience and how there would be other auditions.

A day or two later we received an e'mail saying that Sarah had been chosen to join the cast. Frantically I looked through my e'mails to find one for Elisabeth. But there was nothing. Nothing was good. They would e'mail a rejection if that were the case. However, I knew that rejections usually come later.

For a horrible half an hour I debated about what to do. Sarah is young and a bit clingy and I wasn't so sure she would be brave enough to do this without her big sister. And were we really willing to make this commitment for a girl who not only didn't beg for it, but she wasn't even sure she wanted in until the last minute? Still, it would be a great experience for her, and be wonderful for her resume.

Finally I decided to e'mail the director. I wrote several drafts, and eventually ended up saying that before Sarah could make here decision we needed to know for sure if Elisabeth was in or not. If not, then we would need to have a serious discussion with Sarah to see if she was willing to do this on her own. I had no hope of hearing back until the next day (it was already late) and therefore I had little hope of getting any sleep either. Elisabeth was anxious and had some slightly teary eyes but was handling things pretty well.

Almost immediately I received a reply via his cell phone, saying that his laptop had gone bonkers and he wasn't able to send out some of the e-mails. And YES! Elisabeth was in the show. And the E-mail would be coming soon. Oh the joy and relief we all felt! And for once there was a picture perfect Happily Ever After!