Hannibal, Here We Come

So, have you all been waiting with bated breath to find out what parts our kids got in the play? The cast list was supposed to be up yesterday after 4:00, but then a friend called, in the midst of the rush to find shoes and get out the door to church, to tell my daughter that it was up already! So of course we all had to pore over that (quickly, quickly...)--and came away scratching our heads, all the way to church.

The director cast the tallest boy who auditioned--who most recently was Daddy Warbucks in ANNIE--as Tom Sawyer. Huck Finn is one of the older boys as well. Both boys have deep voices. This theater group has plenty of boys in the 13 and under group (down to 8) and not that many over 13 (up to 18). We all thought Tom, Huck and their friends would be in the lower age range, with the older, taller kids playing the adults of the town.

Tom Sawyer is such an icon of innocent, rascally, preteen boyhood. To cast him as a teenager just seems to miss the point. The younger boys are all so cute--and cute little boys are what people will think they're getting if they come to the show. We just feel sad for "what could have been."

[UPDATE--it seems they're not making him into a teenager--just planning to ignore his height! Apparently, as Dramamom in NC commented, this is a challenging role that most younger boys just aren't able to carry. It requires a strong singer, actor and dancer, and the boy they cast as Tom really was the only male strong in all three areas. It's been done before with an older boy, they say, (as does Dramamom) and everyone seems to think it's going to work fine. --So what do I know??]

Well, Bantam 10.75 got the part of Ben--one of Tom's friends or classmates--we haven't seen a script yet. We know he has some lines, but not enough that he'll need a script to memorize from. Blondechick 13 will be a Bat Dancer, in the famous scene where Tom and Becky get lost in the cave. Apparently there's a musical number in the cave, in which there are dancing bats. She is not excited. ("I've never had to wear an ugly costume before," she moaned.) We aren't sure, but that may be the only scene she's in. Hopefuly she's in the full ensemble numbers too.

Rehearsals start Friday night and performances are the second and third weekends in May. It's AMAZING every time to see what they pull off with 85 kids in 10 weeks!

So, Hannibal, MO--here we come!