Beauty and the Beast

This last weekend, I had the privilege to play piano for the NCA drama department's production of Beauty of the Beast. Beauty and the Beast was my very first Disney "cassette tape," and my 5th grade-self had every song memorized once upon a time. . .so it was fun to relive some of my earliest musical memories now as an adult!

I had envisioned that the music wouldn't be TOO difficult, being from a kid's movie and all, but it was. And it was long. I began practicing in December, and met with the student performers once a week during January and then about 3 times a week in February, many days until 5:00pm. The show was about 2 and 1/2 hours long, and I had to play 337 pages of music for each of the three performances. This, for me, was all about focus and mental energy. . .no matter how much I practiced, I never felt totally prepared for the marathons of playing for so long without a mental break. It was also a challenge to keep my back from seizing up from the stress of it all!

I was so thankful to have another keyboard player by my side each night. Jackie Sjoberg, the one-and-only NCA library volunteer, played all of the "extra" orchestral parts on a second keyboard, which added a lot to the music AND made me feel a little better about life in general. She had the show down to a science. I also enlisted three different page-turners, one for each night, which really saved me!

This was my fourth year as the pianist for the annual show, and this, by far, was the best (though the most work)! I'm thankful for the opportunity to use my piano skills in this way each year at NCA. I'm also excited for life-beyond-the-musical, and I know Ruth is, too! We're already doing things, now, like organizing the house and jigsaw puzzles again!