Tiennot- Assignment 15- Awwwwww Geek Out!

I was once an ordinary kid like you, I promise. 

Oh, who am I kidding, none of us are ordinary! (And I mean that in the best way possible) But there was a time when I didn't know who Sutton Foster was, a time when upstage and downstage were two words in a foreign language, a time when I wasn't searching the internet for questionably legal recording of Broadway's finest shows. 

That time is no longer. 

I became an avid musical geek sometime in elementary or middle school. Exact dates have always been a bit fuzzy for me. I can tell you exactly when the musical theatre lightbulb switched on, though. 

I was seven, and my mom had encouraged me to try out for this art school - SCAPA Bluegrass. Well, it went fine enough. I wasn't that interested, but I had tried, and it was over now, and everyone was happy. The school had an annual production they put on in Lexington's Opera house. My mom, still starry-eyed that I might attend the school, bought us two tickets to SCAPA's The Little Mermaid. 

I was dumbfounded. These were kids- only a few older than me- dancing on a giant, revolving ship; floating through the air on ropes; and belting from atop giant Octopus arms. I was intrigued, to say the least. My mom had immediate regrets, though. "What on earth have we gotten ourselves into?!" she asked me as we left the theatre. And though she never said it, I know she was secretly re-thinking my application.

Somehow I still ended up at SCAPA Bluegrass. Though to this day, I can still say how much of a surprise it was. I was a Drama major - learning what stage left and stage right meant, learning how to improvise, and most importantly - watching my new idols- Sutton Foster and Brain D'Arcy James in Shrek, and Laura Bell Bundy in Legally Blonde, dance and trill their way across my screen. 

I would listen to their soundtracks during computer applications class, I would go home and spend hours on the internet trying to find any new video from the show, and covet the days we'd watch one in class. When I watched a musical, I lost track of time. Suddenly it wasn't a bunch of actors in costumes, waving around props on a big stage. It was Marian the Librarian and Professor Harold Hill bringing me to tears with their rag-tag marching band, and me begging my mom for tickets to Cinderella, which was coming to town. 

I'm a geek. Wholeheartedly. And I'll tell you something else if you keep it confidence - I have two playlists I listen to in the shower. My all time favorite songs, and my Broadway soundtracks. You can guess which I listen to more often, but it isn't the one with Taylor Swift.