4/15/14 Guest Blogger: “Jamie, Willy Wonka and the Cheap Makeup Factory”

So the other day we had the performance of the school play, “Willy Wonka Jr.”   The play was an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s story Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.  I tried out for the part of “Grandpa Joe”, but I was cast as an Oompa Loompa along with a lot of other kids.  We pretty much had to go out and sing and dance every time one of the main characters met their doom. I was okay with my role, it’s just we had to wear this cheap orange face paint on stage.  The only time the nasty crud came off was when I didn’t want it to!  It also smelled like dead fish. Right under my nose!  My cheeks have been red for days from it.

In addition, I had to wear a brown t-shirt with a bunch of tape designs on it, white see-thru baseball pants with fake suspenders that kept gettin’ ripped off (of course I wore white basketball shorts underneath the pants), and a green tinsel wig.  I would take pictures, but the school commandeered my costume after the performance, calling it “skewl pr0p3rtY.”  Mom may have one to post later, though.

We had to go on stage a few times, four to be exact.  There are four Oompa Loompa dances, so I had to dance twelve times between  Friday and Saturday.  I’d say it was a good performance, but our mics kept getting messed up. That didn’t apply to us, though. Oompa Loompas don’t get mics.  I guess there were enough of us that we were loud without them.

I was scared before the show, and before I knew it, I was in the pitch black of the back stage, with Mr. S. telling us to go on stage and start entertaining.  At least our songs were kinda cool.  They weren’t cool like Blink-182 or Flux Pavilion, but compared to other songs that other characters had to sing, ours were good…

“Oompa Loompa doo-pa-dee-do! I’ve got the perfect Puzzle for you! Oompa Loompa doo-pa-dee-de! If you were wise you’d listen to me…”  This one kid kept calling us “Oompa Dupas” and “Chumba Lumbas”.  But Mom says “dupa” isn’t nice to say.

BUT…..The real big hassle was……DrumRoll please…

                      TECH WEEK

                       TECH WEEK

                          TECH WEEK

Tech week was a week of normal play rehearsals, but we used costumes and props. 0k? Not bad.  Well, TECH WEEK play rehearsals started at 5:50 and ended at 9:30…AT NIGHT! (Spongebob reference)

That, and our Math teacher decided that Wednesday was the PERFECT day to assign a 40-problem math worksheet all about adding and subtracting mixed numbers.  Have you ever done that? ONE PROBLEM takes like, fifteen minutes to do!

But anyway, that was the horrors and benefits of the play.  I have to admit, I’m gonna miss going on stage with the bright lights and seeing the vast expanse of black before me, hearing the applause and the laughter.

As a reward, I dipped into my Confirmation money and bought a snazzy par of Converse All Stars, an awesome pair of shades, and a Steampunk top-hat, complete with gears on the side.

There’s no business like show business!  But I’m kinda glad Mom made butterscotch pudding for dessert, since right now I feel like I never want to see another chocolate bar again!