Mrs. Cox: My ears and daughter thank you

The blog-daughter has been flitting around the house the last couple days, belting out “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood” from Camelot. It’s her intention to sing the number at auditions Sunday, March 18 for the Ashtabula Arts Center’s summer Straw Hat Theater productions.

This year it has actually been kind of nice to listen to her. Previous year’s audition practice has been kind of hit-and-miss with the blog-daughter: to quote a line from a child's book, “when she was good she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid.” A year in the middle school chorus, though, has made a tremendous difference. Now, she almost always hits the right notes with clarity and good support…when she gets more confidence, she’ll be unstoppable. Her middle school chorus teacher, Mrs. Cox (a newly-minted educator and terrific addition to the schools), has offered to help BD prepare for the auditions by working with her after school during the next week. My daughter is also currently in rehearsals at the AAC for the musical “Pocahontas,” which runs March 30-April 1.

BD is interested in auditioning for “Moby Dick: The Musical,” “Sideshow” and “The Wizard of Oz.” In addition to those shows, the AAC will also produce “The Fantasticks” this summer. Doc-wife and I (perhaps even son-and-heir) will also audition, though we haven’t yet settled on the music we’ll use.

We’ve decided, for the first time since our return to Ohio, to forego auditions this summer at our most-local theater…as I noted here, there is just nothing on their slate of shows that sound appealing this year.