Thoroughly Modern Millie

Amidst the Christmas Choir performances and the rehearsals for Annie, I thought I would try out for a show at Rodgers Memorial Theatre. It has been four years since I had been in a mainstage show there. It was Thoroughly Modern Millie, and I made it as a member of the ensemble. Dani West, the only best friend of mine whom I didn't go to school with, was also in it, and so was Devin Franke, one of my bhs musical friends. Everyone else in the cast had graduated, and many were in their thirties and forties. It was super fun! But also really intense. You see, Susan DeMill was the choreographer. I think my friend Grant Gibbons says it best, "Susan puts the 'hard core' in HARD CHOREOGRAPHY" this is very true!!! She comes up with beautiful choreography, but it takes a long time to learn and polish. Now, I have worked with her before so at first I was doing ok, but then I had to start missing for choir performances and later, Annie performances. So I missed learning all of the tap dances, and I already STINK at tap dancing, so being behind was not good. She was always yelling at me from offstage "because she cared". I believe her, but I was too stressed to care. Not only was I dealing with TWO Musicals, but my CE English teacher had a paper due every class. Not only that, but I was losing a best friend who meant the world to me, and that crushed me more than anything. I was always so tired at school that I was grouchy, whiched caused me to lose more friends. It was a pretty crappy time, one of the worst I've been through. But I pulled through and I learned the choreography in the nick of time! Being able to see Dani everyday was a blessing because not only is she one of my best friends, she was also an outsider from my troubles because she didn't go to BHS and therefore could listen to me without having an inside opinion about every person. It helped so much! Luckily all of my friends are my friends again and the best friend I lost once again became my friend, although he will never probably be a best friend again.

Anyway, Millie was fun and it was great to get to know Devin better and see how wonderful he really is. I better understand where he is coming from now and why he is the way he is. Haha and I improved my dance skills even more! It was a great experience.

Choir

I was in Chamber and A Capella Choir my Senior year. It was very intense. Both choirs were great and both went to State. A Capella got a Superior, and Chamber got an Excellent. It was a lot of work but fun!

Annie

The second BHS musical of the year was Annie. Annie is one of my least favorite musicals, BUT, it was so fun to be a chorus member in because I could sit backstage and chat. Also, I had so many friends in the show that being together was great, whether or not the show was. Consdering that the show was Annie, and that we had just done Les Mis, it was still really good!

Musicult

So, after Les Miserables ended, I had a bazillion friends in Musical. Usually, the BHS musical cast is close. But this year it was at a new level! Holy crap we were not only friends in class, we hung out every weekend, and we had dance groups entirely of musical people. We became the MUSICULT because we were so inseperable, and we've also been known as Musical Freaks. These names are true and we embrace them. And my friends came up with a name for non-musical people: "fujbits". That caused a lot of problems because people thought it was an insulting word, but it wasn't! It was like "muggle" in Harry Potter, not "mudblood" (this is the only comparison I could come up with). So then we stopped using the name for people. Now that Musical is over, we are just a group of friends like any other, except we sing together and see shows together.

I Got A New Job

So, I quit the bakery in August 2008. I knew I wouldn't have time to work there my Senior year. How Right I Was! So I planned on being jobless, but then in September my dear friend Eliza said her work had an opening. It was at the Eldredge Manor, a reception center. I would only have to work one or two evenings a week and I could take time off whenever I wanted! I accepted, of course! Another great thing is that..guess what? I LOVE WEDDINGS!!! I have been obsessed with them all of my life. I watched Father of the Bride daily from age 3 to 10, and I still watch it a couple times a year. I am fascinated with planning weddings, and at my job I see many wonderful ideas. This will be helpful to my family because I have three sisters. I love my job!

Les Miserables

So for my Senior year I was in Musical at BHS once again. The year before had been fun, and I loved the experience, but all of my friends had been seniors and I really didn't have friends my own age in musical. I was more excited for senior year because I was a lead. Not only was I a lead, but I was my DREAM ROLE!! I was Fantine in Les Miserables. So I knew that Musical would be fun, but I was still scared about the friend situations. I needn't have worried, though! After about a month into musical I made friends! Many Friends! In fact, after musical ended they remained my friends! The only problem is, they were mostly jrs. so now it is I leaving them behind. It is very sad. ANYWAY, Les Mis was incredible!!! I had Holly Jo Samuelson, who was the Fantine Understudy on Broadway, help me out (lucky me that she was the music director of a performing group I was in at Rodgers!). I already knew I could sing the part, but she helped me with acting A LOT!!! We had ten shows of Les Mis, and it was single cast so I was very lucky. Usually at BHS there are two casts and eight shows, so I had two and a half the amount of shows as my friends who were leads in the other musicals we did. It was seriously the best experience of my life so far! President Eyring came (his grandaughter was in it), and he started the standing ovation. He hugged all the leads after with tears in his eyes and told us we were wonderful! Closing night was insane! It was so packed that we put more chairs in all of the aisles. As I died in the show, I started to cry because it was my last scene. Hopefully that made it more emotional. At the end when I come to take Valjean to heaven, I cried more. But I could still sing! It was so amazing and I had serious withdrawals. In fact, I still do sometimes. I am a bit afraid that that was my last chance to be a lead. The best part of the performance was coming out after and meeting people I had never met and having them tell me that I touched their lives. It was so great! I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for giving that opportunity.

WHY HAS IT BEEN A YEAR SINCE BRETLEIGH BLOGGED?

Why has it been a year since I blogged? Because my life has been far busier and more fun-filled than ever before! I didn't feel like wasting my time with such pointless activities. Why am I blogging now? Because that incredible year came to a close and now I am back to my boring existence. I will now post blogs explaining all that I did this year.