From ages 4-8 my son took acting classes at a neighborhood theater in our little New Jersey town.  The kids did theater games during each class and the semester finished with a musical; each child had an equal amount of lines and their own solo.  I still remember the first musical, Candyland; my son was Peppermint.  Most of the kids were so frightened of being on stage that they mumbled their lines and whispered their song–they were only 4 years old after all.   But not my son; he stood on that stage and sang “I Fall to Pieces” in the loudest, clearest, sweetest voice.  After the performance a man said to us, “Your son does a great Patsy Cline!”

He went on to play an elephant in The Floating Zoo (based on Noah’s Ark), a turtle in James and the Giant Peach, and Chuckie in Toons On The Loose.  He always gave a good performance and had a great time, but really didn’t think of acting again after we moved to Atlanta.

That is, until last year when he played Winthrop Paroo in his school’s jr. high production of The Music Man.    Although I knew that he was talented at many things, I was very pleasantly surprised by his performance of “Gary Indiana” shown here on YouTube.

As you can see, he had a ball; I think that he has been bitten by the acting bug now.  This week he’s in the jr. high musical, Suessical; here he is on YouTube performing “Monkey Around”.  He just got a part in a fall production of The Sound of Music as well.   Musical theater camp and dance lessons this summer will only tighten his game for the high school productions in the near future.

When you see his name in lights one day, remember you saw him here first!

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