The Arts

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  • April 15, 2009 at 7:39 pm
    baileymom
    Member

    I have a 12 yr old DD who is taking ballet and will soon be starting Musical Theater/Drama soon…it is fast becoming a passion of hers.

    We talked a little this afternoon about what Broadway was…I’m not very artsy (at all), and I really didn’t have much I could share with her.

    I’m looking for some books, websites, or even better some actual Broadway shows that would not go against our Christian beliefs/lifestyle. If anyone has ANYTHING to share, I’d love to hear from you.

    Thanks

    Kathi

    April 15, 2009 at 8:27 pm
    CindyS
    Participant

    Kathi,

    I thought I was reading my own bio in your post! We had/have the exact same situation. I will try to make a 7 year story short 🙂 by saying that two things I am so glad we purposed to teach our children was that God can be fully trusted and the blessing of being under authority. This is because the arts offer lots of opportunities to have to say no to a child. It is an area fraught with many pits and requires much prayer. I had difficulty discerning what was God’s calling and what was just the child’s desire. My thought was always, “Of course you like it, everyone likes applause!” – – But I tend to be a little harsh, perhaps.

    Having said all of that, we now have a college student majoring in musical theater at Liberty University with the goal of teaching what she was never able to learn. And that is that music theater can be done in an excellent fashion with modesty. And I still pray, earnestly.

    Here are just a few tips that we learned (some the hard way, btw). You have probably already thought of these; it’s just that having been in a number of sticky situations I feel like I’m waving a warning flag. So, forgive me if I’m overbearing:

    Ask up front what the recital costumes will be and state your own expectations. Look at photos of past recitals to get a feel for what the instructor means if he/she says ‘modest.’ Ask what the song will be that they are dancing to and then look up the lyrics and read them. If it’s a musical, get a copy of the script and read it through. Picture your daughter in any of the parts and ask yourself if you could take your pastor to see it. Practice saying, No, my child can’t do that. Be deadly honest with any prospective instructor so that come recital or performance time, they are not out on a limb without your daughter and you are not stuck with a $150 costume fee.

    As for selections, my children were in The Sound of Music, Annie, Cinderella, Suessical Musical (which I regret because of the costume selections), and a couple of ‘reviews’ (which I also regret because I did not know what was coming on stage next 🙁 ). I’ve also seen at Voice of the Martyrs a musical about Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand that I thought might be interesting. I’m sure others have many more suggestions.

    My posts are always too long 😳 but that’s the extent of our theater experience.

    Blessings,

    Cindy

    April 16, 2009 at 12:48 pm
    baileymom
    Member

    Thank you for sharing Cindy. Believe it or not, she has no exposure to The Sound of Music…so that will be a great place to start. I’m not a big Annie fan, I cannot stand the orphanage director’s character (I think it stems mostly from my hating the movie as a child:) Cinderella would be good too…my girls were total Disney kids until recently, so it will be hard for them to see the “actual” stories…I do, however, have a DVD version with Whitney Houston and Brandy that I loved when it played on TV…I don’t know…probably 10 yrs ago, so, that’ll be another good starting point.

    Our Community Forum is doing Beauty and the Beast this summer. The recently did High School Musical and last fall when we 1st moved down here, they were doing Little Women. So, I think it’s a mix of interests there. We’ll just have to go case by case I suppose.

    Both my girls (12 and 9) are in a ballet recital next month, and miraculously, their costumes are fine…they mostly just look like fancier class clothes. When my DD was 5, I did spend $65 on one…glad that wasn’t the case this time.

    It was neat to hear your daughter goes to Liberty University for Musical Theater…my DH is finishing up his bachelors in religious studies there this year (online academy). Most people have never even heard of it, and I certainly didn’t know they were so diverse. I told Kylie about it, and jokingly said she could end up going to the same college as her Dad. She didn’t seem to taken back by that, but then again, she’s only 12 🙂

    Again, thanks for sharing, and for the much needed advice.

    Kathi

    April 16, 2009 at 3:13 pm
    CindyS
    Participant

    Or you could go way back in time and watch the 1965 Cinderella with Leslie Ann Warren (I remember watching that every year) or the 1957 version with Julie Andrews.

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