Wonderful, Wonderful (Updated!)

"And that's a wrap!"

Oh, Wonderland. It was blissful, beautiful, and exciting. I'm exhausted but deliriously happy: it was a spendiferous production, I'm both blessed and thankful to have been a part of it.

I'd elaborate, but I'm beat! Stay tuned for our fourteenth and final installment of this blog's Wonderland adventure, coming sometime tomorrow.

***** (Update Time!) *****

The open dress rehearsal went off without a hitch. I got video of the first section of Act V-- my Guards, Cards, and Roses-- and during the break my Mom and I watched it while we ate dinner at Moe's. I was happy once I saw it on video-- watching from the back of the theater brought about the usual self-deprecation of This Does Not Look Nearly As Cool On The Stage As I Had Imagined. Seeing it on the video put it in perspective and made me feel better.

We returned to the theater at 4pm for the Dance Awards. Man, you have never seen such well-dressed little dancers. I thought I was dressed up, but compared to some of these kiddos I may as well been wearing pajamas made of duct tape:

(Why yes, my dress is cut low enough to violate the BYU Honor Code, why do you ask?)

The Dance Awards were quick and rather lovely: Dancers acknowledged for years of study and other special honors such as scholarships and summer intensive. Then the curtain closed and everybody scattered to their dressing rooms, because IT'S SHOWTIME!
Cut to: Curtain. Whee! My little opening scene (called "The Lesson") was just adorable, the white rabbit was hilarious as all get-out, and the audience "Awwww"ed spectacularly at my Little Clocks.

After that.....it was a bit of a blur. The show moved amazingly fast, and I was choreographer-slash-backstage-runner so I didn't catch certain dances. Little Alice was adorable (and looked exactly like Big Alice. I mean, exactly), I loved the TweedleDuo (they danced to the Robbie Williams version of "Me and my Shadow," which I am now completely in love with), and the flower garden scene was lovely and cute.
Alice's variation was lovely... and the Caterpillar! Oh, the Caterpillar. It was stupendous. I was so happy. Chesire Cat was awesome, a funky little scene that I enjoyed putting together (and enjoyed watching even more!)
By the way, the Big Alice was ten kinds of fabulous. She grew so much as a dancer and a performer during this process, had great presence, and looked the part exactly (unlike her Emergency Backup, aka Yours Truly The Short and Dark-haired). I'm so glad she recovered in time to dance the part.

I got to see the Mad Hatter/March Hare/Doormouse dance, which was hysterical-- the little Mouse even crossed the stage in a teacup. It was built onto a scooter, and was awesome. After that....well, after that it was time to start organizing people for the finale, so I really didn't see much of the show after that. I did get to see my Guards and my Cards, though (and yes, per my earlier calculations, that little King of Hearts stole the crap out of the show). I also got to see part of the fight scene-- the final showdown between the Royal Family and Alice. The music was to "Chariots of Fire" and included a sloooow-mo combat sequence, complete with the little King doing a slow-motion "NOOOOOO!" The audience was roaring, it was so well-done.

And then it was running running running, is everybody in line for the finale, where is soandso and suchandsuch, has anyone seen--Oh oh, FINALE! HERE WE GO!

It was fabulous. It was all over way too quickly. And it was perfect.

(I ended up with six bunches of flowers from the kiddos, because they are awesome. Also, notice that Mama B has butterflies on her shirt. That was intentional.)

Dear Wonderland: It's been a great ride.