And the most exciting part
was putting
the entire show together
and seeing
the final product.
It showed me that
I really do like to do
musical theater a lot
and that I want to continue.
They were always
all together
right before the show.
Like dancing
and just getting
ready together.
Everyone's like, Oh, my
goodness, here we go.
Here we go.
Everyone's getting to
their spots.
Let's do our best.
The energy is insane.
This is a very energetic
show.
First thing
I usually look for,
whether it's kids, teens,
adults, is their willingness
to try something.
So they come in
prepared with their song
or their snippet of a song.
I also want to see
what happens when
they're on the spot.
All right for you
right there.
Good luck.
Plus,
how do you know when
to break?
Again, it's just
that willingness to try.
We can do choreography
very simply
or more advanced,
just depending on who
we have on the show.
Dancing.
I love dancing,
especially tap dancing.
Dancing is really fun.
Can New York is the best?
I would say
that was the best.
I don't know
which one's hard,
but I know is New
York was probably.
I like the kids
more than any adults
when I do shows,
just because they
give more energy
than anyone
you ever see out there.
Like when they are
in their moment,
they are in their moment
and it is awesome to see.
My favorite thing
to see is our cast
that have grown up through
us. Okay.
They they came in
six, seven, eight,
nine years old
and now they're
in their twenties.
They will sit down
on that carpet with
the eight, nine,
ten year olds
and they're chit chatting
and they're goofing
around with them
that they're
just so supportive.
My first show,
I was eight years old.
I think I was like nine.
I remember it being
just very, very welcoming.
Like every single person
there we're very patient
with everybody there
and it's their first show.
So they are teaching them
like, this is upstage,
this is downstage,
this is like what you should
do during a show.
This is what you
shouldn't be doing
during a show and like
stuff like that.
New York.
If you're an
an attention seeking
missile like me, then it's
probably really fun.
But if you get stage
fright really easily,
then it's not fun.
As I say, the only time
I get stage fright is
if my sister
is embarrassing me off
stage.
Oh, let's go, Kiki.
Let's go.
I went into my audition
and said, You know what?
I'm here because my kids
force me to be here.
So yeah.
And I think for me, it's
been nice to be reminded
how much fun it actually
is to be in musicals.
You know,
I took a huge hiatus,
but it's good
fun to be back.
And the most exciting part
was like putting
the entire show together
and seeing the final product
and seeing how much fun
it was to do the show.
It showed me
that I really do like
to do musical theater a lot
and that I want to continue.
It's not that hard.
So you can like, just like
give it your best.
I think it's
always been that safe
place theater wise.
I mean, no one judges
anyone here,
which is awesome here.
It's much more of
a learning experience
and it's
a very safe environment
for kids to come
into their own as
a performer
and as a person in general.
Like physically,
emotionally, like
mentally for kids
to get to be themselves.
Yeah, I really kind of did
pave the way is like
the first like trans
like person who was like
we should, you know,
kind of change some things
and it was like,
let's you change in whatever
dressing room you want
and we'll let you like cast
you in like
whatever role you want
and like identify
with just like the support.
But it's still.
Yes, expressing myself
and expressing the
community to, you know,
expressing like what
we are as a whole
and what our
organization is.
We know we're not
going to Broadway,
and that's not our goal
and it doesn't
have to be the goal.
We want kids to know
that this is a safe place,
that this is a place
they can come.
They can let out that
inner theater kid.
We love watching
the kids that aren't sure
that they're a theater
kid and watching them grow
and watching the confidence
they develop.
Their lives
are going to change
and things are
going to change.
And having
something that feels
constant and feels safe,
part of a team,
part of a family
that they can identify as,
yeah, those are you know,
those are my people.
Those are my folks,
you know?
And we did that. Yeah. Yeah.