I think Gianni should have brought little tea roses that have closed buds and smell sweet. I would like orange roses because that is my favorite color and I would want ones that came from a garden, like Mrs. Chang has. They look better than these flowers that are too perfect and too long and have thin metal wires inside to keep them straight.
I don’t want to say this, but even if the long roses were the wrong choice I think Olive has a bad attitude, because she just got a gift.
But then I suddenly wonder if the present was actually for her, or just a way to say something to Gillian and Kevin?
I would really like to ask Mrs. Chang about this, only she’s helping Ryan the Lion backstage somewhere and I can’t go find her. It’s a rule that the Munchkins must always stay together.
I look for Desiree, Nina, and Sally. Right now I wish that I’d brought flowers for the three of them. I suppose I could tell them I was thinking about doing it, or I could surprise them tomorrow.
I will make a plan about gift-giving later when I have more time, and also I will look for more clues about what’s going on in the adult world of broken hearts.
Shawn Barr says that there are always two things happening in any situation: What we see, and what we don’t see.
But what we don’t see we can feel—if we are paying attention.
TWENTY-SEVEN
One minute it feels like we’ll have to wait forever for the play to begin and then the next thing I know I hear the orchestra warming up their instruments and the audience noisily taking their seats.
Both sounds are exciting and scary. We did not have very many rehearsals with the real musicians. They are louder and the sound is thicker than I’m used to. It’s beautiful but makes me wish I had ginger ale to settle my stomach.
There are so many of us Munchkins that we take up a lot of room and we can’t wait in the wings. We have to stand in lines in the hallway behind the stage. Some of the Munchkins sit down, but not everyone has a costume that allows this.
I don’t sit because I’m worried about getting my outfit dirty. The floor doesn’t look very clean.
After what seems like forever we are given our final orders: “Places, everyone!”
The music starts and the audience gets quiet and the play begins.
Shawn Barr is watching from the audience. I thought he’d be back here with us to help, but Charisse is called the stage manager now and she’s in charge. Our director will be in the last row of the theater, having the experience of seeing the performance like he bought a ticket. This is how he will give us notes later on ways to be better.
The curtain opens, Gillian makes her entrance, and it’s not long before we hear her singing about the rainbow.
I can tell that people like her by how loud they clap when she’s done with her first song. I suddenly want to get onstage too.
Why should she have all the fun?
We wait and wait, and every minute feels like ten. Finally Gillian is finished with Kansas.
We listen for our cue, which is when we take our spots in the darkness once the set has changed. The men and women who move the walls are dressed all in black clothing and they move fast. They are the stagehands, but not just the ones we saw during rehearsal. There are some new people. We have to stay out of their way because they are pushing big pieces of scenery and it’s all done without speaking. The only exception to this is when a guy gets his foot run over by something heavy. He says a swear word. We hear, but I’m hoping the audience doesn’t.
Finally Charisse gives the signal that it’s time for us.
Most of the Munchkins are supposed to hide underneath these big bright flowers that have huge sparkling leaves. Munchkinland is not like a farm on the prairie. It’s more like being inside a little kid’s coloring book.
In the last twenty-four hours the art department has added all kinds of new petals and leaves to the areas of the stage filled with the flowers.
These art people were making stuff for four weeks, but in the last night it’s like they did ten times more work. There are big blooming daisies that I’ve never seen before, and if you reach out and grab the stem of some of the new flowers, you end up with green paint on your hand.
All of the new stuff looks great, but it really packs us in much tighter than we were in our rehearsals.
I find my place with Olive, and we crouch down. It’s not comfortable. I have a leaf jabbing me in the ear. It’s made of wire and covered with papier-mâché that’s still gooey.
I can see that some of the kids are squirmy, and that makes the flowers move.
This should not be happening.
I’d like to tell them to stop, but of course I can’t. We are supposed to be a surprise when we pop up, and I don’t see how that can happen if kids don’t keep still.
Randy doesn’t have to hide because he’s waiting behind a bright orange door that’s on the back wall of the stage. It’s supposed to be the mayor’s house or something official. The door is just tall enough for him to walk through. Randy is with the coroner, who is played by Quincy. Gene is with them. He doesn’t have a special part, but he’s wearing a fat suit just like Randy and they both look like someone filled them up with air. They are as round as balloons. It’s a great look.
Besides the big belly, Randy is also wearing a bald cap. This fits over his hair and I think it makes his whole head too large.
But maybe that’s because I know him.
Quincy has on funny glasses and a robe like a priest would wear. Who knew coroners dressed this way? Gene is in puffy shorts with striped socks.
The longer we wait crouched down, the more I can see that the Munchkins are doing what Shawn Barr calls “losing our focus.” It’s hot with all these clothes on, and all of us are wearing hats. A few of the boys are wearing brightly colored tuxedos, and a whole group is dressed like wooden soldiers in fabric that’s like the top of a pool table.
I look into the shadows, and I see that the soldiers are sweating and the lines that were drawn on their faces are getting smudged.
These boys are bad listeners, because we have been told more than once not to rub the makeup.
As soon as Gillian (carrying Coco) appears from the corner of the house (that just landed), the Good Witch shows up, and then it’s not long before she will tell us to come out.
I’m right in the middle of worrying about this when we hear our first cue, which means we should all giggle.
We do that.
Then the Good Witch starts to sing: “Come out, come out . . .”
We are supposed to all now move slowly.
But it’s so hot under these fake flowers that everyone pretty much bursts up and stumbles out onto the stage. We should stay off the yellow brick road in the beginning, but I guess most of the kids forget.
I do not want to panic.
Even though I feel like panicking.
I look around, and I realize we aren’t in the right places.
We were supposed to be in the shape of the crescent moon. We are in the shape of a crowd on a hot day waiting for the gate to open at a swimming pool.
There is pushing and even some shoving.
The first line we sing is: “Kansas she says is the name of the star.”
It comes out sounding angry. And too fast.
Shawn Barr has said that we need to seem afraid of Gillian. We were supposed to be acting what he called “tentative.”
That is not what is happening.
Munchkins are bumping into other Munchkins.
Only Olive and I are on our marks. Even Larry is too far stage left and too wound up. Everyone is sweating and elbowing each other, and we are not, as Shawn Barr told us, “using the stage.”
Somehow we get through the first part, and then we are at the section where we are celebrating that the witch is dead. We are all twirlin
g, hooking arms and spinning around. But we are too close together, so some Munchkins hit other Munchkins.
This singing all leads to Randy’s entrance. He’s supposed to come out of the small door. The trumpets sound as his cue.
But then another bad thing happens.
The trumpets make their noise, but the door does not open.
The trumpets blow again, and still no Randy.
I realize that the door is stuck.
I can tell because the whole back wall, which is just canvas stretched over a wood frame, starts to shake. Randy and Gene and Quincy must be trying to get the door open.
I don’t know what to do.
The trumpets play the music now for a third time, and then a wood panel in the bottom of the door flies out. I can see part of Gianni’s body as his hand reaches through the opening and he turns the knob on the other side.
I have to say that Randy takes it all very well.
He bows to the audience as if this bad entrance was all part of his act.
Quincy, however, is upset, and he trips on the single stair and falls down. Olive can’t stop herself from leaving her place as my partner and going to help him up. He’s fine.
Randy keeps singing, looking right at Gillian as if this Dorothy is everything to him.
I don’t remember much after that.
I don’t faint or anything. I just feel as if I’m not up onstage. I’m somehow watching from a distance. I’m not even in my own body.
When we are finally done with our big song, which is “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” we dance our way into the wings.
We get big applause. It’s like thunder.
Maybe they are clapping because they’re happy we’re done?
We’re crazy with emotions because of all the problems, and getting us forty wound-up Munchkins back to the dressing room is hard for the stagehands. For some reason most of the Munchkins can’t stop laughing.
This is not appropriate.
However, it might be nerves. Sometimes laughing and crying aren’t very different.
Everyone is finished for the night except Olive and me. We go straight to makeup and begin turning into winged monkeys. Nikko and his two guys have been ready since before the curtain went up. They are playing cards on the steps behind the theater. They are so professional they can be unprofessional.
Mrs. Chang is backstage to help us. She is already in full makeup from Stan, which looks better than anything else in the whole show. She has on her costume, and it just takes my breath away. She says, “Opening nights can be rough. You all got through it.”
I think she’s trying to be encouraging, but Olive looks upset. She doesn’t say a single thing, and I don’t either. We are supposed to whisper because sound travels, but I think we’re quiet because we’re in shock. Quincy turned in his outfit and was the first one to leave. He feels bad about falling.
Time now moves fast, and it doesn’t seem long before we are in our harnesses alongside Nikko and his squad and we are all hoisted high into the air. Mrs. Chang is the best winged monkey, and after what happened in Munchkinland I can say that there is nothing like hav ing people who know what they are doing at your side. Nikko spins in the air and does a few moves I’ve never even seen in the dress rehearsal. I guess he was saving his talent for an audience.
Olive is of course great, and when I look over at Gianni backstage while we’re up in the air, he smiles at us.
He has a great smile.
I’m glad, because after kicking in the door he could be in a really bad mood. But the makeup girl said, “The show must go on.” This saying makes a lot of sense.
Even though my harness is not the most comfortable thing, I’m so happy when we are up in the air. The audience claps for us, and there is some cheering too, even though we are the bad guys in this story!
And then our part is over.
Almost all of the Munchkins stay until the end of the play, and they go out first for the curtain call. People are clapping and cheering. Maybe they forgot all the things that were messed up. Or maybe a lot of the audience is parents.
Nikko and his guys head onstage and Olive and Mrs. Chang and I trail behind.
The audience must love the winged monkeys, because they all get up. This is a standing ovation!
I look out into the crowd, and I see my mom and my dad and Tim and Grandma Mittens. They are clapping very hard. It’s possible my mom is crying. She’s wiping her eyes a lot. My dad has his camera and he’s taking pictures. These will go in the family scrapbook, but I’m going to ask for my own copies.
Grandma Mittens is next to Dad, and she’s in a fancy dress and has on her pearls. She only takes them out for Big Events. Even Tim has on a shirt with a collar. He doesn’t look as crazy excited as the rest of the group. But he’s there.
Sitting really close to my family are Piper and Kaylee. They are with Kaylee’s mom. They are clapping hard. I’m very happy that they came to see the play. Piper only got back from sleepaway camp yesterday. The timing was amazing.
I glance over to the other side of the audience, and I see Dr. Brinkman. The woman Dr. Brinkman, not her brother.
I feel like shouting to her, “I know about L. Frank Baum now!”
But of course I don’t do that.
I keep staring into the crowd. I’m feeling so lucky to have my family and my friends and my orthodontist here.
Then while the other cast members come out, I look toward the back of the audience and I recognize Mr. Sarkisian, my soccer coach. I’m really surprised. I don’t think of him as a theatergoer. He’s clapping with a lot of coordination.
Two rows over from my coach I catch sight of Mrs. Sookram, my old piano teacher. I wonder if she was shocked I was in the play, since I’m not musical. But then I decide she probably didn’t recognize me as a Munchkin and a winged monkey, so she still doesn’t know!
Then right up front I spot someone clapping really hard. It’s Mrs. Vancil.
I’m used to seeing her in the classroom. She looks different here. She’s more relaxed, and she’s with a man who has a beard. I knew she had a husband, but I didn’t think he’d have a beard.
I’m glad that I didn’t see any of these people until our curtain call.
I would have been really nervous.
Now everyone is out on the stage except for Gillian. She and Coco come out last. She is the star of the show, but I think many people are also clapping for her dog. It’s the first time I’ve seen her look sort of frightened. It’s past her bedtime, and dogs do love to sleep.
We all stand there, and then Gillian uses her free hand to point toward the musicians, who are in the place called the orchestra pit.
It’s not a real pit. It’s just a spot in front of the stage.
The musicians all stand up, and now we clap too. They told us to do this. I didn’t know.
The last thing to happen is that Gillian and all of the adult actors, even the witches, turn and look to the wings, and they bow. I see that Shawn Barr is standing there. He must have hurried from his seat at the back of the audience. He doesn’t move. But then Gillian walks toward him, and she gets him to come out.
Shawn Barr takes only a few steps onto the stage, and all of us are clapping for him.
He bends at the waist in a bow, and I’m not sure if it’s the loud applause or my heart beating so hard, but it feels like an explosion inside me.
He is the one who got us to this place tonight.
TWENTY-EIGHT
I sleep until after lunchtime.
Last night was the latest I’ve ever stayed up (not counting slumber parties, but that’s different because we always pretend we’re awake later than we really are).
My mom and dad and Tim and Grandma Mittens took Randy home since it wasn’t hard for him to get out of his costume.
I
have to be more careful with my winged monkey suit, and just taking the harness off the right way is hard. Luckily Mrs. Chang was there to drive me home, and that meant I got to be with the cast and the crew (but not the kids, who were all gone) as they celebrated.
I even took a sip of champagne. It tasted like ginger ale but without being sweet, which makes me think, why bother? However, I hope to learn to enjoy champagne as an adult, because I don’t want to be left out of toasting at parties.
Everyone is hungry after being in a play, and so besides the champagne there was pizza, which is my favorite, and then after that a big cake.
If you have this many people all in one place it’s always someone’s birthday. Yesterday it was a guy named Skipper. He works the lights. I don’t know him, but we all sang “Happy Birthday, Skipper” as if he was our best friend in the whole world.
The musicians were at the celebration, and they were all wearing black dresses or dark suits and ties. I like the musicians because they follow the plan. You wouldn’t see musicians bumping into each other or taking the wrong places.
There were folding chairs and round tables set up in the courtyard behind the theater, but most people were standing. Ryan the Lion lifted me up onto his shoulders, which made me the tallest person in the crowd. That’s never happened before and it wasn’t just that I had a great view of the party. What was also really great was that everyone could see me and I got a lot of high fives. I stayed up there eating pizza, and I was very careful not to get any on Ryan the Lion’s head.
I watched Gianni try to talk to Olive, and I saw so many people give Gillian big hugs.
Everyone loves a star and they all want to be her best friend.
I guess now Kevin is her best friend, but Olive said in a whisper, “We’ll see how long that lasts.”
Mrs. Chang took a seat in one of the chairs that was on the edge of the crowd, and I don’t know if that meant she wanted to be alone. If so, her plan didn’t work. All of the people who were in the costume department or who did makeup and the scenery ended up in a knot around her.
I was up high enough to see her talking, and I noticed the college students laughing a lot. Maybe she tells jokes. I’ve never heard one. So maybe she tells adult jokes.
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