My daughter, the star!

Last night, my younger daughter was one of the leads in her fifth grade musical production. In her school, the outgoing class produces a special show for the parents and the entire school, based upon popular music and Broadway plays. As a matter of fact, the atrium of the school has photographic collages of classes from the 1960's through last year for almost every group that has ever graduated.

My daughter sang in every number as part of the chorus when she wasn't doing her lead part, just like every other kid. But she auditioned and tried out several times for the role of "Sandy", from the cast of "Grease". When she got the part, she kept it a secret. At least until her father spilled the beans by accident about two months ago. She had planned to surprise me the night of the show.

But, in hindsight, it was a good thing to have been prepared.

There were weeks where she listened to the music on a DVD borrowed from the library endlessly, with an aside to watch "Hairspray" between times. I explained "Amercan Bandstand" and Dick Clark and poodle skirts and how "Grease", the play, came out when I was in high school and started a whole music revival of the simple rock from the 1950's at a time when Rock was a serious anti-war thing, and that "Grease" was sort of an antidote. And how I worked in the movie theater when the movie came out, and saw it like a billion times myself, but no one I knew from the Fifties was REALLY like that. It was a Seventies take on what the Fifties was, meaning there was a lot of stuff that looked good then, but wasn't authentic. Sort of how I remembered John Travolta hanging out with his brother Joey at the Jade Fountain in Paramus before he was playing a 1970's high school student on TV, BEFORE he played a 1950's one in the movie, or even a 1950's Mom in Hairspray.

As an aside, I also had to explain hair spray. And beehive hair. And, yes, I am that old that I remember it. I even had a poodle skirt, after the fashion had ended, in my "dress-up" clothes when I was little. And I remember watching "Bandstand" when the "big kids" with the big hair wore them.

But that kid! She pointed to her classmate playing Danny and sang "He's the one that I want" and just floored me in her black capri's a little black top with all those flirting eyes and little hip twirls, and I was the mother of The Star. Just like that. I could have busted a gut if I wasn't so busy trying to get my little digital camcorder to record the moment in all it's two inch by three inch glory. As my friend said: "We are such MOMS!".

One of her classmates had the other fifth-graders in tears when she sang a slow, heartfelt version of "Let it be". There was a lot of talent in that room last night.

Please excuse me for noticing mostly one kid. My daughter, the star. With her ponytail and big blue eyes.

Still trying to figure out when my baby got that big. Although the fact that she can wear my shoes and steals my old shirts should have clued me in already.