<p>For those who referenced Schoolhouse Rock, some of my favorite ones (Conjunction Junction, Noun is a Person, Place or Thing, Interjections, Interplanet Janet, No More Kings, Preamble) were written by Lynn Ahrens, better known in the MT world as collaborator with Stephen Flaherty.</p>
<p>@MT4Life, very unexpected and interesting piece of MT trivia. However now I have all of those songs in my head and won’t get them out any time soon - thanks. “A noun’s a special kind of word it’s any name you’ve never heard I find it quite interesting, a noun’s a person place or thing…” I’m actually not of the generation that was raised on School House Rock, Science Rock nor Multiplication Rock but I had 6 and 10 year younger siblings who hit it at the right age so it was on the telly whether I liked it or not and to tell you the truth, that music stuck so clearly even I learned something. I also own the Bill Nye the Science guy videos too. Of course the problem now is that I am down to the last functioning VCR player in my house but I’m keeping it alive for one day way way down the road when there are grandchildren or grand nieces and nephews. I’ll give up my Fame DVDs but you’ll have to fight me for those VHS tapes. :-)</p>
<p>And forgot to say that clearly I’m preparing to be a “bad grandparent, bad bad bad grandparent.” </p>
<p>“I’m just a Bill…”</p>
<p>OOHHH, I totally forgot about Fame. I KNOW I was meant to live that life (or maybe @kategrizz’s) - funny, S transferred to PA H.S. as Junior. Sorta wished maybe he hadn’t (great place to practice piano during those LONG academic days).</p>
<p>But TRUE love - Mikhail Baryshnikov - The Turning Point and White Nights (Gregory Hines, too). Sigh. . . </p>
<p>Oh, to be “exotic” like Natalie Wood in West Side Story (again, once a year, kinda like Brigadoon. . .) and have a Tony sing the ULTIMATE song to you. And then there’s Gene Kelly, and Fred Astaire, and Donald O’Connor (maybe HE’s why Peter Tork was always my favorite Monkee). Bobby Sherman, anyone??</p>
<p>My kids were TOTALLY doomed, from before conception. And yes, we’re keeping the VCR alive at our house, too. Think I’m going to fire up the Maurice Sendak/Carol King Really Rosie video - A, Alligators all around; B, bursting balloons; C, catching colds; D, do-oo-oo-ing dishes. . .</p>
<p>Loved Fame, wore out my Annie album, played ACL on repeat. But in my tiny, sleepy beach town in So. Cal, Broadway might as well have been on Mars it seemed so far away. Back then, I was lucky to convince my mother and father to let me study a “hippie” persuasion like journalism. 
My dad wanted law school. My mom wanted me to have a “fall-back” career, like teaching. I finally convinced them to let me to to a big university two hours away by car, but if I’d insisted on going to NYC – where you went to get mugged, according to my mother – she’d have taken to her bed with a case of the vapors. And had I wanted to study acting they’d have disowned me. (Ironically, my mother is now the biggest supporter of my boys – how things change.) Indeed, I was always such a super-fan of Broadway and film and TV and pop music, but not with the level of details my kids have. I can only imagine what I’d be like with today’s access to info. It’s all fun to think about; but I’m happy for all our kids that they get to follow their passions. </p>
<p>We didn’t watch “Glee” though of course we heard a lot about it. The soap opera aspects were not appealing, my son objected to the lavish use of autotune, and in particular I was aggrieved that these 30-year-old fake teenagers were able to put together shows in a week that a real high school would take months to do. And don’t get me started on the production values. It would have been a much better show if it had been more realistic. (In the minority here, I am sure!)</p>
<p>We also watched about one episode and decided that life was too short…though the cheerleader coach was fun. </p>
<p>My D’s interest in Glee centered around Lea Michelle with whom she was already obsessed via Spring Awakening. When Jonathon Groff came on she was in heaven. Stopped watching after he left :)</p>
<p>@toowonderful I also direct the kids musical theatre camps - this summer we are doing Aladin Junior.Have you d or anyone worked on thisshow?Its a “Whole New World” and I am stumped and up nights trying to figure out the magic flying carpet sequences!?! Always good to get the worrying out of the way before I even begin!</p>
<p>I love this discussion! </p>
<p>@dreamer11 - I have not done aladdin (I stay away from the disney shows b/c there is a little kids camp in the group I work with that tends to focus on those) but I have seen it done what they did was create a carpet where aladdin and jasmine stood in the center with fabric at waist level. four kids held the carpet at the corners (and there was long fringe to disguise the feet) and walked with them as they went across stage. Certainly not what Disney is doing on Bway right now (we saw it in Toronto at xmas- they spent a FORTUNE on effects) but effective</p>
<p>The tv shows that have featured music/dance etc… can be very entertaining, but for me they become repetitive very quickly. American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, America’s got Talent…they become the redundant after a couple of seasons. But I think many of them lead into a former part of the discussion- they make it “appear” like these contestants have just stumbled in with this insane talent which is just “happening”.</p>
<p>@toowonderful thank you so much! This is very helpful…I usually have the preteens but this tear I have the 13-17 group…I am excited…
I do enjoy both kids and theatre so it works out well,</p>
<p>I can’t believe no one has referenced the influence of ‘Grease’!!!?!!?!?!! My mom had to buy me a second LP movie soundtrack after my sister and I wore out the first one. And ‘Grease 2’??? LOVED! </p>
<p>Grease! My freshman year roommate and I saw it on campus 6 times in one weekend. We had all the steps/hand motions for “Hand Jive” and “Greased Lightning” down cold. Could probably STILL do them with a little refresher. And if you can’t be Susan Dey, then why not Olivia Newton-John? Loved that “Sue” brought her back on Glee. Yes, Glee is totally an overly-autotuned, unrealistic soap opera, but I’m pretty sure the creators know EXACTLY what I was listening to in my pre-teen/teen years. I hope our kids don’t blame us for “warping” them when they can’t find work after college. At least if they come back home to “roost” we’ll have professional quality vocals in our showers and basements.</p>
<p>@mtmom2015, I didn’t miss Grease. See my second post in this thread. 
Of course Grease!!!</p>
<p>Ah… there it is! Grease 2 was on ABC Family this weekend… so awful and so good, </p>
<p>Kind of going back to original question here- I was stuck waiting for an appt this morning, and wiled away the time reading old cc threads - specifically the “final decision background” from the last couple of years. One thing that REALLY jumped out at me…it seemed that lots of people in previous years auditioned for a smaller number of schools. Now of course there are exceptions- but I wanted to ask people like @halflokum, @soozievt, @connections etc who have kids from a couple years back if I am right…and what does that mean in the whole process?</p>
<p>I actually don’t know if you are right or not. How many schools on average did people audition at this year? @Emsdad when you were compiling the data in that class mix thread did you happen to notice this year’s number and or note an increase in the number of schools people applied to over the time period you looked at? </p>
<p>My daughter applied to 9 auditioned programs 2 of which were essentially freebies because they came as a result of a state thespian group audition here in our city. She would likely not have applied to them otherwise. Then of the remaining 7, one of them was there only because of fear, uncertainty and doubt which said she needed another school “in case.” There was no real intention as far as that school went. To be honest, that’s all the schools she could come up with that met some or most of her criteria which is really what drove her number. It would still be around the same number were she getting ready to audition this year minus that school she had no real intention for but it would be replaced by another.</p>
<p>Maybe if the number of schools people are auditioning at is growing it’s because CC is doing a great job at scaring the pants off of people. I’m not so sure it’s necessary but I of course am representing a view from the other side.</p>
<p>Well, I’ve noticed an increase in the kids who just want to get in somewhere with a BFA program. I do think it’s changing. A few years ago our example older girl auditioned at 23 and was accepted to 3. One was a non audition safety which is the one she attended and will graduate next month. That number sounded crazy at the time. </p>
<p>I think @EmsDad said the average was 9 schools auditioned for in the past year or two.
I think a number of people end up applying to more than they end up auditioning for, especially if they get some early acceptances. If those early acceptances are from schools you prefer over ones you still have to audition for, often times people will remove their application from consideration at the less desired school.</p>