Monday, January 28, 2008

This Ship has Sailed

We’ve just completed another milestone in life at our house: A high school musical. Jacob, a sophomore, auditioned in October for his school’s production of Titanic. Unlike the movie version which centered around a love story, the musical focused on the struggles aboard the ship—for power at the helm, for distinction between the classes and for accepting one’s fate in life.

Instead of waxing on and on ad nauseum about the time and dedication that it took to put on this production, I will let a few photos speak for themselves. But, I will say that a cast of 57 actors/singers spent nearly four months rehearsing and went through over 200 costumes to present a fantastic show that nearly sold out all four performances. I had to keep reminding myself that they were just kids up there, acting, singing and dancing like old pros.

Jacob played three parts: Officer Pitman (who kept a clipboard handy for checking off passengers and produce), the Major (a first-class passenger with a tendency to tell old war stories), and a third-class passenger. He sang, he danced, he made his family proud. We talked about this being his first foray into acting, but he reminded me that he had a lead role in third grade playing Santa for the Christmas play—and his pants fell down. This was certainly a step up!








If you are curious about the story, you can learn everything about the fateful voyage here. And just a small piece of trivia, there is one lone survivor still living. Millvina Dean was just nine weeks old when the ship sank.

For the musical, those who died were depicted in all white during the final scene, as you can see in the photo of the curtain call. Well done, kids!

4 comments:

Wila said...

After reading the blog today (great job Jacob and cast) I clicked to see what more I could learn about the Titanic. I spent the next hour and a half (that I had planned to use differently!) reading about the passengers on board--those that lived and those that died. As I read their stories, I remembered reading similar accounts of those who survived and perished in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Though it was almost 100 years ago the terror of that night still comes through loud and painfully clear. As time passes fewer people are alive to remember the individuals but such a tremendous loss will never be forgotten.

Leanna Rolla said...

Congratulations to Jacob on this accomplishment. I can tell from the pics that he worked hard. Wished I were closer to come see him perform. I'm sure he was fabulous! You must be one proud momma.

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a celebrity you have. I'm sure he did a great job. Let him know how proud we are of him over here in Arkansas!
Jennifer

Nancy said...

My grandfather remembered when the Titanic went down and teared up every time he talked about it.