A high school musical

Sarah and Scott are playing in the pit for their school's musical, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. I enjoyed the old David Morse movie, and I know some of the kids in the production, so I would have been slightly motivated to attend even if my children were not involved. They were, though, so off I went tonight to see the show.

I was worried. I was going on preview night, and the play had lost a day of rehearsal due to snow.

To my pleasant surprise, my worry was ill-founded. I quite enjoyed myself. I can honestly say that I thought the play was better than many college and some local theater productions I've attended. The leads were always at least solid and often quite good, the supporting cast, particularly the young women, generally strong, the choreography fun, and the production staged better than I would have expected given a high-school budget.

None of that is to say, of course, that the show came off without a hitch. It's not a preview night if you don't have some dropped lines and tech glitches, and both occurred tonight.

Overall, though, I had a good time. These kids should be proud.

I was also reminded once again that the best reason to do art is for the sheer joy of doing it. No one paid these kids, but the joy on most of their faces at the end was, I believe, genuine. I fret over sales, over how well I'm writing, and over all manner of things extraneous to the creation process itself. I should instead take joy in the act, be thankful that anyone is willing to buy my books, create the best possible art I can, and then do it again.

I'm going to work on that. I expect to fail for the most part, but I'm going to try.