Good Morning, Baltimore

GAH! My bad. Sorry I didn't post the last two days. I've been really tired (or just lazy, whatever you choose to believe...).

Friday evening, my sister dragged me to go see Barberton High School's performance of Hairspray. Okay, so maybe dragged isn't a good description of what happened; I did really want to see it so I could compare it to Firestone High School's performance three weeks ago. Both high schools did really well, but, in my opinion, Barberton was much better.

Don't get me wrong, I love Firestone and their theater program. Their costumes, sets, and choreography were loads better than Barberton's. But theater isn't just about how showy the production is; theater is about talent, dancing AND singing talent.

Firestone's shining star was Shamara, who played Motormouth Maybelle. She was absolutely, one hundred percent the strongest actress and vocalist in that whole musical. In fact, I'm willing to bet that her performance was Broadway-worthy. Barberton didn't necessarily have a shining star. This was not because nobody was good, but because EVERYBODY was amazing. Some of the noteworthy actors were Austin, who played Tracy; Allyson, who played Penny; Marquis, who played Seaweed; Tyler, who played Corny; and Jessica, who played Amber. They were fantastic (and I'm not just saying that because I know three of them personally).

I understand how frustrating it is that another local high school is doing the same production you are since it happened last year when Walsh also did Wizard of Oz. The thing to remember is that you shouldn't worry whose sets will be better or whose costumes looked professionally done; you SHOULD worry about being more talented than other theater programs. Don't believe any of that crap about it "not being a competition." It so is. Do your best to outdo every other production in your area.