Musical Theater

I think getting your kids involved in some sort of public speaking activity is a great thing to do for their personal development.  Broadway has been attending musical theater classes since the age of 7 and absolutely loves it.

We have a local theater group that does an excellent job of offering a different musical three times a year for kids ages 5-18 years to participate in and develop their acting, singing, and public speaking skills.

How we got started in Kids Theater

Broadway showed a strong interest in being on stage and performing in front of an audience, so we signed her up for the Aladdin Musical class at our local theater for 7-11 year olds.

She just absolutely ate it up.  She loved everything about it – the story, the costumes, the music, the choreography, the animated professional teachers, and the group of students she was getting to know  each week.  The class was four months long that ended with a big show.

It was really well done, and it was this show that started the string of musical classes that she has taken since this one.  Imagineer loved watching Broadway’s shows so much that she jumped in and participated in a musical  two summers ago when she was six.  She really wanted to see what was behind the big heavy curtain.  🙂

Memorial Day Weekend Shows

This past Memorial Day weekend, Broadway was in five shows with a different theater group that she joined last year.  This group produces three musicals per year and the proceeds go to charities, mainly to our local Children’s hospital and the Make a Wish Foundation.

This theater group is fantastic because they put on so many shows, giving many of the performers the opportunity to play several different characters.  Broadway played three different characters in the five shows that she was in over the weekend.

Participating this weekend in this musical extravaganza made me realize how lucky I am to have my daughter in this type of group.  The lessons she is learning every week from rehearsals and performances are numerous and really helping her to grow and develop into a confident young girl.

Below are eight lessons that kids learn from participating in theater and hopefully that they will carry with them through their lives.

Lessons your Kids will learn in the Theater

1.  Patience – during rehearsals and shows, there is a great deal of waiting around for your turn.

2.  Practice makes perfect – the kids go to weekly rehearsals to hone their singing and acting skills.

3.  Public Speaking – having the ability to stand in front of a large group of people and speak with confidence and clarity is a wonderful attribute to have in your skills arsenal.  Speaking in front of a large group is one of the greatest fears experienced by many people.  By starting theater early

4.  Memorization – In order to learn their lines, the kids have to memorize many lines to pull off their roles. This keeps their brains fine tuned and prepares them for exam preparation in their middle and high school years.

5.  Confidence – Going through the process of preparing for their roles and seeing their hard work come to fruition with an amazing performance gives kids a quiet confidence knowing that a big project will come together if the proper work has been completed.

6.  Creativity – With their roles, the kids can adlib and make the roles unique with a touch of their individual personality.

7. Writing – There are high school and college age kids in this theater group and some of them have started writing musicals.  In fact, last year, the Christmas Musical was written by one of the high school cast members.

8. Musical Instruments – the musical scores in these plays are amazing and very inspiring for the young actors to learn how to play the music themselves.  So far, my daughter has tried the piano and baritone horn.

There are many more positive attributes to working on a musical or play in your childhood years, but the above, are the top 8 that first came to mind when thinking about this weekend.  Seeing your child step out onto stage and sing a solo, or perfectly deliver her lines is an amazing feeling.  After the show, the kids are glowing with confidence and excited for their next play.  It really is exciting to see the growth in the little ones with each successful performance.

I wish that this opportunity was available to me when I was little.  Theater groups for kids are more prevalent today and I think thats a great thing.  They build confidence, creativity and camaraderie in our little ones.

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