Aladdin Jr.

After Wip's performance in "Are You My Mother" I knew that we needed to do more to feed his love of acting. I did some research and while there are several art/theatre camps in Orlando I found the best reviews that came from a theatre camp in Winter Garden. I had heard a lot about how "cute" the town of Winter Garden was, but I had yet to go there....until the first day of Aladdin Jr. camp at the Winter Garden Theatre. It was over 45 minutes to get there and at least 5 dollars worth of tolls (one way). I can honestly say it was worth every minute and every penny.

He grumbled about going into the camp but left every day with a huge smile on his face and singing every word to every song in the show. When I asked him what role he thought he would play without hesitation he said, "I think I am going to be Aladdin". Gotta love his confidence. He ended up being in the cave chorus. He was out of his element. He did not know a single person. He grew so much in the two weeks of the camp. I picked him up one day and took him to ice cream across the street and as when we walked in you would have thought he was a celebrity. When I asked who all of the new friends were that were saying hello he just shrugged his shoulders with the classic "I don't know" look. 

The day of the performance we were so lucky to have Grams, Poppy, and Mimi come in to show their support and love. As soon as the curtain went up I felt a surge of theater mom inside me. I. Could. Not. Stop. Smiling. I was just so proud of him and everyone in the show. It was really, really good. In two short weeks these children were able to sing, dance, and act the entire Aladdin Jr. show. Impressive.

I have never been in a play, but it had the same feeling of winning or making a great play in a soccer game...you just feel good after it is over. After the first performance, the young boy that did play Aladdin came running up to Wip with high fives and congrats. He asked Wip to do "the Wip" which was obviously some dance that Wip created during rehearsals. It was adorable. As the young man was leaving I looked at him and told him what a great job he did...then I repeated myself "you did a really, really good job". I think I was so filled with happy emotions from the play and the star of the show paying attention to my little man that I creeped the little boy out. Oops.

I have a feeling that "theater mom" is going to be added to my resume...

If you have a couple hours to kill, click here for the 11am performance and here for the 4pm performance.