I am really happy that this video is on you tube. Because I am really happy that these kids have the opportunity to learn and perform on Broadway! They are given this awesome opportunity by a phenomenal composer, Jason Robert Brown, who has written a musical called, “13″ which is premiering on broadway. I’m not writing this blog entry to promote a random show, but to promote the message that it sends. JRB, as he is called by some has a teenage orchestra pit, and teenage cast. He is doing something that many teachers have yet to really do- PUT FAITH IN HIS KIDS. And the thing is that THEY ARE REALLY THAT GOOD! You watch these kids on stage and you never doubt for a second how much work they have done, and how courageous they are.
I think we, as educators, can learn a lot from what this man has done. He has taken a bunch of kids, who had the talent all along, and worked with them, and advocated for them, and created something new and exciting! This is what the classroom can be, if we make it so, if we come to teaching with that exciting, creative, determined energy that JRB started his project with.
I am also so ecstatic that he wrote it, because it will be a wonderful performance piece to bring to schools, where kids get to tell THEIR story and it’s not some poor 13 year old boy having to play Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” again, with a fake beard. How can that 13 year old relate to Tevye? He can’t, and as much as the school director will try, he can’t really perform the role authentically. But if this same boy is playing the principal role in “13″ he can most definitely relate to the character’s dilemmas,including, friend issues, parental divorce, changing schools, having a bar mitzvah, and much more. This is a musical that speaks to and for kids. JRB has done something amazing, in creating a piece FOR KIDS TO SHINE IN. These kids all look so happy on stage, because THEY ARE GENUINELY THRILLED TO BE THERE.
We, as teachers, compete with a lot of things in a kid’s life. Students have their social lives, family lives, personal problems, cell phones, nintendo ds systems and much more. Why should they be interested in school? What do we have to offer them? Perhaps the ultimate thing to offer them is the genuine desire to be there and to shine. Maybe they need to know that school is a place, a community, where talents and gifts will be nurtured. I know when I came into drama class in high school, my teacher was scary. He told us stories about “the horrors of public speaking” and about his old scary teachers. He didn’t make me want to perform, or even speak in class. He made me want to curl up in a ball in a corner.
Then, a year later, we got a new drama teacher/director. He was laid back and kind, and when I had a study hall, but couldn’t focus, and just needed to relax,I could go down to the performing arts center, and he would get on the piano,and we would just jam, singing showtunes and laughing. He was an advisor, a mentor,a counselor,and a great teacher. And it had nothing to do with instilling fear, or insisting on limitations, it all had to do with expanding, learning and becoming a better version of me.
I hope these kids on the Broadway stage realize how lucky they are to have someone like JRB, who believes in them,their worth,and their shine power. I hope one day to inspire kids to do great things as well.
Let’s go on with the show!
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