Little Women and Singing Stormtroopers

I can’t pass up the opportunity to report on two highlights of the month (so far) for members of My Musical Family.

Event No. 1: Sebastian sings with Stormtroopers.

Seb already was excited to attend Tuesday evening’s Twins game at Target Field because it combined three activities he enjoys: watching baseball, singing with a choir, and eating nachos.  But when we discovered it was Star Wars night at the stadium, the excitement level skyrocketed.  

Sebastian is in the back row, far left, standing next to Darth Maul.

The boys from his Northfield Youth Choirs group, the Troubadours, led the crowd in “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch.  They were joined by some characters from a galaxy far, far away (including Karen Madsen, who – when she’s not portraying a Jedi or teaching a Northfield community ed class on lightsaber dueling – operates String Solutions, the place where we bought Seb’s viola).

“This is best game I’ve ever attended,” Seb said to me toward the end of the game.

Too bad the Twins couldn’t say the same; they ended up losing 4-5 to the Mariners.  I think their midi-chlorian levels were off that night.  But the choir members had more than enough enthusiasm to share.  You can see and hear the choir toward the end of this video: MinnPost - 'Star Wars Night' at Target Field by Twinsblog

Event No. 2:  Louisa is offered a part in Little Women the Musical.

Louisa decided not to audition for the high school’s fall musical, West Side Story, because she really hoped she’d be cast in the Northfield Arts Guild’s fall production of Little Women the Musical.  The gamble paid off; she found out yesterday that she will play the part of Meg, the oldest of the March sisters.

We’ve been listening to the 2005 Broadway cast recording of the show for months now, but I already was familiar with the story because Louisa May Alcott was my favorite author when I was a kid.  I read and reread Little Women, and the rest of Alcott’s books, many times.  She was the inspiration for naming our daughter Louisa; it was only later that we discovered there was a Louisa in my family tree (my great-grandfather G. Oliver’s maternal grandmother was named Louisa).

My favorite of the March sisters was always Jo, the writer.  Go figure.

The show will run the first three weekends in November.  You can find ticket information here.