Where would you want Daddy Warbucks to take YOU?

It's been another great summer with the kids! Just one more workshop performance this Saturday at 4, of Willy Wonka. It's free, so join us for a great show at our Second Stage, 1420 Maple in Evanston, IL.

One of the things we do every week is to ask our young actors a question relating to the Musical they have been working on. For "Annie," the question was "Where would you want Daddy Warbucks to take YOU?" Check out their answers here:

Katherine: The Weasley’s house
Jensen: Costa Rica
Elana: Somewhere far, far away!
Katerina: The Bahamas to catch lizards
Juliana: Jamaica
Delaney: Jamaica
Lily: Maine
Eva: Washington, D.C. to meet the President
Rileigh: Poland
A. Odeline: The best place in the world
Brianna: To Hawaii
Remy: 6 Flags and Hurricane Harbor
Sofia: Around the world
Corbin: Around the world in every transportation
Isabelle: Boston
Meg: Around the world in a private jet and submarine
Jane: Sanibel Island
Lucy: Germany, Poland, Ireland, Scotland, all around the world in modern times in Disney World
Alexa: Greece
Lillie: Hogwarts
Lily: Cruise around the world
Firouz: Bora Bora, French Polynesia, a 5 ... no, a 10 star hotel
Laurel: Around the world, including 6 Flags and climbing the Eiffel Tower
Aurora: Middle Earth or Candyland
Julia: A beautiful, mystical, relaxing private wonderland island
Katy: Katyland!
Sophie: Hawaii
Madeline: Cape Canaveral
Eileen: Hawaii
Erin: Ireland or the North Pole
Lindsay: Narnia
Gabriel: Camp Echo
Olivia: Africa
Kinsey: Candyland
Olivia: The beach in Cuba
Talia: Every amusement park in the world
Quinn: Rainforest to swing w/ howler monkeys
Katherine: Hawaii
Isabelle: India and the Netherlands
Maya: To take a few friends on a cruise
Claire: To Australia

Where would you want Daddy Warbucks to take YOU?

Every week at our Summer Musical Theatre Workshop, we ask our young students a question relating to the Musical they are working on. For "Annie," the question was "Where would you want Daddy Warbucks to take YOU?"

Katherine: The Weasley's house
Jensen: Costa Rica
Elana: Somewhere far, far away!
Katerina: The Bahamas to catch lizards
Juliana: Jamaica
Delaney: Jamaica
Lily: Maine
Eva: Washington D.C. to meet the President
Rileigh: Poland
A. Odeline: The best place in the world
Brianna: Hawaii
Remy: 6 Flags and Hurricane Harbor
Sofia: Around the world
Corbin: Around the world in every transportation
Isabelle: Boston
Meg: Around the world in a private jet and submarine
Jane: Sanibel Island
Lucy: Germany, Poland, Ireland, Scotland, all around the world in modern times in Disney World
Alexa: Greece
Lillie: Hogwarts
Lily: Cruise around the world
Firouz: Bora Bora, French Polynesia, a 5... no a 10 star hotel
Laurel: Around the world, including 6 Flags and climbing the Eiffel Tower
Aurora: Middle Earth or Candyland
Julia: A beautiful, mystical, relaxing private wonderland island
Katy: Katyland
Sophie: Hawaii
Madeline: Cape Canaveral
Eileen: Hawaii
Erin: Ireland or the North Pole
Lindsay: Narnia
Gabriel: Camp Echo
Olivia: Africa
Kinsey: Candyland
Olivia: The beach in Cuba
Talia: Every amusement park in the world
Quinn: Rainforest to swing with howler monkeys
Katherine: Hawaii
Isabelle: India and the Netherlands
Maya: To take a few friends on a cruise
Claire: Australia

I think I'd like to join them on a few of these trips!

Flowers for your favorite star

An (almost) wordless Wednesday big thank you to Ron Lopez of Sun Garden flowers for providing flowers at all the performances of our Musical Theater Summer Workshop.

If you'd like Ron to provide flowers for your event, give him a call at 773-875-2679.

What happens between the shows?

Well, getting ready for the next show, of course, which is The Student Prince, opening on Saturday August 18.

But we're not just getting ready for the next show; we're getting ready for the next generation, with the Musical Theater Summer Workshop.

Last Saturday we had our first performance, of the every popular Annie, and as always, it was a sell out, with parents, friends, grandparents and fellow travelers filling the auditorium at the Second Stage to watch an amazing group of 40 kids perform the Broadway Junior® version of the show.

The Musical Theater Summer Workshop is a full time theater camp held in 5 one-week sessions every summer. Children ages eight to fifteen learn, rehearse and perform an entire show in a single week, with a final public performance at the end of six intense days.

There are still spots for H.M.S. Pinafore, the week of July 11. There are no auditions. To sign up your young thespian just call our box office at 847-869-6300.

The kids are "OK!"

Counselor Dyan Flores is having a great summer teaching at the Musical Theater Summer Workshop. Each week, 40 kids memorize and then perform an entire Broadway Junior musical, choreography and all. Here’s Dyan's take on it:

The Light Opera Works Musical Theater Summer Workshop is a great program for both staff and students. The six staff members get exposed to five different musicals! And the campers learn all about different styles of musicals, some history, and lots of theater techniques, as well as learning to work as an ensemble. The campers who do more than one week learn even more!

Oklahoma! has grown on me. Before, I thought the musical was too light-hearted. Now I've discovered that it has serious themes while still having a pleasant, delightful score. And if Curly were a person in real life, I'd marry him!

The forty kids this week are real pros. They are managing to show off their acting, singing, and dancing skills despite the heat! They have had some challenging songs and dances thrown at them and they are handling it like pros! We're having a great time and it's going to be a wonderful show!

The kids were “OK” Saturday the 10th of July, at our Second Stage, 1420 Maple Street in Evanston (at The McGaw Children’s Center). There's a show every Saturday in July starting at 4 and running about half an hour—absolutely free. Afterwards, enjoy the bake sale provided to us by our friends at Rollin’ to Go and Whole Foods Evanston and drop into Prairie Moon, just one block over, for dinner.

What Would You Ask Your Fairy Godmother For?

We asked the kids in our Musical Theater Summer Workshop production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella what their Fairy Godmother should bring them.

Tina: Win 1st Place in a book contest
Shannon: Unlimited super powers
Delaney: A horse and stable
Kaitlin: Power to travel into books & change them
Sophia: A time machine
Kyle: Million dollars, house w/ pool, hot tub, trampoline, and R.V.
Lauren: Infinite fat pigs, wishes, and money
Anja: For the whole world to be peaceful
Liz: Peace, love, happiness, & power of invisibility
Natalia: Million dollars and a mansion
Raina: Everything I’ve ever wanted
Elizabeth: Make summer longer
Mabel: A hug from Jack White
Lillian: Place for all homeless animals & people
Kayla: To see my grandmother again
Mae: More wishes
Olivia: Have a bunch of different personalities
Brooke: Invisibility, be super-fast, and shape-shift
Caroline: To get a dollar every step I take
Mia: To never have a cavity
Lola: A store where people can adopt dogs
Olivia: $1,000,000
Lauren: To time travel and have world peace
Meredith: Flying, invisibility, & super-fast powers
Lanie: Ability to control weather & an iPod Touch
Christina: To live in a mansion w/ a dog, a horse, and a google dollars.
Kate: Nintendo DS-I
Lily: To live w/ my family in Iselburo, Maine
Hannah: My very own pasta factory
Lucy: World peace
Emma: No school
Sarah: $1,000,000 every day & to never die
Katie Jane: Fly & have other super powers
Liana: Get the oil out of the Gulf & save the animals
Isabelle: iPod, laptop, iPad, desktop, & iPhone
Maya: Google dollars & nice homes for all pets
Cameron: A dog

I like the girl who wants "peace, love, happiness and the power of invisibility." (An awful lot of these kids want to be invisible. Just exactly what are they planning?) Which is your favorite?