Treasure Island: JET Style

---

What with the recent disaster and my parents coming to visit, I didn't have a chance to write about the culmination of the past three months of my life. I'm talking about the JET Musical, an adventure that has kept me from sleeping in since January. In a good way, of course.

The musical, a long-standing tradition in Tokushima, is a way for us to contribute to the community. There are some fans who have been coming to see it for years. Check out the awesome musical promo video for this year's show, by John M.

My role in our wacky rendition of Treasure Island was Penelope: the captain's long lost sister, marooned on an island with a contingent of ninjas who carried me onstage in my spotlight moment.

It's always been a suppressed dream of mine to be part of a musical, probably because the Peavy family goes to so many broadway shows. I was in Bye Bye Birdie in middle school, but only as a dancer because, alas, I can't sing. I remember our little dance crew ended up on stage with the rest of the chorus for one song, and after the director ran the scene once with us singing along she told us we could just lip sync. Dream shattered.

But this time I actually sang "Hard Knock Life" from Annie, which I also choreographed a dance to, and noone told me to lip sync. Dream reinstated.

Looking back on the whole experience, three highlights come to mind:

3. The warm-ups. Before every rehearsal and performance, our cast of about 30 JETs and JET-groupies circled up for vocal and physical warm-ups, anything from improv games to the type of vocal excercises you see parodied in movies: i.e. "me-me-me-me-me." These were some of the most fun times I've had while making a fool of myself.

2. The epic fight scene. The climax of our play was a slapstick montage of mini-battles between good guys and pirates, set to Pirates of the Caribbean music. I've always wanted to sword fight - another dream realized.

Sidenote highlight: Mike (and I hope he reads this), our amazing, devoted and animated director, wanted me to flip over my fellow sword-fighter by rolling on her back during this scene. Instead of using his words, he decided to try the stunt himself, with the most graceful expression I've ever seen on a man's face before, until Ali collapsed and he crushed her. Trust me, it was amazing.

1. Seeing my parents in the audience. The show my parents came to see was our best performance - the audience was full of little kids who were laughing at everything, and seeing them entertained reminded me of why I decided to join the musical in the first place.

---

Comments

[Keiron]

It makes my heart smile seeing you this happy! I know this was an incredible experience and I can't wait to hear more about it. I love you!