LIFE JUST GOT 10X CRAZIER

When we got the call that Cory was offered a part in Broadway's Musical, School of Rock, I don't think any of us knew what was about to happen. We got the call on June 16th from casting and on June 17th, before we were able to really tell everyone, the madness began. I was contacted by half a dozen departments from the show. Everyone from management talking about contracts and payroll, to the schooling department, music department, press and others. EVERYONE needed paperwork. Accounts needed to be set up, documents needed to be completed and notarized. They required a 24-48 hour turnaround time on everything. It has been a huge learning curve. 

Cory had to sign his own contracts! This meant he needed to sign his signature 8 different times on various copies. You know what we had to do first? Teach him how to sign his name! They don't teach script in school anymore. Each signature took him a few minutes, it was painful and hysterical at the same time. As he was signing, he turned to Ryan and said, "this is just part of what you have to do when you're on Broadway, you sign documents". Precious.

Last Friday, June 30, Cory had his wardrobe fitting. We made our way to the stage door, rang the bell, security answered and I timidly said, "Hi, I'm Erica and this is Cory and...". Eric, the security guard, immediately looked over and said, "Hey Cory, Congrats, I'm Eric, we've been waiting for you, welcome!". It was surreal. He walked us up through the theater's backstage all the way to wardrobe. Cory was walking slow, looking left and right constantly, and pointing, "look at this, look at that", taking it all in. It was just crazy. We walked into a pretty big room that was full of racks and racks and shelves upon shelves of costumes and clothing. We then went into a smaller room where we met Nanette. She is the head of wardrobe. Such a nice woman. She congratulated Cory and got right to work saying, "Ok hunny, go ahead and take off your clothes." 

SIDEBAR: For those that know Cory well, you know it is a 60/40 chance, on a good day (and I'm talking about the 40%), that Cory is wearing underwear. I immediately began to sweat, saying in my head "please be wearing underwear, please be wearing underwear....what will I do if he's not wearing underwear??". I looked over to Cory and very quietly whispered, "are you wearing underwear?" He smiled and nodded yes, I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and we moved on. 

Cory was fitted for wardrobe for the three different parts he will be playing. Each part will require 3-5 costume changes. Everything from prep clothes to rock and roll get-ups. Cory said to Nanette, "I'm not so good at tucking in my shirt". Nanette reassured him that he will have a dresser, Michael, and Michael will help him getting dressed, undressed and changing before, during and after every show. With each costume change, Cory became more relaxed and visibly more excited. Nanette said he's the youngest and smallest kid they've had in the cast. Cory looked over to me and winked as if to say he's proud to wear that title.

Once we were done with costumes we were brought down to the hair department. We met Angela, Cory's stylist. Very nice. Everyone was very nice. Angela snapped a photo of Cory's hair and sent it off to the hair design team. (All CRAZY!) They will be maintaining a certain hair style for Cory, we don't know what that will look like yet, but as they said at my parent orientation meeting on Monday, the show now "owns his hair". 

We walked back out the stage door and Cory let out a shriek of glee. "Oh my god, I'm so excited, I'm so excited" he was practically screaming. He jumped into my arms for a huge hug and I definitely felt tears of joy coming to my eyes. My kid is going to Broadway and you could feel the excitement and energy coursing through his little body. It is all just totally amazing!

Saturday was the last somewhat normal day I remember. On Sunday, the kid that was cast as Zack, whose name happens to be Zachary, and his family, came for breakfast (and stayed through lunch). They are transplanting here from LA and the Mom, Debby, and I had been communicating over email and text for the last couple of weeks. It was nice to sit with other people who were also freaking out about this huge change in their lives. The nicest thing was watching how quickly the boys connected. They spent a lot of time jamming on the guitars and drums and then also played like normal 9 and 10-year-old boys, outside, on the trampoline, etc. Debby and Jeff, Zach's parents, and Josh and I got to know each other and tried to sort through all the details that had been thrown at us over the last few weeks, comparing notes and exchanging information we learned. They have a daughter Lilah who is a year older than Ryan and it was nice for the siblings to also have a new friend. It was great for Cory to already have a friend walking into his first rehearsal on Monday. 

We finally got the long awaited rehearsal schedule for the upcoming week on Sunday afternoon. For those that know me, hell, even for those that don't, everyone knows I am a planner. So just a few hours to plan for a whole week.....it is safe to say I have left my comfort zone. Sorting through all of Cory's call times, various rehearsal blocks and lessons was intense. Then layering that with a schedule of who was going to take him, get him, etc. for the week was another challenge. And once that was all done, we were ready for week 1. All this for week 1!