A Star is Born

Ashton's professional debut at the annual Vocal Showcase at Center Stage in Tiny Tunes performance of "Disney Extravaganza"

The little girls were dressed as the varying princesses. Missing here is the cute girl dressed as The Little Mermaid. The boys got the short end of the stick (what's new?) because you can't really dress them as princes that can be distinguished from each other so they got to sport some little tuxes. Ashton deemed himself "Prince Ashton" and that was good enough for him.



"BE OUR GUEST"



Ashton has been performing in this group since last Fall and despite the fact that I have to spend 45 minutes convincing him to get up on stage every show (no exaggeration), he always does such a cute job once he's actually doing it. However, though he may know the whole show by heart, (note to self) do NOT ask him to fill in for any missing performers. I learned this the hard way when a few of the kids didn't show up for a performance at Huck Finn Day on Friday. We asked Ashton to step in as a pinch hitter to do the opening introduction for the group and he recited it pretty well beforehand so I thought we would be fine.
Well, he got up there and halfway through he stumbled on a word, got embarrassed and bolted from the stage through the audience and across the entire field! I had to chase after him while everyone laughed. Luckily, he recovers quickly and was able to make it back up there for his next solo part in the song. It was a pretty funny moment and I was wishing I had a video camera to capture it.
My sister Jamie is the director of this show. She and Brandy Brinkerhoff have about five or six vocal performance groups there at CenterStage that range in age from 3 years all the way up to late teens. Brandy's older groups are awesome and I am always amazed at how much talent this area has. They are all really talented and everyone just loves watching the little kids get up there and do their best not to look bewildered.

Here, Ashton and Tinkerbell only have eyes for each other...so sweet.





Below is his actual solo in the show "Under the Sea". He has a hard time keeping up with the music and he hasn't shown signs yet of having any concept of pitch, but he's trying so hard and we just love it.

"UNDER THE SEA"



I'm treasuring these pics and videos because I'm not sure we will do this again next year. I think we are going to opt for soccer or baseball and see if he is willing to participate more in those as he gets really nervous on stage and sometimes chickens out. There were about six or seven Christmas shows the group did at the end of last year and it wasn't until the very last show that he was actually able to sing his "Deck the Halls" part. I, of course, was crying tears of joy in the audience on that one.
It always surprises me how scared he gets to perform in front of people because I swear he is the biggest ham around the house. He is always singing and dancing and acting out his favorite movies, you would think he would be anxious to show off. I guess he's taking the whole "humble" route.
Some of the teachers at the studio have said that I should try and get him in commercials or something because he has such a cute face (not to brag or anything, but I guess it's allowed if they are your children, right?). But, anyways, I know that would never be possible as Ashton is not one to take direction easily or feel comfortable in front of strangers. So I guess we will just settle for his little performances at home, those are always the best ones anyway...