Kira the Maleficent

Kira had her second-grade class play tonight. They did Sleeping Beauty. Kira was cast as Maleficent, the dark fairy and "mistress of all evil" who cursed Aurora. Well, Kira did an *outstanding* job playing an evil witch. It's a little disturbing, actually, how INTO her role she got. The dark glee with which she pronounced her curse: "You will prick your finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel AND DIE!!!!!" was a tad unsettling. I was so proud.

She was an absolute mess of nerves before we went to the school. This manifested itself in a huge outpouring of fury and temper at me and Mark. Oh, it was a joyous and pleasant afternoon. I did convince her to let me do a bit of stage makeup on her eyes, although when she saw what I did, she was FURIOUS: "I HATE you for what you did to me!" She wasn't very good at listening to my explanation about the nature of stage makeup and how it *does* look horrible close-up, but really good from the audience. Then, of course, she got to the school and everyone absolutely loved it and she was much better. Gee, 'cause her mom (five years' experience as a drama makeup mistress) didn't know ANYTHING.

She basked in the glory of the compliments everyone gave her (and hey, I did a little basking myself...the principal said to me: "You have TWO of them!"--reference to my son's dramatic talent as well--yup, I do).

I really wish the lighting in the gym was more cooperative with my cameras. Pretty sure the camcorded stuff won't be much better, but here's a photo or two:

Maleficent and her evil minion, the Warthog

Aurora waits in a trance while Maleficent eagerly anticipates the fulfillment of the curse.

Hey, the curse worked! Well, mostly.

After the play, Maleficent gracefully poses for a picture. What the hell, a smile? Yeah, real evil.