I have always been a bit of a drama queen! My acting career has been mainly confined to playing the Wicked Queen/Stepmother/Villainess in panto.
Oh yes it has!
I hadn’t tread the boards for quite a number of years and had gotten a bit rusty. So I was delighted and panicked to be asked to take part in a Lip Sync Battle. I spent the next few weeks practising my dancing and miming. I haven’t the best voice in the world so I have mimed my way through about 20 musicals. I felt that this was my moment to shine!
One of the many fantastic side effects of Operation Transformation was regaining some of my self confidence that I had lost as I entered my 50s. So I chose Let It Go from Frozen as my battle song. I no longer felt like an old hag, I was more of a princess!
The week of the show I felt ready. All I had to do was collect my costume. I was told that it would be ready on Tuesday. I rang the costume shop that morning.
“No sorry, it’s not back here yet, it should be in tomorrow.”
Slight panic but there were still three days left until showtime.
I rang again on Wednesday afternoon with fingers crossed. There was a slight hesitation on the phone and then I was told
“Yes, it’s just in the wash. It’ll be ready in an hour.”
Phew, I hadn’t even realised that I had been holding my breath.
When I entered the costume shop my newly washed costume was waiting for me. The man behind the costume started to grin and said, “There was a bit of drama connected to that costume!”
It seems that the gardaí had hired a range of costumes for the weekend. All costumes were returned on Wednesday EXCEPT FOR MY ELSA DRESS! The manger rang them and stated that it was needed urgently. It was then promptly delivered to the door…..in a squad car!
Proper order. I’m sure it happens for Beyonce all the time. Diva? Who, me?
The day after the Lip Sync Battle my sister invited me to her house for dinner. As I wasn’t in the mood for cooking I jumped at the chance. My grandnieces Megan (6) and Evelyn (2) would be there. As I still had my costume, I decided that it was too good an opportunity to miss so I headed to my sister’s.
On the way I had a flashback to the morning of the Halloween holidays when I was going to school dressed as a nun. My car broke down and a lovely old couple stopped and tried to help me. I didn’t have the heart to tell them I wasn’t as holy as they thought in case they drove off.
Luckily I made it to my destination without being spotted. The two girls were ecstatic when they saw me….well, when they saw Elsa. After all the excitement died down I disappeared to the bedroom to change back into my civvies! I went into the dining room and went to sit beside Evelyn. She was distraught and announced
“That chair is for Elsa!”
She then proceeded to tell me all about the “visitor” that I had just missed.
I just hope in years to come they will remember the day their auld grandaunt rediscovered her inner Disney princess!
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