Click a picture to enlarge it.

Photos by Phil and Matt Lurrie Articles by Matt Lurrie

Week Eight is always a very special week.  As it is the culmination of camp, it too is the culmination of the world of drama.  Each year, there is a week eight musical, and this year, the show designated for the last week's spectacle was "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day", based on the book by Judith Viorst.

The show opens with a 'Dear Alexander' song, in which each character sings about how horrible his/her own day has been.

It is then that we meet Alexander.  The title accurately foreshadows the awful day he is about to have.

While getting ready in the morning, he drops his sweater in the sink, then gets doused with water from a leak.

His brothers open their cereal and quickly find the prize that lays beneath the sugars wheat squares.

In the car, Alexander is made to sit in the middle, while others get the window seat.  Not surprisingly, he gets sick.

At school, the teacher praises all the students for their pictures...

...all, except Alexander's drawing of an invisible castle.

And in music class, nobody wants to be paired with the tone-deaf Alexander.

In the schoolyard, three boys, one of whom claim to be Alexander's best friend, exclude him from the numerous games they play.

And when everyone unpacks their lunches, Alexander's seems to be missing dessert.

It is at this point that Alexander begins to sing about moving to Australia.  But as our own counselor Dan will attest to, Australia is neither rid of problems, nor abundant with carefully choreographed wallabies.

At the dentist, Alexander's brothers are determined to have perfect teeth.  Alexander has a cavity (an ironic twist seeing as how he had had no dessert).

Then came the shoe store.  Alexander's brothers get the exact shoes they wish for.

At his father's office, Alexander is scolded for breaking the photocopier (a trait shared, too, with our office manager), and toying with his father's cell phone.

Then, as his mother is preparing to tuck him into bed, Alexander explains his bad day.  His mother, in a lovely ballet, explains that even though he had had a bad day, the day was over, and that a new day is quickly approaching, one filled with possibility and opportunity, with new experiences and new chances, and one with a chance to change the course of the day.

As the cast took a bow, the master of ceremonies began his journey to the center of the stage.

And after a quick shake of the booty, thanked the cast.

He also made sure to thank the directors, LQ and Kali (who hid behind campers, almost out of range of a photograph).

And he did not leave out our Performing Arts Coordinator Amanda, who seemed intrigued throughout the entire show.