Just Call Me Little Guitar Boy

Today was the best day ever. I had a rehearsal at 1:00. It was just to clean up some scenes. After rehearsal, my mom and I went to Dallas BBQ's. The portions were so big for such little money. That is now a plus on my list of good restaurants. After we left BBQ's, my mom took me to Sam Ash. It is a music store. She bought me an acoustic guitar as an early birthday present. I was so happy. A member of the cast agreed to teach me some things. I was so excited to have a guitar. It came with an amp, instructional dvd, picks, and a strap. It was a good deal. I took it back to the theatre and everyone was so happy about me getting a guitar. I love my guitar and I love my mom for getting it for me. TTYL

Alphonso

Tests, Tests, and More Tests

In school, we took nothing but tests on the computer. First we took a test on Learnia. We did Math and Reading. The questions were not really hard, but some of them needed serious thought and work. When we finished that, we did Study Island. I aced my pretest in math. I was so proud of myself. When I finished Study Island, I started to read more of "Holes". Soon it was time for me to get picked up. On the way to New York, I read a chapter of my book then I went to sleep. When I woke up, I tried to zip up my jacket but I was zipping up my jacket pocket. I almost broke the zipper. I was so bushed. At the theatre, I was pretending to be my character "The Weirdo". The Weirdo laughs at everything and always has a sinister smiles. I also practiced for the next round of the Cub Olympics on Saturday. This week went by fast. Tomorrow is my show night. TTYL

Alphonso

PS. My schedule for December and January is Wednesday, Friday, Saturday evenings and Sunday matinee.

Are We There Yet

Yesterday, my dad and I went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway. I only got to see the Second Act because the train had a mishap. As we went into the tunnel, another train broke down in front of us. So we had to back up to Secaucas and switch trains. When we switched trains, the train that we switched to broke down too! The third train finally took off and got us to New York. By that time, the show was already an hour in. All of the good parts were in the Second Act. A guy walked on the walls and we saw Mary Poppins fly out. I thought that was really cool. Today I started a book called "Holes" by Louis Sachar. I read 58 pages so far. It's about a boy named Stanley Yelnats who is accused of stealing a famous baseball player's shoes. But what really happened is that the shoes fell from the freeway that he was walking under. His dad was an inventor and was trying to find a way to recycle old sneakers. Stanley thought it was a sign so he ran home. A cop saw him running with the shoes and arrested him. He was given a choice of going to jail or Camp Green Lake. He chose the camp. The camp was desert and he had to dig holes all day. The book is really good. Today was picture day at my school. I took a nice picture. I even picked out my own pose and background. At the theatre, I read most of the time. Today was a reading day. All that was missing was the rain and the hot chocolate. TTYL

Alphonso

Action Packed Weekend

Friday was the 12th anniversary of The Lion King on Broadway. The producers and company management gifted us with a passport. It was so cool. I put my Mary Poppins tickets inside of it. They also gave us a card. I thought that was really nice of them. Niki was not here on that day. Emily filled in for her. She flew a jet here because she was in St. Louis helping choreograph her high school theatre group. She said it was an all expenses paid trip, going there and back. Guess what? I found out that I will be spending Christmas in New York. My Aunt Marion booked us a room for three nights in a hotel for a present. She paid for everything. This is one of the best presents I ever received.



Saturday we had our 1st Annual Cub Olympics. We have been working out all week to be put to the test. We will have one every Saturday until December 6th. December 6th will be the award ceremony. My teachers from my school came to see me perform and my mom came with them. They said they loved the show. I rode the bus back home with them. I was so excited and they were too. I took lots of pictures and I got lots of hugs.



Today my church came to see me. There were lots of them, 56 to be exact. They loved the show too. When I came out everyone said, "SIMBA!". When they were getting ready to leave, I went on the bus and said, "Thank you for coming to see me." The next trip they are taking is going to be in January. Between shows we had another Green Couch event. They did two singing acts and 1 skit. Niki, Shannon, Shereen, Marquis, and I did commercials. Niki and the girls did a commercial about how if something stinks, blame it on the boys. The second commercial we all did. We were advertising the Cub Olympics. So we all did slow motion workouts to the song "A Space Odyssey". It was so funny. This weekend was action packed. I fell asleep on the train. When we got home I was so tired that I put my jacket on inside out. Funny huh!

I'd like to take this moment to thank everyone who has come to see me perform. It really means alot to me that I have so much support. I'm glad that you loved my performance and I hope that I made you proud! TTYL


Alphonso

A Little Time to Chill

Yesterday, my teacher gave me a bunch of books to read. I took the book, "To Be a Slave" with me to New York. I read two pages on the train and I fell asleep. It was so boring and did not hold my attention. Niki, my wrangler, was reading this book called Tunnels. The cover looked so interesting. She loves books about slaves so we exchanged books. I read the first chapter on the train ride home and it was so good. Today I had a day off from school. It was Veteran's Day. I was so happy to have a day off. It felt so good to have a longer sleep in the morning. I went with my sister to her dance rehearsal today. Then I went to the train station. My dad did a park and ride today. When we arrived in New York, we took the subway to the theatre. Backstage at the theatre, I played "Sorry" and watched "Home Alone 2". We didn't finish the game because we started watching the movie first. Today was a great day to have a day off. TTYL


Alphonso


PS: I have pictures and audio interviews at Broadway.com then click on show buzz and at NYTimes.com then click on theatre. I'm having a blast!

Meeting Niecy Nash and Star Jones

Yesterday during my break, I went to see A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carey. It was in 3-D. That movie was so cool. I loved the special effects. Today I was tired. But I was not too tired to do my show. My friend found his phone and called me. I was happy because he hasn't talked to me in a long time. It was like a reuniting. My favorite part of today was meeting Niecy Nash. She sounded the same as she does on her show Clean House. My mom told her that I was in the Lion King on Broadway and she started singing I Just Can't Wait to be King. My mom was super excited. She says that's her girl. I was excited too. We told my dad that we met her. He did not believe us until we sent him a picture. Then he started to ask a bunch of questions. I also met Star Jones and she was very nice. She is from Trenton too and told us that she used to date our mayor, Douglas Palmer. Boy, was I surprised because my mom knows the mayor and my dad works for him. What a small world. Meeting them made my day. TTYL

Alphonso

Happy 5,000!

Yesterday was our 5,000 showing of the Lion King. I was happy to be on stage that night. Julie Taymor was in the audience which made it even more exciting. She is the master mind behind the Lion King; the show's creator. Before the show, she told us not to go all out because she was there. My mom asked me if I was nervous. I said I wasn't. I thought it was an honor to be doing the show that evening. After the show, they had a big party at the Bond Club and we were allowed to go. The party was great! They had a cake with a big lion on it. It was cool. I took so many pictures. If you'd like to see some, you can go to playbill.com and look for them. I didn't get home until 3:30am, but I had so much fun. TTYL

Alphonso