I Got Straight A's!

Today I stayed in school all day. I found out I had straight A's on my report card. I was so happy that I was dancing and flipping in my head. I tried to trick my mom into thinking that I had a bad report card, but it did not work. I bust out laughing as soon as I saw her. I could not pull it off. At after school program, I went to the tennis program. It was fun and I learned how to do some of the swings. It was awesome. When we went back to the school, I finished the rest of my homework. We decorated out house for Christmas when I got home. It looks great. I am so glad today is over. Now I can go to sleep in my beautiful room. TTYL

Alphonso

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. Boy do I have alot to be thankful for this year. We had Thanksgiving day off. That meant we had to do two shows on Friday. I did the matinee that day and it felt so weird because I usually do the evening show on Fridays. And guess what... my whole family spent the day in New York. We walked around and took in some sights. On my break, we went to Toys-r-us. I bought New Moon dog tags. It was so crowded in the store because it was Black Friday. Yesterday my sisters, my cousin and my dance teacher re-did my room. They painted it blue and put up a mural with dolphins on the walls. They also put glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. They are so cool. I love my new room. Yesterday we also had another Cub Olympics session between shows. I did better than all the weeks before. I was so proud of myself. Before I went to the Cub Olympics, my dad and I went to ESPN Zone. I played alot of games. It was so much fun. Today, since it was Thanksgiving weekend, we only had one show to do. It was a matinee. I did the matinee like I always do. Today went really fast. Tomorrow I have school. TTYL

Alphonso

A Time For Celebration

Yesterday, my God sister and brother came over so we could give my God brother his birthday gift. We got him a talking truck that came with a hard hat, a vest, and a stop sign. He did not like the costume but he loved the truck. He was racing around the house with his truck. I ran around with them too. They are so cute.
Today in school, I stayed on Study Island most of the time. My class was having a party for Thanksgiving but I wasn't going to be there. I was going to get picked up before the party. My cousin came over my house today. He is in college. He said he might finish in May. I am so happy for him. At the theatre, I got creative and found an old build a bear box. I put it on my head and said that I was an astronaut. They laughed at me. Everybody thought it was hilarious. It was pretty funny. The day went by fast. Tomorrow comes another. TTYL

Alphonso

A Fun But Busy Weekend

Friday was my father's birthday. As a birthday present, my mom took him to B. Smith. It is a restaurant in New York. Unfortunatly I had a show so I could not go. But I am glad they had a great time. I had my first guitar lesson that day too. I learned two chords. I was happy. After the show, a boy was with his family in the train station and he had a Lion King playbill. My mom asked if he just saw the show. He said yes. My mom finished,"You just saw him in the show!" His mother's face lit up and she said," You did an awesome job." Then she continued,"You got out of costume fast!" I smiled.
Saturday was our second Annual Cub Olympics session. I ate light so I could do my sit ups. We had to bring our 1st scores up or we had to do that excercise two times a day. I was determined to beat my score. I beat every one of my records. I was proud of myself. My dad and I went to the M&M Factory. It had so many colors. You name a color they have it.
Today I finished my book. I bet that I could finish it in one week and I did. I read all 50 chapters. I knew I could do it. I had another guitar lesson today. This time I learned a third chord. The cast member who is teaching me said that I will be on my way in no time. Between shows we had a pot luck for a cast member. It was so much fun. At the second show, I relaxed. I took my shoes off and laid down. That was great. TTYL

Alphonso

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

From Division to Solving Mysteries

Today we had a substitute teacher instead of getting split up. She was nice but sometimes she was mean. She told everybody in the school that we were such a good class. I thought that was very nice of her. I did not have any problems with her. I realized I had a problem with division in school. So I told my mom and she helped me. She showed me a super fast way. It is very easy too. The train ride went so fast. Maybe it was because I played video games the whole time. While I was at the theatre, my mom went to Barnes and Nobles. She bought me a set of Encyclopedia Brown books. On the way home, I started reading the first book and I couldn't put it down. I'm half way through already! I can't wait to read again tomorrow. TTYL

Alphonso

This Is It

Today my teacher was not in school. My class got split up into different classes. I went to my fourth grade class but then I was sent to Pre-K to help the teacher. After school I went to the movies to see " This Is It" by Michael Jackson. That movie was amazing. The special effects were so good. They had elevator toasters that fly you up and out of the elevator and land. The video effects on the screens at the concert were superb. They made one video where they took 9 men and made 1,000,000,000 of them. I thought that was very cool. Today was the perfect day for a movie. If you haven't seen it, you should. It's great for the whole family. Michael Jackson was so talented and he was a great man. Since I've been working, I've learned that he came to see the Lion King with his children. Everyone said that he was so friendly and came backstage to personally meet the cast. What a nice man and a great human being. We will all miss his talent. TTYL

Alphonso

Banana, Banana

On Halloween Day, Niki, Shereen, Shannon, Marquis, and I dressed up. I was a magician but I forgot my wand. So the puppets department made me one. Niki did not show us her costume until the second show. I found out that her costume was a banana. She said it was really lame. The ends of the banana were very droopy and floppy. The picture in the magazine looked great. But when the costume came it was bad. So she asked some people from puppets to help fix it up. She stuffed the ends, painted the banana with brown spots to make it look rotten, and she put on make-up to blend in with the costume. The costume was alright but the make-up was freaky and weird. I had to do all of my cues with a giant banana. I asked what if somebody from the audience sees you in the wings. That made me nervous. I could not wait until she took that costume off. Today was smooth and fast. They had a new Green Couch Series today. J-bo performed his original songs while he played the electric guitar. I thought it was wonderful and Enrique did a spoken word and comedy skit. Enrique said that people say he looks like Jackie Chan. I laughed so hard. When I finished work, my mom and I headed for the train station and guess who we saw..... my Godfather, Joe L. He works for Amtrak and he was changing trains in New York from Chicago. So we came home on Amtrak with him. That train is much, much faster than NJ Transit. Before I knew it, we were home. A perfect ending to a perfect day. TTYL

Alphonso