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So in the show I am currently in - that opens on Friday (eep!) - there are ten little girls (okay, so most of them not-so-little) playing the Orphans (yup - I'm in Annie - three long months of earworm songs that I won't even name for fear of setting the earworms to all of you).
And there are about three of them I am trying to tell apart from each other. Some are easier than others. Caitlin I've known since she was in the womb (quite literally), Little-Lauren is our Annie, Mid-sized Lauren is another orphan and another kid I've known for a couple of years (Big-Lauren is playing Grace. Yeah, three Laurens in one production!), Haley is playing Tessie (whose line is one of my action cues, so I memorized who she is, and what I was waiting for), Natalie is playing Molly - who has a tap solo (and probably the "cutest" of the kids - all silky hair and chubby cheeks with a smile that doesn't quit), Chloe is most talented and one of the SWEETEST people (plus she may not know this, but I know her cousins - they told me I was in a show with her), Thea is daughter to the director. It is Betsy, Mary, and Gabi I have trouble with. Today I discovered MARY IS THE BLONDE (and besides our strawberry blond Annie, and Natalie-also-Molly, whose hair is sort of golden brown, and Cailtin who is our only curly-haired girl - also sort of blondish, Mary is our only true BLONDE)- tall girl with stick-straight blond hair. Give her a few years and she will be supermodel gorgeous. She is at that awkward nearly-pubescent teenager stage, but her bone structure is stunning. She will never be "cute" but she will very soon be "beautiful."
Gabi must be the "other" brunette I can't place as any of the other girls(I think Gabi is the one who loves hats - she's always wearing one, and they are all different... I think), because Betsy, I discovered today, is the tomboy. I swear, this child is NOT a "Betsy" - she is sarcastic, and hard-edged (I can totally see her dying her hair crazy colors, and getting multiple face piercings).
I don't know. "Betsy" makes me think of someone who bakes cookies or is timid or shy (probably the literary "Betsys" I am thinking of that formed what my image of what a Betsy would be). The name does not conjure this sarcastic, eye-rolling kid who looks like she would rather be kicking the soccer ball around than singing and dancing on stage. I don't know. I don't even know if the Betsy is short for Elizabeth, but if so I could see her as a "Liz," or "Lizzie," possibly even "Beth" - but "Betsy" is still a little disconnected for me.
Is it because we nickname kids before they are fully-formed personalities? I mean, my niece G is so totally fitting with her nickname (which is basically lopping off the last four letters of her full name), and my niece B also fits her nickname, I think (which, oddly enough is just lopping of the first three letters of her full name). And my nephew, L, well, his name is already so short I'm not sure you can make it any shorter - by lopping letters off or not.
I know a Susan who hates to be called "Sue" but will answer to "Susie." My mom hated her first name so much she added an "e" to the end of it to make it better for her. And then there is my Aunt who was born "Eve" (or "Eva"?) but claimed "Kelly" as her real name. My grandfather's sister-in-law who was born "Fara" but much preferred to be called "Dolly." My great uncles who were "Jim" (really "Vincent"), "Al" (actually "Umberto"), and Dick (from "Dominic"). My grandfather was called "Jerry" but his real name was "Gennaro." Even my dad, who was named "Umberto" on his birth certificate has been "Albert" (unofficially - although come to think of it, since Albert is on his passport, I guess it is officially, although his birth record is still "Umberto") since he started school (his mother was told that he would fit in better if they used the anglicized version of his name - yeah, gotta love the 1930s).
Nicknames. Huh.
And there are about three of them I am trying to tell apart from each other. Some are easier than others. Caitlin I've known since she was in the womb (quite literally), Little-Lauren is our Annie, Mid-sized Lauren is another orphan and another kid I've known for a couple of years (Big-Lauren is playing Grace. Yeah, three Laurens in one production!), Haley is playing Tessie (whose line is one of my action cues, so I memorized who she is, and what I was waiting for), Natalie is playing Molly - who has a tap solo (and probably the "cutest" of the kids - all silky hair and chubby cheeks with a smile that doesn't quit), Chloe is most talented and one of the SWEETEST people (plus she may not know this, but I know her cousins - they told me I was in a show with her), Thea is daughter to the director. It is Betsy, Mary, and Gabi I have trouble with. Today I discovered MARY IS THE BLONDE (and besides our strawberry blond Annie, and Natalie-also-Molly, whose hair is sort of golden brown, and Cailtin who is our only curly-haired girl - also sort of blondish, Mary is our only true BLONDE)- tall girl with stick-straight blond hair. Give her a few years and she will be supermodel gorgeous. She is at that awkward nearly-pubescent teenager stage, but her bone structure is stunning. She will never be "cute" but she will very soon be "beautiful."
Gabi must be the "other" brunette I can't place as any of the other girls(I think Gabi is the one who loves hats - she's always wearing one, and they are all different... I think), because Betsy, I discovered today, is the tomboy. I swear, this child is NOT a "Betsy" - she is sarcastic, and hard-edged (I can totally see her dying her hair crazy colors, and getting multiple face piercings).
I don't know. "Betsy" makes me think of someone who bakes cookies or is timid or shy (probably the literary "Betsys" I am thinking of that formed what my image of what a Betsy would be). The name does not conjure this sarcastic, eye-rolling kid who looks like she would rather be kicking the soccer ball around than singing and dancing on stage. I don't know. I don't even know if the Betsy is short for Elizabeth, but if so I could see her as a "Liz," or "Lizzie," possibly even "Beth" - but "Betsy" is still a little disconnected for me.
Is it because we nickname kids before they are fully-formed personalities? I mean, my niece G is so totally fitting with her nickname (which is basically lopping off the last four letters of her full name), and my niece B also fits her nickname, I think (which, oddly enough is just lopping of the first three letters of her full name). And my nephew, L, well, his name is already so short I'm not sure you can make it any shorter - by lopping letters off or not.
I know a Susan who hates to be called "Sue" but will answer to "Susie." My mom hated her first name so much she added an "e" to the end of it to make it better for her. And then there is my Aunt who was born "Eve" (or "Eva"?) but claimed "Kelly" as her real name. My grandfather's sister-in-law who was born "Fara" but much preferred to be called "Dolly." My great uncles who were "Jim" (really "Vincent"), "Al" (actually "Umberto"), and Dick (from "Dominic"). My grandfather was called "Jerry" but his real name was "Gennaro." Even my dad, who was named "Umberto" on his birth certificate has been "Albert" (unofficially - although come to think of it, since Albert is on his passport, I guess it is officially, although his birth record is still "Umberto") since he started school (his mother was told that he would fit in better if they used the anglicized version of his name - yeah, gotta love the 1930s).
Nicknames. Huh.
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