Mummy on the Edge; A star is born.

Mummy on the Edge

A star is born.

The teen was in her new high school’s production of Sister

Act. Her part was ‘unnamed gangster’. For this, she learned dance steps and songs and performed them with perfectly menacing gangsterliness. Participation necessitated hours and hours of rehearsal after school and at weekends and during school time (insert scream emoji here). I was very happy that she had found something she enjoyed at her new school and it was a wonderful way to get to know people outside of her classes. By the time I remembered to log on to Parentpay to buy our tickets all the proper seats had gone and only cushions and beanbags were available. I’m a lady of a certain age so sitting on a cushion for 3 hours was not ideal but before it started I happened to contribute to the PTA fund by buying a packet of Maltesers and small bottle of Castello Whatsit red wine so luckily that helped ease my discomfort and it was a great show! It feels like only yesterday that I was sitting in the audience at primary school, chin in hands, ears surreptitiously plugged with fingers while the kid’s entire Year 1 class gave a demonstration of what they had learnt on the violin that term. Imagine: thirty violins playing what sounded like thirty different tunes - badly. That one occasion aside, I am going to miss these concerts and shows when the Teen goes off to University. Luckily I have friends with younger kids and last Friday, we shared in one of their moments of glory:

We set off for Harrow late because I couldn’t remember where I had parked the car (I blame undiagnosed perimenopause) and we walked down the wrong hill for 10 minutes looking for it - and back up again. By the time we found it, located on a different street just 2 minutes from our front door, Friday night traffic was in full force and there was no time to even grab a bite before the show.

Shania is the eldest daughter of one of my closest friends and is one of the most driven kids I have ever met - she has always known she wants to be in show business. She is also the daughter of the most generous, hardworking and energetic mum (who has another two daughters whom she also encourages and ferries around to various activities). Shania has dedicated her time and attention to achieving her dream, attending countless classes – classical singing, rock singing, drama, piano, as well as weekend and late evening rehearsals for a tonne of professional-standard shows in local and London theatres, not to mention all her school productions. In year 7 she played Tracey Turnblad, the lead character in Hairspray, with great humour and perfect American accent. In year 8, she played Mrs Potts, the teapot in Beauty and The Beast with aplomb, singing the title song. Last week, The Teen and I went to see the utterly marvellous Shania as Princess Jasmine in her year 9 production of Aladdin. I told myself that this time I WOULD NOT CRY but I failed, crying as much as I did when I saw The Teen singing beautifully on stage when she was younger. I’m lucky she’s more interested in engineering than acting because to be honest, I’m not sure I would have the energy to keep up!

On the way home, The Teen and I stopped off at Nando’s for dinner (Peri-Peri-menopause!) Later that night, stomachs bursting with chicken and hearts bursting with pride for our star we turned on the TV to watch the programme we had recorded to look for… Shania who was dressed up as a 50s schoolgirl in Grantchester! We squealed with delight when we saw her in one of the opening scenes and took turns rewinding and pausing Sky to take photos all the way through the programme. Remember Pauline Quirk from Birds of a Feather? Shania is a student at her acting school, PQA academy and is on the books of their Quirky Kidz talent agency. So far, as well as Grantchester, she’s found work playing a football prodigy on an online film, and there is more to come. Casting agents take note… and watch this space – and follow shaniasings on insta. Looks like I have many more years of surrogate stage-mum happy-tears to come.

Listen to Angelina’s popular chat show Dessert Island Discs on live on www.thepulsehr.uk Thursdays at 10am or catch up at www.mixcloud.com/angelina-melwani *facebook.com/angelinamelwani * twitter @appleina * mynotesfromtheedge.blogspot.com *Instagram @mynotesfromtheedge