Opening night puts real star on stage

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Everyone in the dressing room is obsessing about hair. Curlers are flying, and irons are burning. Hairspray drifts through the air, and bobby pins are in high demand.

It's opening night for the high school musical, "Anything Goes." My daughters are among the cast members spraying and teasing their long locks, attempting to re-create 1930s pin-curl bobs from their modern-day layered haircuts.

I'm backstage to assist in painting and primping the actors, though nobody seems to need me. I stand in the corner with a comb and take in the nonstop teenage chatter.

"Your hair is like, so curly," one girl squeals to her friend.

"No, yours is so curly," is the response.

The girls are amazed at the change in their appearance, but then, this is a generation of girls who don't curl their hair. They straighten it. This explains the "oohs" and "ahs" and "oh-my-gosh-you-look-so-cute" comments as each one pulls the rollers out of her hair.

Then I spot Caitlin, a senior who sings and dances in the chorus.

Caitlin's head is bent low over a makeup mirror. She applies eye shadow in a luscious jewel green. Her cheeks are appropriately pink, her lips full and red.

Just now she's filling in the line where a portion of her left eyebrow used to be.

She can afford to spend extra time on her makeup because styling her hair is only a matter of donning a brunette wig, something she'll do tonight as part of her costume.