My Theatre Nerds

Calling the original drama queen, Mrs. Fish - A, you're sure to love this...

Since my girls came home, they have been subject to the various loves and obsessions of Kat and myself. Of all of them, however, the most marvelous has to be our love of musical theatre. In fact, it's been said I love musical theatre waaaaay too much for a straight, married man, but that's another issue. (Or, more accurately, it's not. Stop it).

From our earliest days of dating, our favorite outing has been to go to the theatre. Portland offers numerous opportunities for the theatregoer - everything from tiny, avant garde productions to touring Broadway shows. Our first date, in fact, was to see the show Stomp at the Keller Auditorium. Readers of this blog know of my involvement in a certain 1991 production of Fiddler on the Roof. But Kat and I can't seem to hold a candle to the love E, N and K-Bug have for musical theatre.

It started out innocently enough - Kat had a need to keep the girls occupied when she was doing her once a month cooking a little over a year ago, and plunked them down in front of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (a family favorite), then rolled over to The King and I. It kind of took off from there.

Never ones to miss an opportunity to expand learning (or an obsession, depending on how you look at it), we began playing the "Broadway's Best" channel on our Sirius satellite radio in the van and in the car whenever we were taking the girls anywhere. In short order, it became their request every single time we got in the car. They always ask about the shows the songs playing are from.

In addition, through their homeschooling, Kat is able to take them to local productions during the middle of the day, and has taken advantage of both large-scale productions and also the local Christian Youth Theatre.

Anyway, at this point, these are the musicals the girls have seen. They have yet to see one they don't love - actually, if one were to stand close to the front door of our house, one would hear various interpretations of whatever the most current musical is.

The List, and how they saw it:

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (video)

My Fair Lady (video)

The Sound of Music (video)

Fiddler on the Roof (video - they've seen parts of the Bethany production on tape, as well)

The King and I (video)

Oliver! (onstage)

Seussical (onstage)

The Music Man (video)

Cats (video)

And next Tuesday we're going as a family to see the touring production of Stomp. How cool is it, guys, to have all three of my kids love the theatre? I don't know many kids whose favorite music isn't some teenybopper or rap album, but is the soundtrack to Wicked (which is, incidentally, Daddy's favorite show of all time - I'm getting to see it for the fourth time in New York later on this month). I plan on keeping Wicked on my New York itinerary for as long as it plays. If the touring company comes back to Portland anytime soon, we're taking the girls, without question. If it doesn't, they'll all get to see it at the end of their eighth grade year, when they get to go with me on the trip with the eighth graders from my school.

An unexpected bonus presented itself some weeks ago, one we should have expected, having experienced it ourselves, yet it was made that much more wonderful to have the girls discover it independently. They had seen the show Oliver! in Portland earlier in the week, and Kat had taken them to the movies to see Ice Age 2. At one point in the movie, a character makes a brief reference to food, glorious food! ---- and four people, four people alone, burst out in laughter. When I saw them later that afternoon (I had a Saturday meeting at work), all three of them told me the story of how someone in their movie had made a joke referencing Oliver!, and they were the only ones who got it. That sense of exclusivity and secret knowledge is such a fun thing to have, and my girls are earning it at the ages of 7, 10 and 12.

As I write this, we're now in the middle of our second viewing of Cats. We watched Act I Monday, and Act II tonight, and as I was shutting down the DVD player after the final number, I was met with a chorus of requests (everything they do anymore is theatrical): "can we watch it again, Daddy?"

How can I say no to kids who want to see more musical theatre? I mean, most kids you couldn't pay to sit through some of these shows. My girls pore over every song, committing them to memory (however imperfectly), and they are, in the process, developing a passion they will carry the rest of their lives.