Annie

Kate James, Kate Bell, Audra, Titus, and Luke Bell at Qdoba before the Show.

Tonight was opening night for Annie at the Walton Arts Center. I'm not sure who was more excited, the kids or me. Annie was my favorite movie when I was a little girl and the thought of getting to see it on stage was so nostalgic for me. I'm pretty sure I can still remember every word of every song on the movie. I bet I could even find my VHS tape of my 4th grade dance class doing "It's a Hard Knock Life."

Anyone who knew me in high school or college knows how much I love musical theatre...those were my theatre years! It was such a treat to see it on stage. I typically think the book or stage production is always better than the movie...but I don't think anyone will ever upstage Caroll Burnett's version of Mrs. Hannigan. The kids seemed to really enjoy it...except Justus. We weren't able to find a babysitter, so I decided to try to bring him with us. Lesson learned: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES bring a 1 year old to a Broadway musical and expect him to sit quietly on your lap! (What was I thinking?!?!) I brought his paci (which usually stays in his crib) thinking that would help him sit quietly. Unfortunately, he dropped it under the seat in front of us about 30 second into the production! He then decided to sing along with the show. Which was really cute. Until they stopped singing...and he didn't. I spend the entire first half of the show standing up at the back door holding him. We had to make a couple of quick exits when we tried to sing solos from the back again. He did finally figure out how to clap during the show tonight and was elated to clap with the audience...and sometimes without them. Thankfully, Scott rescued me by taking him home during intermission. Thank you, Jill, for giving us a ride home! (We actually saw several of our friends at the show and didn't realize until the day before that we all bought tickets for the same night. We were even seated next to our friends, The Murphys.)

Another random side note about musicals. When I was a little girl, people use to tell me all the time that I looked like Shirley Temple. By the time I was in college, they told me I looked like Bette Midler. That's quite a digression.