The Theater
When I turned sixteen, my twin and I went on a school trip to London. (See my post on the Friendship Orange here.) It was a theater trip and Melissa and I were so excited to go. I don't remember which plays we saw but I remember enjoying it very much because I was a teen who was in love with the written word.
Though I'm not sure if it would hold the same magic now, we had studied Inherit the Wind and I studiously underlined and copied every wonderful quote that Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee had. I also read through many of Oscar Wilde's works, admittedly because he was a favorite writer of one Stephen Patrick Morrissey, aka from The Smiths.
The trip to London was wonderful. However there was some point in my life when I couldn't stand musicals, didn't understand why the actors would burst out into song, seemingly out of nowhere. This dislike may have stemmed from my twins' similar derision, which I'm sure she'll deny. But she doesn't recall the friendship orange either! So it may have stemmed from me or her. (Which came first, the chicken or the egg?)
Much like my eventual love of Shakespeare though I had been skeptical (and I saw ALL the RSC Shakespeare production shows the summer of 1994), I grew back to love musical theater.
In my twenties, I saw Sunset Blvd and Jesus Christ Superstar. And years later, after Mini Me fell in love with Wizard of Oz at age five (the whole novel series) and we saw two musical productions of it, I was solidly a musical theater fan.
Even at a young age, Mini Me was gifted with language and music and she loved to dance. On top of that, she'd create many stories on paper and in imaginary play. I always say that she could be a writer/director. How could we not indulge in that?
Both girls are delightful to accompany to musicals and plays, but I love going to anything with Mini Me in particular because she is so engaged and in tune with a production. Her sincere delight and infectious laughter bring me joy.
So, yes we've gone to many productions together. And yes we're going to see Hamilton for the third/second/first time next month. (Third time for Mini Me and me, second time for Little Lion, first time for Mr. Bookworm) And we just purchased Season tickets for our local theater for the traveling Broadway productions. Our girls have lovely creative minds and I don't mind indulging in them when we can.
After all, when we've raised the next J.K. Rowling and Lin-Manuel Miranda, they'll have to tell these stories about their childhood, right?
Tell Dr. Bookworm!
Tell me something you've fallen in and out and back in love with? Do you enjoy musicals or do you prefer non-musical plays?
