Two years ago, I took Amie to see “The Nutcracker”. I was planning on doing something with James last year, but we weren’t able to. So, this year, I had my special big date with him. In his musical theater dance class, his teacher gives out papers telling auditions that are happening and when plays and musicals are showing. He came home last month with a paper telling about the musical “Willy Wonka”. This weekend was the closing shows and so the two of us made a date for Saturday matinee. He has been looking forward to this for two weeks. They don’t have online ticket purchasing for this small town theatre, so I didn’t secure the tickets beforehand. We left about two and a half hours before the show started and headed down there. Being extremely delayed by Christmas shopping traffic, we finally got to the theatre that was about 30 miles away about an hour before the show started… if you do the math, that was an hour and a half drive. Unfortunately, by that time, that show was sold out. I was able to buy tickets for the evening show that night. We then had about 5 hours to wait. We headed to the nearest town with a mall and walked around checking out different things, James was thinking about his birthday next month while I was thinking Christmas presents. After doing foot traveling through the building, we stopped at the Borders bookstore there and got something to drink while we talked. Since he really wants to do plays and musicals, we discussed what he will need for the auditions, pictures for his portfolio, a song from a musical along with sheet music, and a fresh haircut beforehand. When we left, we realized we still had an hour to kill. We stopped at a Walmart and walked around there. That’s where James found what he wants for his birthday. Nerf, anyone?? So, we finally headed back to the theatre. It’s in a converted old church, very nice place. We got there early to make sure to take care of bathroom stuff. They opened up the theater and we took our seats… in the front row. The stage was only about two feet high, so they were still good seats and the actors had some small interaction with the kids in the front row a bit, making eye contact, pointing, and waving. They had a small cast production. Some of the actors and actresses had to take double roles, but they did a great job and I don’t think the kids realized it. My favorite character in the whole show was Grandma Georgina. The actor who played her was so expressive and she stole the show. The people playing the children were adults, 18 years or older, and it was so fun watching them pretend to be kids. The boy playing Charlie Bucket did an awesome job and his voice was very good. Willy Wonka was played by a man with a strong singing voice. He had a lisp, but it added to his character. James has a bit of a lisp when he talks and during intermission, we discussed how inspiring it was for him to see someone with a speech impediment like him in a main role. It gave him more hope. After the show was over, I saw James speechless. We had the opportunity to meet the actors and actresses and he had nothing to say. I have never, ever seen him unable to talk before. I got a hug from Grandma Georgina and took a picture of James with the actor who played Willy Wonka. Those of you who know me now, know that I am NOT shy and I enjoyed talking to some of the different actors and actresses.
And that is my date with my son… and somehow this blog also turned into a review of the musical “Willy Wonka” done by the Chicago Street Theatre in Valparaiso, IN.
One thing this made me realize… I miss the stage a lot. Maybe one of these days, I might be able to audition for something, but not right now… we don’t have the ability to do it.