Shrek!

Since it's a busy week (aren't they all?) and since Annabeth is sick (you know last week when I was saying Thalia either had really bad allergies or else was sick? Now Annabeth has the same thing) it was perfect timing for someone to say that they weren't going to use their tickets for the Fox Club for Tuesday's performance of Shrek, The Musical, and that we were welcome to them. So we said yes, even though we didn't have fake Shrek ears to wear.

And, honestly, I wouldn't have bothered to purchase tickets for this, because I thought it was going to be pretty dumb. Come on -- making a cartoon into a musical? Really? Some things are better left to the movie screen, you know what I mean?

But it turned out to be FANTASTIC! They changed the story a bit (of course), came up with imaginative ways to stage some of the craziness, wrote some clever, witty, fun songs, had a great cast .... It was a fun, fun evening. I loved how they did the ending -- they all took their bows, the audience was standing up to applaud, and then they went into I'm a Believer with flashing lights -- very high energy, and the audience could dance around, be crazy, and celebrate!

I'll admit, though, that Annabeth sat on my lap for the entire 2nd act (since we were in the Fox Club we could sort of scoot the chairs around, and she laid against me with her feet propped up on her former chair; also, no one was directly behind us to be bothered by all of our shifting around). And although little kids might like the show, I think the 8pm showing was too late for a lot of them -- I think parents were setting them up for failure by taking them to a show that lasted until nearly 11pm and during which they had to stay in a seat and remain reasonably quiet. That's how we ended up with the tickets, by the way -- someone had planned to take a 5 year old and 6 year old, but then came to their senses.

So, go to the show! It's magical! (But if you're taking little kids, choose the matinee.)