Last Thursday, I had the privilege of going to see "Beauty and the Beast" on stage in Denver. I took the 4 year old, and we went with my mom, sister, and my niece. We had a lovely dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery, then we were off!
The show started at 7:30, which is pretty late for my child, he's usually in bed by 8:00. I hoped he would have napped in the car on the way down, especially since he went swimming earlier that day, but he didn't. He did great, though. He was quiet and intrigued. As it got closer to the end, he got a little restless, but he was tolerable.
There was one part, when Belle's father gets lost in the woods and the wolves were chasing him, that I thought would freak my son out. It got darker in the theater, and he stiffened on my lap. The wolves were howling, lightning flashed, and then they came on stage. They were puppets. He turns to me and says, "Are those fake?" I told him they were, and he completely relaxed. That was the scariest part of the play, and he had no problems, which made me very happy.
The play itself was all right. I've seen better, and I doubt it would be in my top 10. It's the same story as the Disney movie with the same songs. A few new songs have been added, and some of the characters have been given personalities. The most notable is the bureau on Belle's room. She was actually pretty funny.
My favorite part was the dance sequence at Gaston's tavern. It was the entire company, and they had these metal beer steins that they clinked together in rhythm while moving around the stage. It was upbeat and fun. I could just imagine the amount of practice that went into that one scene. It really paid off onstage. I was amazed!
It was great to get out of the house and hang with my family. The 4 year old enjoyed it to. We didn't get home until 12:40, though, and that's hard on everyone. My child felt he needed to cry for about 10 minutes when we got in the house, waking every therein. What a treat!
The next morning, he came up to me and said, "Do you know why I was crying last night?"
"Because you were tired?" I asked.
"No. Because I didn't want to leave Denber. It was so much fun." He then proceeded to tell his brother about how "scary" the play was.
It made the whole trip worth it. His first play was a success, and I'm sure we'll both be enjoying many more down the road!
