One fun way to celebrate African-American History Month this year was attending The Wiz at the Children's Theatre. :) The kids really enjoyed it, per usual, but I'm not sure they fully caught on to all of the cultural significance in the play...which I suppose isn't the main goal, in the long run, but the teacher in me was wondering how much to explain for deeper understanding and better learning...haha.
This was likely my last time taking the kids to a play for a while, because the next one will be when I am 7,000 weeks pregnant, so Jonas gets that fun time while I stay home to do things like sleep at 8:00 p.m. while popping Tums. The following play will be after baby is born, so I'm basically out for a while after due to nursing / Mama doesn't leave her infants when they are young.
(The only reason I know about these plays ahead of time is due to our seasons subscription. Reason #1 million while I love living in the city. We can go to truly high-quality cultural events like this for $10 per person, IF you are someone who knows how to plan ahead. Check, and CHECK. Side note: have you noticed in my posts how $10 seems to be a love language for me, haha?? I just so appreciate how fun things (sports, events, etc) don't have to break the bank at all, for the most part. And if it's just a generally expensive thing then I'm likely not participating, for so many reason...ha!)
This production was a lot more singing and dancing than most of the plays we go to. The music was REALLY high quality because they brought in many of the adult actors from the Penumbra Theatre Company, the only professional African American Theatre company in MN (located in Mpls), and one of only 3 African American Theatre companies in the U.S. that has a full seasons of plays yearly (which I appreciate about MN...the reasons they can do that here is they get enough local support and attendance to RUN a full seasons of plays, year in and year out. Nice). As soon as they started singing the first song it was obvious we had entered a new land of quality for the Children's Theatre Company singing acceptance levels. Mercy, I loved it! Finn really did too...he kept wanting to clap along and get up and dance (another reason the cheap seats are an advantage with little kids...you don't bother anyone or block anyone's view if your kids are antsy and want to move).
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| Me: Finn, just smile normal! |
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| Me: Sigh. *click* |
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| Layla and Toto |
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| Paris Bennett, the actress who played Dorthy, was one of the few regular members of the Children's Theatre Company who was an adult actor in the play. Layla was quite enamored with her, and when she saw Paris was signing autographs and taking pictures with fans after the show we HAD to wait in line. Layla even ran back to grab a play bill so she could autograph it, even though I'm sure that will get thrown away in a day or two, haha. They were pretty darn excited to take their picture with her, and also pretty excited for the day when THEY can be a in a play too. We'll see. This summer we might be able to do something along those lines, locally...but my guess is that next summer will work out far better than this summer. THIS summer is my summer of saying "no" to all the extra stuff and staying home, ala "how I roll with a new baby." |
