First Matchbox Play

Today we drove down to Austin so Relia could see a real live stage play. She is such a natural performer that it's hard for me not to see some theater in her future. I figured the first step was to let her see some of it for herself and see if the bug catches.
We met up with Pop Pop at Godfather's Pizza. They have a nice pizza buffet and plenty of room for extended family so it works out well. The music there started with 'Everybody Walk the Dinosaur' and continued on with George Michael's 'Faith' and Genesis 'Land of Confusion'. In other words, they haven't changed their music selection in twenty some years. Not that I was complaining!
We left Felix with Pop Pop at the church (lots of room to run around and an actual nursery). Then it was off to the Paramount. This was my first time in there since it was renovated. It's gorgeous. Lots of older style decor and glitz, of course. And the auditorium is painted like a city at dusk. There are even stars on the ceiling. I pointed them out to Relia and she kept saying 'it's like we're outside!".
The show . . . well . . . Here is the deal. I'm a terrible play goer and have been for some time. It's next to impossible for me to turn off my internal critic. Usually that means that I'm figuring how I could have given a better performance than someone. Today it meant that I wanted to give the cast notes on being louder and faster on the cues. Which, frankly, is a pretty unfair criticism to lay at the feet of a troupe of kids.
Did Relia enjoy it? I think so. I'm not sure how much of it she understood. She knew there was a troll and some frogs. And a real live dog appeared on stage. There was some three year old restlessness before the show ended, I can firmly attest to that. But . . . I think she liked it.
After it was done we went up to the stage to say hi to the cast. She wanted to shake their hands. They told her she could go on stage and look around. So we did. While back there I ran into Cameron Davis, who built the set for the show. Relia asked him if he was the troll. Without missing a beat he said, "No, I always look like this!".
I had one very nice moment with Relia on the stage. I stopped her wandering and asked her to look outward. I mentioned that with the lights on, the actors could barely see the audience at all. When I asked her if it looked fun she nodded yes with lots of energy.
She just might have caught the bug after all.

Update: The FP Gal has photos up.