Can We Fix It? ... Yes We Can!

Here we are in our front yard, getting ready for a mommy-and-ollie date at the Whitley Bay Playhouse for their second showing of Bob the Builder. Well, I have to just say that this was not "high theatre" and the tickets were overpriced, all things considered, but...

to have special time with my little guy was worth it. :-)

Mike took this pic of us in our front garden on our way out the door to the
theatre.

A balloon vendor was hawking wares outside.
Thankfully, Ollie's isn't a materialist sort of boy.
We walked on in....

"Two, for Bob the Builder, please.
Thank you...." 

As we waited in the crowd, I told Ollie, "Bob the Builder is behind the big
red curtain." And he just looked at me like either (A) I was crazy, or (B) he
didn't believe me.

Look at that pudgy little thumb...

The ol' hold your arm out and take a picture of yourself trick.

We weren't supposed to take any pictures during the show, but I snuck this
one. Wendy, at left, and Bob, at right. Actually, Scoop, Dizzy, Scrambler,
and Spud all made appearances in the performance.

Family Fun Day at the Whitley Bay Playhouse

On Sunday, we bought tickets for Family Fun Day at the Whitley Bay Playhouse, which is where Merrit and I went to see Oliver! a few months ago....and where Ollie and I will be seeing Bob the Builder on Wednesday of this week.

The events included a puppetman and ventriloquist, a magician and balloon-twister, and a story teller. There were the usual "extras" that seem to show up at events for kids: Face painters, a hot dog stand, booths selling kids' books and toys and games, and so on.

Here we are goofing around at one of the two intermissions.

Wearing a silly hat and waving a balloon sword.

Same hat. Different kid.

Same hat. Different kid.
Wow, does his face just say "FUN" or what?

Date Night at the Theatre

I had a first date on Wednesday night. Even though I had to ask the boy out and pay for the tickets myself and he didn't take me out to dinner first, I still think it was a great first date! Here's my date and I:

Merrit and I outside the house, getting ready to walk to
the theatre.

I had to explain to Merrit on the way to the Whitley Bay Playhouse that we were on a date and that meant that instead of running a half-block ahead of me yelling back at me to hurry up, he should walk with me, and hold my hand, and ask me about things I'm interested in. Once we were walking hand-in-hand, I said, "I'll start."

"So, Merrit, I understand that you have been homeschooled until now and this is your first time in public school. What's that like?"

"Well, it's a lot of fun and I like it. It's a long day though and sometimes I miss you—I mean—my mom. But, it's good. Um, so have you been settling in here? Are you making friends?"

"Oh, thanks for asking. Well, yes, I have met some people that are nice, but it'll take time to make good friends. Don't you think it takes time to make friends?"

"Yeah."

"Oh look, here we are at the playhouse."

It's a short walk! Just two blocks.

The playhouse is right across the street from Merrit's
school.

We had tickets to see Lionel Bart's Oliver, presented by the Whitley Bay Operatic Society. It was a great show. The boy who played the part of Oliver Twist was only eight years old and he did an amazing job! I was so impressed and touched when this little kid sang "Where Is Love?" all alone, under a spotlight, in front of a mostly-adult audience. Such bravery for a young kid.

I watched Oliver once before, a long time ago, when my cousin was in a high-school (or maybe even middle school?) presentation of the play. I sort of knew the storyline, but I was a bit rusty. What a great story. What great music!...Songs like "Food, Glorious Food," "Consider Yourself," "As Long As He Needs Me," "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two," and "I'd Do Anything." And how cool is it that they had a live, albeit small, orchestra to accompany the actors?

Merrit took this picture from our seats on the third row.

This was Merrit's fourth play. He's seen Stomp!, Schoolhouse
Rocks (a production with an all-kid cast), and Macbeth (in which
his friend Max played the part of Fleance).

After I took Merrit's picture with the tix, he wanted to take mine.

At intermission, we bought some crisps (potato chips) and gummy snakes.

Merrit saw a teacher from his school at intermission and said hello. He didn't think to introduce me, but we're still working on date etiquette!

During the second act, Merrit was getting a little tired. He leaned over and whispered, "I think if I could eat a couple more gummy snakes, it might help me stay awake." Ha ha. Always working the angle, that one.

He had a lot of questions during the second act, as the plot became more complicated. The music helped him differentiate the good guys from the bad guys; the musicians in the orchestra pit played little bits of "mood music" (I'm sure there's a term for this but I don't know it) during non-speaking and non-singing parts of the play. And of course he jumped back in his seat and covered his eyes when Bill Sykes strangles Nancy on London Bridge at midnight. Just a little violent but, hey, if you've seen Macbeth, you can handle just about anything.

Thankfully, the Broadway version of the story is much less dark than Charles Dickens' original. In the play, Mr. Fagin is a comical character who seems to have a good heart even though he makes his troop of orphaned boys work as pickpockets in London, but in the Dickens story, Mr. Fagin is a criminal who treats the children cruelly and who is eventually tried and executed for his crimes. Note: I didn't know any of this before yesterday...but you gotta love Wikipedia.

When the play was over, we held hands and walked home in the dark. That was sweet. We watched an airplane fly overhead and found the moon, half-hidden behind the clouds. We talked about whether Mr. Fagin was good or bad, or a little of both. And whether he could change his ways. I didn't have to tell Merrit not to run ahead or to hold my hand on the way home—maybe because it was dark out, but I like to think that it was because he was having a nice time on our date.