puppetmaker | Caroline's First Broadway Show

On a whim we decided to go into the city and see if we could score tickets to a show or two. We wanted "The Lion King" but it was standing room only and standing with Caroline for 2 hours on Peter's shoulders was not happening. So we went for the next kid friendly show in town which is "Beauty and the Beast." We got good seats for Caroline and me. Peter and Ariel were going to see "Fiddler on the Roof" because Harvey Fierstein and Rosie O'Donnell were in the leads. We took Caroline to Toys R' Us for a run around before the show. Ariel took Caroline on the Ferris Wheel that they have indoors at the 42nd street location. She loved it. This kid has no fear of heights and I predict roller coasters in her future.

Caroline and I go in and get seated. We lucked out to be sitting in a row of mothers, grandmothers, and little girls. She looked around and seemed fascinated by the theater lights and the dust floating through the lights. She was a little scared by the opening with the beggar and the Prince and watched through her fingers but she did watch. She liked the transformation into the enchantress.

Once Belle was on, she was hooked. She loved Belle. She laughed at Gaston and the antics of Lefou. She took her cues off of Belle. If Belle was scared of something then Caroline was scared. When Belle and the Beast became friends then the Beast was OK in Caroline's books. She really like "Be Our Guest" and "Beauty and the Beast". When Belle came out in the yellow dress, Caroline turned to me and said, "Belle Pretty."

Second Act was touch and go. She would watch part of it and then get the fidgets and want to go. She was showing all the signs of being very tired. Since Belle liked the Beast Caroline was not happy when Gaston attacked the Beast. The transformation has a lot of strobes and flashes and she got very scared. She crawled up into my lap and buried her head in my shoulder. I like that you can be 5th row center and unless you know the trick, you still don't know how they do the transformation. So the transformation happened and Caroline had fallen asleep. I put her up on my shoulder and went to see if I could say Hi to an old friend of mine Glenn Rainey who plays a variety of roles including Monsieur D'Arque. We had worked together a number of times in Atlanta and he was one of my theater buddies who I would get together with even if we were not doing a show together. We caught up on news and he met the sleeping Caroline.

After that I went back to the car to get the stroller. One of the longest short walks of my life due to the limp person on my shoulder. She slept a little in the stroller but shortly woke up. We wandered around Time Square waiting for Ariel and Peter to get out of "Fiddler." Peter ran Ariel and me up to my show in time for me to focus the lights and order dinner. Ariel enjoyed "Most Happy" and we took the train back getting in about Midnight.

Overall I think Caroline had a lot of fun. I had a blast going to her first Broadway Show. Ariel thought it was cool that her first Broadway Show was also now Caroline's. Peter and Ariel got to see the show they had been hoping to see since Rosie had been announced as Golda. A good day all around for the David Family.

I am grateful that I was able to experience this.