Max and Ruby

If you have children, you have probably watched this quaint television program. I am not being sarcastic, I really love it! Max and Ruby are two bunny rabbits, brother, aged three, sister, aged eight. Max is always up to his shenanigans, which are very endearing. He speaks very little, usually just one word per "skit," something like "jelly bellies" or "butterfly," whatever he has been coveting for that episode. Ruby is equally lovable. Although I do know a few grown-ups who find her a bit nauseating, I find Ruby to be an excellent role-model for big sisters everywhere, heck, even for parents! Granted, Max's antics are cute. He doesn't break Ruby's toys or beat her up or anything. So it's not that much Ruby has to endure. But Max does get annoying. He never does what Ruby wants, (isn't this a little brother's job?) yet Ruby simply sighs and responds patiently. She always has the perfect little answer, and Max never cries (that I can recall) or throws a fit. It's childhood in an ideal world. Call me crazy, but I like it. My kids love it.

This Friday, I caught an advertisement for a children's theater company that would be offering up Max and Ruby at 2 and 4:30, today (Sunday), at Thalian Hall here in Wilmington. Despite the fact that we are (still) poor, I felt I had to take the kids. In my mind, these are the things charge cards are really for. I have taken my husband's charge cards away, if you must know, but kept my own. This might seem unfair (I know you don't think so, Mom) but if you know me, you understand. I am, quite frankly, the queen of restraint. I can resist anything. Call it a gift, or a curse, however it strikes you, it is what it is. Claudio doesn't mind a whit that I have the cards. My having credit cards is (practically) a non-issue. I think maybe he's hoping I'll spend (on anything) so he can experience it vicariously. Well today he got his wish.

I charged up $36 on the ol' Visa, and it was well worth it. I am a humongous theater fan. I use the term theater broadly to include ballet, concerts, and every kind of theater from the musical to the absurd. It's no secret that I was once an aspiring actress. I love theater, okay? And I want my kids to appreciate it. So I keep taking them. It isn't working.

Emilia, by all counts, should love the theater. She's quite the little ballerina, has danced in The Nutcracker and is currently rehearsing for The Sleeping Beauty Ballet. She adores ballet class and performing. She loved being in the talent show at school, and did a great job. She's definitely got a lot of me in her. Yet every time I try to take her to the theater, to the ballet, to the opera, it flops. She wants to LEAVE at intermission! Imagine! It's gotten to the point that I thought I might be doing more harm than good in my quest to educate her in the finer points of life.

Well today I figured out where I've been going wrong. And it was so painfully obvious. Have you figured it out, yet? Today we went to a production of CHILDREN'S theater. Get it? Theater catering to CHILDREN. What made me think my six year old would be able to appreciate The Pirates of Penzance? I am not saying she hated these productions I've been taking her to, just that I was not getting that "Wow, magic!" reaction I'd been hoping for. The one I remember having when my mom took my sisters and I to see our first musical. It was the local high school play. Oddly enough, (and this is a whole other story, but not a very interesting one, so I probably will never tell it unless you beg me, but don't) I am not sure what musical it was. I think it was Desert Song, but I am not sure. Anyway, I was hooked. I knew I had to be a part of what was going on up there. The perhaps sad part, is that this feeling has never left me. Although I have long since stopped trying to be an actress, it's still there, that longing for the theater. I cry a lot when I go to the theater. I don't mean at the sad parts. At the good parts. I really love it.

Don't be sad for me. I'm very much an optimist and I will make peace with the theater. I'm a tad busy raising my kids at the moment (something I love doing as much as I love the theater, maybe more) but I'll get back to it. That's a promise.

So where the heck was I? Right, children's theater. Very embarrassing that I just really didn't GET it until today. Well, you know what another part of it was? (I just realized this.) This was an excellent production. Top notch. This has been part of the problem, I think, with my past attempts. I love Wilmington, I really do, but I grew up next to New York City, kwim? I know that may sound rude, and I'm sorry, but try to understand. The best of the best was right there. Not quite at my fingertips, but close enough. And I had parents that "got it" and brought us frequently. I was raised on the NYC Ballet Nutcracker and Broadway. The real deal. I do not want to be a theater snob, but I can't help it. Enough on that.

For whatever reason, be it the subject material, the production level, the fact that it catered to the ages of my kids, today, for the first time, my kids enjoyed the theater. I brought the little one (Lucas) too. It wasn't his first time to the theater, but after my strike outs with the older one, I'll admit I've gone a little easier on him.

They both loved it. I was afraid to ask themat first, although their quiet starings at the stage, their movements only to procure a better view, were kind of a hint.
So today was very fulfilling. I have finally managed to share some of this grand love of mine with my children. Priceless.

:) Tracy