The Show Must Go On*

I highly recommend taking someone to their first Broadway musical. If you're going to do such a thing then I highly recommend taking someone who is able to express themselves intelligently and completely.

Carmencita and I took Alita to her first Broadway musical tonight. I wish I had a picture but, while I remembered to bring my camera, I forgot to check the batteries for freshness. We saw a musical adaptation of Neal Gaiman & Dave McKean's The Wolves in the Walls by the National Theatre of Scotland.

Show time was 7:00pm and by 7:15 nothing was happening and people were clapping rhythmically to try to get the show started. I do not approve of such a thing in a proper theatre but it prompted the House Manager to come out and make an announcement. At 6:45 one of the actors fell up the stairs and sprained his ankle badly enough to have to go to the hospital. The show has 8 actors and no understudies. By 7:15 the actors had re-worked the show so they could go on with only 7 actors and really, I'd have been hard pressed to pinpoint the person in the new role. I love this not only 'cause it proves that the ensemble is awesome but also because Alita's first show was different than any other performance of any show ever, even more so than the way that every performance is always different from every other one.

She loved it. She has the book and has read it a lot recently. Her memory is impeccable both for what she saw onstage and for what's in the book and how it differs from what was presented on stage. She preferred the play and was able to tell us that was because the play was funnier and had more action in it. She especially liked it when the wolves danced. We were both pleased to see that they included the tag line from the book (I don't want to spoil it for you so I'll just say it involves elephants). I also loved that she had thought through how certain effects might have been achieved. There were partial body puppets, small puppets, mechanical scenery, projections and animation and she had thoughts about how each thing had been created. I think she's got some of it right and some of it probably not but I don't know how it's really done so who am I to say? Most shocking moment of the evening for me was when she talked about when the pig puppet was propped up next to "that box" while the wolves danced. "That box" was a turntable for 45s, one of the ones that comes in its own carrying case. How would she know what that was? Oh, then she remembered, she'd seen one in the 2nd Scooby Doo movie. Who says movies these days aren't educational?

Afterwards we ran into some old friends outside, then we meandered over to Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream over which to re-hash the show. The conversation was lively, the ice cream was awesome and my homeward commute was blessedly swift. It was a great night out. I love an evening of theatre more than almost anything but it is made infinitely better by the right companion, especially if you get one who snuggles with you during the show.

*Not to be confused with My Heart Must Go On which is what the guy in the subway was playing on his steel drum as we headed home.