Author: Karen

It was time to go. The weather was damp, but it wasn’t actually raining for once.

I was relieved.

I get cranky when it’s raining and I’m trying to maintain a fresh-dressed look. When my hair gets wet, it turns into the texture of limp straw and even though I always wear waterproof mascara, it always seems to smudge when it’s damp, leaving me looking like a surprised raccoon in the middle of rummaging for dinner.

And I wanted to look nice for our family outing.

I was a tad worried – were we dressed up enough? Would we look like beggars looking for a handout when standing next to the beautiful theater people? Whenever I think of the theater I think of the red carpet where everyone is dripping with sparkly accessories and glowing a burnt-orange color from their spray-on tans.

I needn’t have worried – everyone was casual.

Perhaps too much so. I was a little disappointed that people weren’t a little more dressed up simply because we do something like this so infrequently that making it a special occasion by admiring well-dressed people would have made it feel a little more … special somehow.

We met my in-laws there. My sister and brother-in-law also showed up, so it truly was a family affair. The biggest reason we decided to go to the play was because my nephew was acting in it and considering he’s been busy seriously acting for the past few years and we’ve never once seen him, we were starting to feel just a bit guilty by not offering our support for something he loved doing.

His face lit up when we talked to him afterwards and he seemed pleased that we had shown up.

Or he was acting like he was pleased.

Either way, I’m glad we went.

The play?

The Buddy Holly Story.

We sat in the balcony. My SIL requested the tickets and she apologized for the seats, but I actually prefer to sit up high – I appreciate the bird’s eye view of everything from up above.

The boys weren’t sure how to act. Jazz sat next to me and refused to remove his jacket and Dude sat in the seat in front of me and looked stiff as a board. He sat with his back very straight and his hands balled into fists resting on his thighs. My heart actually hurt for his discomfort. Poor Dude – he just hasn’t quite reached that point where he’s comfortable in his own skin yet.

He did loosen up a bit at intermission, after he worked up the courage to actually stand up and stretch his legs. He resumed his robot-like behavior though once the show started again.

I think Jazz was fascinated by the entire thing – the theater, which is 100 years old this year, is an elaborate, ornate building that simply oozes charm and the audience’s energetic and appreciative attitude was interesting to absorb. In some respects, I think he was itching to go on stage – not to be one of the actors but to be a part of the band that was playing behind a sheer curtain at the back of the stage.

The play itself was good, though I would have preferred a bit more acting and less music. My three guys all thought it was excellent and liked the top-heavy musical productions. The actor who played Buddy Holly was simply phenomenal. He cut and permed his hair and with the trademark black glasses and wonderful voice, he did indeed look a lot like the original Buddy Holly.

It was only the production’s second night so they had some technical issues, but overall, they all did a wonderful job. It was quite a treat to be transformed to a more innocent age and I think the juxtaposition of that time era when compared to today was a valuable lesson in and of itself.

I honestly think the boys had a good time. We talked about it in the car on the way home and though they only recognized one song, I think it opened up a whole new world that they hadn’t been exposed to before.

This really makes me want to take them to the high school’s spring production if for no other reason than to continue to expose them to the arts.

It’s time like these that I realize I’m dropping the ball on my mom duties by NOT introducing more diverse entertainment opportunities like this.

I found a promotional video of “The Buddy Holly Story” if you would care to watch it. It’s a bit long, but if you will forward to the 2:21 spot, you can watch my nephew talk about his experiences with community theater. (In fact, he’s the blond kid on the left in the thumbnail).

Have you been to a live production lately?