Tale as old as time....

I have a fuzzy recollection of going to Boston with my mother and brother when I was little to see Peter Pan.  I am pretty sure I was all dressed up, I haved some memory of braids and a white sweater.  I think we rode the Swan Boats in the Public Garden.  I remember Peter Pan soaring out into the audience and falling in love with the song I've Got to Crow.  While the recollection is fuzzy, the memory is still magical.  I have gone on to see many musicals since Peter Pan, from high school productions of The Sound of Music and  Man of La Mancha, to Les Miserable on Broadway with my high school chorus, to Joseph and the Amazing Techicolor Dreamcoat and Showboat with Loyola pals, to The Lion King and Wicked with Andy.  So quite obviously, I kind of like my musical theater.
Last night, however, I saw it with renewed eyes - through the eyes of my little four year old.  Andy scooped us up tickets to Beauty and the Beast.  We didn't tell Addie about our plans until an hour before we left for dinner and the show - she jumped in the shower, tolerated having her hair blown dry and slipped into her fanciest get up (yes, she added the floofy hair bow herself).

After a very grown up dinner of fresh fruit, lemonade and a hot dog at Rusty Bucket off we headed to the Aronoff Center for some musical magic.  Addie gaped at the size of the size of the theater.  She exclaimed that all the lights were beautiful and loved the plush of the seats.  During the play she hopped from daddy's lap to Aunt Nikki's lap to my lap.  She clapped with enthusiam after each number, ahhhed at Belle's dresses, hummed along in places and let out an enthusiatic woot woot! when Mrs. Potts finished singing Beauty and the Beast.  Without a doubt Addie was completely swept away by elegance and beauty of the theater - and when she was handed a rose as we left I think her heart just about exploded.