Taking a 4-year-old to a high school play, or any activity over an hour, takes a little bit of planning. On top of knowing where the closest restrooms are located, you have to be ready for just about anything from a sudden illness to random tears.
On this particular day, though, Addy was feeling great and on some of her best behavior. Of course, it was Valentine's Day.
After a scrumptious dinner at Summit Grill, the girl and I headed to Lee's Summit West High School to catch the musical "Cinderella." It wasn't Addy's first time at a theater performance, having seen her old man in a cameo role at "Godspell" last fall.
We arrived to a packed house in the West theater and found a few seats near the back where Addy had a good line of sight to the stage. The house lights when down, the curtain separated away and Addy giggled with excitement as the production began.
As the carriage whisked away Cinderella (played by West senior Jasmin Robinson, her first lead role, where she was simply amazing), Addy and I made a mad dash to beat the intermission-crowd to the restroom.
Turns out, we shouldn't have been in a hurry.
Little did we know that, at some point, some of the high school orchestra got stuck in the elevator. After a few minutes turned into 20 or more, Addy started to get impatient.
We had restroom trip checked off. Bottled water handy. Snacks close by. But I hadn't planned for "orchestra in the elevator" delays with her.
As we chatted about what she enjoyed about the first act, I explained that "Cinderella" had a real name and it was "Jasmin." I shouldn't have even walked down that road, because the kiddo was really confused about that. Thankfully, the booming voice from the sky saved me with an announcement that there was a minor technical difficulty (although I am sure he had a different phrase for it) and that the production would be resuming shortly. A few minutes later, we learned Act II would be resuming sans a few members of the orchestra.
I almost lost Addy during the delay. A few members of the audience had already shuffled out and it was getting late. Thankfully, the house lights went down and we got rolling again. And I am thrilled we stayed.
The players at West didn't let the adversity shake them a bit. If it did, they didn't show it one bit.
When they came out to take a bow, Addy was clapping and cheering like she had just seen the biggest production of her life.
And you know, she probably just had.
Bravo to theater director Brad Rackers and the West Side Stage players. The show had to go on and they made sure everyone had a special Valentine's evening.