Sunday, February 20, 2011

Shrektastic!!

I got tickets for the three of us to go see "Shrek: The Musical" in Hartford at the Bushnell Theater. The performance was today, and it was a really good show! Some of the songs dragged a bit, but the fairy tale characters were great, Donkey was funny, and the woman who sang the voice of the dragon was AMAZING!! We had seats in the balcony, so kind of high up, but the view was good. EXCEPT FOR ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE PRACTICALLY STANDING UP IN THEIR SEATS!!!! My God- the rudeness, the cluelessness of these people was astounding! OK- right before the show started, a lovely British voice came over the speakers and said something to the effect of: "Dear theatergoers, we hope you will enjoy the show, but please keep these three things in mind- 1. Please make sure to turn off your phone, 2. no photography allowed, and 3. (The best of all!) If you have brought anything to eat with you which is wrapped in a crinkly paper, please eat it immediately or a giant ogre will find you and take you far far away." Great, no? It gets a huge laugh, lights go down, show starts, and the woman behind my son takes out a baggie filled with chocolates and starts eating and sharing them. And a boy behind me was drinking water out of a bottle and popping and crinkling the friggin' bottle for the whole first act!! What a bunch of morons!! Where the hell is the common sense? Where are the parents? I did not pay $90 to listen to popping plastic OR to not be able to see the stage because the kids in front of us are A. leaning forward, B. in booster seats, C. sitting on mom's and dad's coats, or D. TOTALLY STANDING UP AND SQUIRMING!!!!! GAH!! I wanted to take that water bottle and throw it across the aisle and hit the woman with the chocolates. Now, I get it, it's a kids' show, there were lots of kids, lots of little kids, lots of little squirmy kids, but COME ON- I just kept breathing deeply until I whispered loudly- "SIT DOWN!!!" to the squirmy standing kid two rows down. He sat. And the little girl in front of me thought I was talking to her and she cowered and went on her mommy's lap. As intermission was ending, I said under my breath- "OK, who's gonna piss me off now?" and a dad next to me started to giggle and agreed about the kid with the water bottle. It's just so maddening. I guess that civility is gone. I used to not like going to the movies because I'd wonder who was going to ruin my experience with talking, eating, rustling, phoning, after I paid ten bucks or whatever, so I stopped going for years. Anyway- the show was fun, I think my kids liked it, and then I spent $38 on souvenirs- a key chain, a mug, and a headband with ogre ears for my daughter. Ah, the things we do for our kids!

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