Getting some culture
pamelamyers | December 16, 2012
Today we took Sam to the Academy of Music to see her very first ballet, The Nutcracker. It was my first ballet too so I was really looking forward to sharing the experience with Sam. Generally, Mark and I go to see a concert at Christmas, but this year, we decided we could only do so many things and we wanted to spend our time with Sam. So, no concert for us. It was Mark’s idea to try The Nutcracker. I thought it was a great idea, but we both had our doubts about how well she would behave. To see the ballet, you have to be at least 3, so that tells you something. Sam is really good though, usually, and will sit through a whole 2 hour movie at home quiet as a mouse.
We dressed up in our finery and, tickets in hand, off to the Academy of Music we went! Sam wasn’t really sure what was going on, but she was a good sport.
Our first stop was the concession stand where I bought her a little nutcracker ornament as a souvenir. She was pretty excited about that idea. It was taking forever to buy though, so Mark took her to the seats while I paid. We had great seats, 3rd row center stage! Mark took her to the pit to see the orchestra. They are always talking about the different instruments so it was really nice to show her all the various ones up close.
The Academy is a beautiful old building. Everything you see seems sort of magical there.
As for the actual ballet, well…it was wonderful….but I must admit, a bit boring at first. It got a lot better after the intermission when the sugar plum fairies and such showed up. Sam thought so too. She was not the worst behaved that she could have been, but she was not exactly planted in her seat watching intently. I did manage to convey to her that she was NOT allowed to talk above a whisper, and only when we were clapping, NOT during the performance, so at least that wasn’t a problem. The only part she was interested in was the portion with the mice and the mouse king. The costumes, she loved. If more of the ballet had been in costume, I think she would have been entranced. Instead, I heard, every time we clapped following a performance, “Mommy? Can we go home now?” Ugh. So much for getting some culture. Maybe something a bit more kid friendly next year…