Showing up
When I was a kid, there was either no afterschool programs or my family couldn’t afford to send us, but, in any case, I never knew about the very idea of “afterschool” growing up.
For my own kid, I put him a program so I had time to work, and that was a musical production of Footloose.
Because it was his first time, he only had a bit part with one line, but he was in the cast and had to sing and dance in a number of the songs.
In any case, they had their three shows last week and I went to two of them.
My MIL, SIL, and I went to the one on Thursday; ABFF, her kids, and her sister went on Friday; the Firecracker, her niece, her sister, and I all went on Saturday.
On the one hand, it was pretty well done, I gotta say.
On the other hand, watching two of the same grade-school musicals is pretty much my limit.
The kids with parents that went to all three are pretty lucky as they, clearly, have better parents than my kid has.
On the flip side, there was this nice kid that was also in the show that waved to my kid after the last performance was over and proceeded to walk home alone.
Me: Oh man, that really bothers me.
Her: What? That he’s going home alone?
Me: Yeah – it means that no one came to see him.
Her: Maybe they came to another show.
Me: Still…
I’m confident my kid will be angry with me because there’s something about fathers and sons that means there’s always friction there, somehow.
But I hope he remembers that, whenever possible, I showed up.
Him: Thanks for coming! I was looking for you.
Me: (laughing) And you found me.
Quick little side story:
On the first night I went with my MIL and SIL, Tony Danza from Who’s the Boss fame sat two rows ahead of us.
We all assumed that he had a kid or grandkid in the audience but one parent told me the following – which, keep in mind, is like the game “telephone” in that you’re like hearing it from the person that heard it from the person that heard it.
Me: Does he have a kid here?
Him: I just heard him tell another parent that he was at the park the other day and some kid walked up to him, not knowing who he was, and said, “I’m in a play on Thursday, will you come and watch it?” I think that kid was asking everyone he met to come by. Anyway, Tony Danza heard this and said, “Sure!” and he actually showed up!
Me: Man, I always liked him. I hope that’s true.
Regardless, he sat through the whole thing, laughed and clapped at the right times, and left without a fuss.
What a class act.
Should mention that my brother did that picture of my kid for the back cover of the Playbill above – he’s amazing at stuff like that.
Location: at a NYC splash pad, reading about Michigan and hating people.
Mood: upset
Music: Tell me why, ain’t nothin’ but a heartache (Spotify)
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2 replies on “Let’s hear it for the boy”
So that’s where Tony Danza is from! How cool your kid was on the back of the playbill! I would have only shown up to one show so the fact you did two in one week is something to not take lightly lol.
As soon as we got the email asking for donations, I donated and asked for the back page. Win!