Spending the morning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

This morning I told Nicholas that we were going to a Slappy's Puppet Playhouse (http://www.slappysplayhouse.com/) to watch a puppet show production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He was very excited and ran to his room to "read" the book one more time before we left.



We made our way to the Galleria in Dallas where Slappy's is located. It was challenging waiting to be let in the theatre. Their lobby is of course filled with all sorts of wonderful and magical toys for sale that every child just has to have. Nicholas and I played with some adorable puppets. He had a knight in shining armor and I had a pirate. I would have loved to have bought several puppets but I was able to resist the urge when I saw that they were $20 each.

Since children are the main audience for the show, the stage manager asked that parents sit on the side rows and let all of the children sit in the center section so that they have the best seats in the house. I thought, "Surely, they don't know my child. He'll jump around and run all over the place if I'm not there to hold him down." At first I was going to have him sit along the side rows with me but he really couldn't see well. So I asked him if he wanted to sit on the front row with the other children even if I wouldn't be there with him. He hesistated for a minute but then jumped up with his popcorn in tow and headed to the front row. He looked back at me a few times to make sure I was still there but I was pleasantly surprised that he sat quietly and well-behaved in his seat for the whole performance.



The stage manager, Raymond, came out on stage before the show began to talk to everyone. He explained how marionette puppets move. He told us about the Bridge where the puppeteers stand above the stage while they work with the puppets.

The show was great, even for me. We've been to Slappy's once before to see Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It was fun then but this production was even better. There was more music and the puppets looked even better. Since I volunteer on stage crew at church, I can't help but notice backdrop changes and stage moves in live performances. Twice I had to resist the urge to run up onstage and make a slight adjustment to the backdrop. Crazy, huh?!





After the puppet show, we went to the children's play area at the Galleria. Nicholas had a great time. He enjoyed climbing on top of everything and jumping off.