Yesterday I was sorting three bags of assorted Wonka candies into piles for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory concessions. At some point I happened to glance up from my work and there, just on a level with the Box Office counter were the expectant, sugar-greedy faces of seven four year old pink frily fairy princesses.
One of the children's classes was a preschool class called CandyLand. Apparently, only girls signed up, and what CandyLand character did each girl want to be? Queen Frostine. Instructor Pam decided that, rather than a week's worth of harsh feelings over not being Queen Frostine, everyone got to be Queen Frostine.
But I've got to say, it's a little creepy looking down at that many little tiara-headed, frilly dressed girls who all have one silent demand burning in their eyes. Luckily, the mothers saved me having to do anything by dragging the girls off calmly explaining that Instructor Pam had already given them plenty of candy.
It's been a long time since I've seen the silent approach in action. I guess grown-ups have discovered that sitting quietly in the bank with the application in your lap does not a Home Equity Loan make. In fact, it'd be a little weird if that was all it took for the manager to see you sitting there quietly and say, "Oh, you want a Home Equity Loan? Here you go."
I'm at work at the moment, and I really need to go pee, but I'm the only one here. In the summertime, thanks to the years of camp, I drink gallons of water. This means that I get to go to the bathroom about every half hour. I wonder if perhaps I ought to try to be a little less hydrated.
I saw the kid's show last night. I read the script a couple months ago and was not impressed. Lots of kids shows seem to be rather in the Greek style: stand here and talk about the action that's occuring off-stage, walk over here and stand and describe what's going on. This script was no exception. The scene in the nut-room was reduced to a page and a half long Willy Wonka monolouge. Now, what average ten year old is going to get a speech like that memorised correctly, and all of the other's he's supposed to learn?
The director has violated copyright laws by taking these monolouges out (or cutting them drastically and handing lines to other actors). She's also added lots of opporunities for kids to do fun things- they're actually physicalising the machines in the show, which is just really cool. It's much easier to tell kids to go and do something than to learn a whole bunch of lines.
But the thing is, they all know their lines too. Only two flubs last night. They've done a really incredbile job, and while it's not good theatre at all, they've got a lot to be proud of.
So, except the millions of copyright laws being broken, it's a good thing.