Things to Do in Austin: The Lion King at Bass Concert Hall!

I love me some live theatre. Seriously, I LOVE it. It's not uncommon for me to be driving around with the original Broadway recordings of one show or another in my car - in fact, Ava is likely the only three-year-old alive who notices the difference in the Broadway cast and movie cast recordings of Rent, but I digress. Anyhow, wanting to indoctrinate A to my love of Broadway early on in life, I took her to see The Lion King this past weekend!

Now before you go nominating me for mother of the year (the overwhelming opinion amongst my friends is that they would sooner die than spend three hours at a live theatre performance with a toddler!), know that my motivation was entirely selfish. I've never seen the show before, and it is my all-time favorite Disney movie, so I have been dying to go. I nearly went while I was staying in a hotel in Times Square awaiting my new apartment when I moved to NYC, but something held me back. Now, I know it was so that Ava and I could experience it together :)

(I can neither confirm nor deny that five seconds after this picture was taken, that sign was on the floor...oops.)

(Such a little ham! Argh!)

Anyhow, the show was AMAZING. If you haven't seen it and you get the chance, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more kid-friendly Broadway show (at least a touring one...). Never once did I feel awkward to have brought a small child, especially seeing as how it was like Chuck E. Cheese in Bass Concert Hall for the day, with kids EVERYWHERE. I felt bad for the poor couple in my aisle that didn't get the memo that this was going to be largely a parent-child patronized production! 

If you're familiar with the movie (and you very well should be if you're also a child of the mid-80's!), you'll know that there are some suspenseful and sad parts (ahem, Mufasa's death...), but they were handled in a way that diverted attention from the intensity and brought a little comic relief when possible. Otherwise, Ava was familiar with the movie and so it wasn't surprising to her. She did request to sit in my lap when the scenery got darker and you could tell a "scary" part was coming, but other than that, she did just fine! In fact, aside from the fact that she refused to take a cute picture with me without making a weird face or looking away, she was a saint. Two hours and forty minutes in a dark theatre and she was awesome. I nominate her for a Tony for Best Behaved Toddler in a Musical!

They also had this really great wall up on the top floor near the patio that you could leave your mark on, and leave her mark she did! She's so excited that she knows how to write letters and her name that she likes to do it anytime the opportunity arises!

Here's a couple more shots of my little Broadway-babe:

Being a parent? It's pretty damn awesome.

If you're in Austin and have yet to have the opportunity to see The Lion King, you have a handful of days left before it's gone again for who knows how long! You can get tickets at UT Performing Arts Center.