The Little Mermaid at Zach Scott Theatre.

We recently were the fortunate winners of a ticket giveaway by Central Texas Mom, and got tickets to go see The Little Mermaid at Zach Scott theatre! We were so excited, especially since we had seen this show advertised in advance but it had slipped my mind to buy tickets, and so despite being home from San Antonio for mere hours before heading back out, off we went downtown to catch the 7 p.m. show one Friday.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I grew up on Disney's version of The Little Mermaid, and had been forewarned that this was much truer to Hans Christian Andersson's version, which I hadn't read. Though I do wish I had familiarized myself with it prior to the show so that I could brief her that there could be a couple potentially unsettling parts, it ended up not being a big deal, since she's a.) insanely brave for a three-year-old, and b.) understood it was pretend and held my hand when she felt a bit nervous about the "sea witch".

We unfortunately weren't allowed to take picture during the show - pretty standard for any productions these days - I did get this snapshot of the set when we walked in:

It was pretty great. The show itself was quite entertaining, with the use of puppets and projection screens to tell the story and handle the difficult staging on the mermaid turning into a human. Pretty creative! 

All in all, I would highly recommend children's productions at Zach Scott. I've now seen both The Little Mermaid and Goodnight Moon in both of their smaller theatres, and never am anything short of impressed!

Things to Do in Austin: Goodnight Moon at Zach Scott Theatre!

There are few things I love as much as theatre, with the exception of a great book. Wanting to pass both of those loves along to Ava, you can imagine my excitement when I first heard back in December that Zach Scott theatre would be staging a production of Goodnight Moon this spring!

Though it's not technically "spring", the play/musical opened up this past Saturday, with public shows each Saturday at both 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. through March. We had been fortunate enough to win tickets from R We There Yet Mom?, and so we attended the opening production on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Here we are, getting ready for our mommy/daughter date!

I wasn't sure what exactly to expect going into the theatre. Would they just be acting out the book while reading aloud? Would there be singing? Dancing? Since it was based upon a short board book, how would they fill the extra time? I didn't know exactly what I was walking into, but Ava and I were both really excited for it!

As it turned out, my expectations were so completely surpassed - the show was AMAZING! The actors (Frank Nappi, Jill Blackwood, Amy Downing and Jerome Scholar) did such an amazing job of bringing the characters to life, while managing to tie in other children's riddles, stories, fairy tales and morals. Not only that, but I enjoyed it as much as Ava: What mother can't relate to chaos that ensues when your child fights the bedtime ritual?

As far as the theatre goes, I was just as impressed with the Kleberg Stage (the smaller-capacity stage in the building to the right of the main theatre building) as I was the main stage - there is truly not a bad seat in the house the way that the stages are set up! The costumes, the set, the props - everything was top notch!

Check out the spectacular stage:

And a shot of my little one before the show. She saw another little boy asking his mom to take a picture, and she was camera-ready in seconds!

Here she is again, this time with Little Bunny (Frank Nappi) and Mommy Bunny (Jill Blackwood), who were kind enough to pose with Ava as we were on our way out! Thank you - you made this little theatre-lover-in-the-making's day!

Goodnight Moon runs through March 23rd, with shows open to the public Saturdays. Other showings are reserved for schools and other groups. Tickets are $14 for children and $16 for adults, and totally worth every penny, if you ask me :)

White Christmas at the Zach Scott Theatre.

There are few things that are white about Christmas in Austin, but with the holiday season comes lovable holiday movies and musicals, and one such musical that has taken the town by storm happens to be a rendition of White Christmas at the Zach Scott Theatre.

White Christmas just so happens to be my absolute favorite Christmas movie. My mom and I have watched it religiously as far back as I can remember during the holiday season, and it is easily one of my absolute favorite holiday traditions, right up there with Christmas cookies and chocolate chip banana bread. When a movie can compete with those two things, you know you're onto something :)

Anyhow, when I heard that the recently renovated Zach Scott Theatre would be putting on a production of White Christmas at their new Topfer theatre as part of their inaugural season, I just knew that I had to be a part of the audience. In case the story alone wasn't enough of a draw, Matthew Redden scored the lead role of Bob Wallace, and that is one smile I just never get sick of. He's insanely talented, and - when I attended the performance last night - was absolute perfection in the role!

Matthew Redden wasn't the only shining star of the performance. Sure, he was absolutely key to the hit that White Christmas is destined to be, but the set design, costumes, and supporting cast were all worth a mention. Martha Watson, in particular, really stole the show in the second act, and the girls didn't disappoint either. The numbers for "Blue Skies" and "I Wish I Was Back in the Army" were extremely well done and really were the high point for me choreography wise!

It certainly didn't hurt, either, that I went with one of my best friends in the world for a much needed "girls" night after a dinner of some carb-coma-inducing Mexican food and margaritas with him, my husband and Ava, and it was the perfect Austin night out, with lots of laughs!

If you've yet to attend a show at the newly renovated Zach Scott Topfer Theatre, White Christmas is the perfect excuse! It's also worth noting that while ticket prices vary widely, there's nary a bad seat to be had, so don't feel that ticket prices should keep you away! You don't need to have the high priced tickets to have a great experience!