Tuesday we went to the Children's Theatre Company to see Madeline and the Gypsies, minus Mark and plus Hannah's 6yo Silas, who thought he'd died and gone to heaven what with the free pizza and the Fruit By The Foot I bought the kids during intermission,
I love theatre, and I don't think I've seen a single production of anything not expressly for children since, uh, we had children. Such is life. But luckily, here in the Twin Cities, the children's theatre is top-notch, and we've enjoyed being subscribers. Madeline and the Gypsies was especially fun, I thought, because it featured performers from St. Paul's Circus Juventas, the circus arts school for ages 3-21. I especially liked to watch a father-son balancing act team — the little boy was maybe 6 or 7, doing flips off his daddy's hands — and a young man who did a routine on a German wheel, which I'd never seen before. And if I was impressed, imagine the three boys I was with — I thought they were going to pitch off the balcony from bouncing on their seats and pointing and squealing.
What, doesn't your town have a circus arts school? For kids whose parents don't think they climb the walls nearly enough? Courses are available in acrobatics, aerial, balance — yup, high wire and all that — clowning, juggling, various types of dance. After watching the play I was tempted to sign Milo up for one of their 3-6yo classes. Kind of pricey, but cool.
The Children's Theatre Company does shows expressly for older kids and teens — they've done Antigone and Romeo and Juliet in recent years. I'm looking forward to going with my kids to some of these as they get older.
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