That's Curtains!

The note below arrived in the aftermath of our trip to see A Christmas Carol. I use the word aftermath advisedly.

Thank you for your message. My staff was able to repair the banner stand.

Do not worry and have a very Happy Holiday.

Clement C. Mann
General Manager
Lesher Center for the Arts

Whew.

It began like this:

I got tickets for A Christmas Carol. It was one of the first stage performances I saw as a child, so I thought it would be great to take the girls. And it was, despite....

Well, let me be the ghost of A Christmas Carols past and take you there:

It is an 8 o'clock performance. A little late for my girls. Might get cranky. Might need some sugar.

I suggest they pack up candy.

Why? Greta asks.

Note: I make a mistake at this point. Instead of saying, to keep you happy, I say, Well, if you get a cough, you can suck on a candy and it makes your cough go away so you don't disturb people.

The girls put on their finery and each clutches a bag of candy, all unwrapped to avoid crinkling during the performance as per the request that came with the tickets.

I try to get pictures before the performance, but the kids don't want to. If only I had realized that trying to get those pictures after would be an even bigger mistake.

Ok, so the show is great.

The ghost of Christmas past has a dress filled with fairy lights. The set has two stories. Snow falls, fog rolls. A chorus sings Christmas Carols in minor keys.

The only problem is that Greta keeps fake coughing for candy.

Even after I give her the bag and tell her she can have as many as she wants. She sits on my lap and every few seconds she fake coughs and turns to me and says, in a stage whisper audible for several rows, "I'm just going to have another one for my cough."

At intermission they serve ice cream that you can eat at your seat! We don't know this, so we go for a "walk" and pass the stern "No running!" lady several times.

We get back to our seats just as the intermission is ending. Mike manages to score some ice cream to eat in the dark. Clem evidently doesn't like hers because after the performance we find that it melted in the cup and then she tipped it over. I try to clean up the big chocolaty puddle with my program.

I fail.

I tell an usher.

We go down the spiral staircase. The girls are tired and cranky. At the bottom is a 10 foot tall banner with a picture of the stage and Scrooge in the middle. I think this would be a great photo op.

The kids jostle and grumble. Greta steps back onto the edge of the banner which touches the floor. There is a crack and the banner begins to crumple and fall down on her. In the excitement Clementine spills her remaining unwrapped candy all over the floor.

Ta da!

Now I wish I had snapped a photo.