| Thank you for your post, brings back fond memories for me too. I'll try to be short, but by the age of 16, my daughter had seen more theatre than most people see in a lifetime. By the time she was five, we had PHANTOM OF THE OPERA memorized, and when we were in the car, she would sing Christine's parts, and I would sing the Phantom and Raoul. She absolutely LOVED Douglas Sills in PIMPERNEL, but I was mortified when she would sing "Madame Guillotine" in front of friends and family at the age of 7. She went through a "dark period" from 13 to 17, and yet we still managed to bond over SPRING AWAKENING, following the tour around enough that we got to know the cellist! She is now 29, and her theatre-going dropped off over the years, and now I really have to work hard to get her to join me for one show a year. We just went to the amazing Music Circus production of KINKY BOOTS, and I believe that she was energized to go with me more than once a year, but we'll see. Long story short, I don't know if her early exposure to PHANTOM led her to take up the cello in fourth grade, but I think it influenced her a bit, because I never played classical music for her. She kept up the cello throughout high school, becoming a cello teacher for younger kids, and now plays in a professional symphony orchestra! I hope that she will always look back on our shared theatre experiences as fondly as I do. |
