Finding Magic with Peter and the Starcatcher

PATSC logoThere’s something about the theater that is so full of magic. I’ve always felt that way and no matter how old I get or how many shows I’m lucky enough to see, I’ll never stop being excited. I’ve never in my life been to the theater and regretted going. I feel very blessed to not only live in a place with amazing local theater but also to live a short BART ride away from San Francisco and the amazing live theater it hosts.

The only thing that makes the magic of the theater even more magical is when the show itself is full of its own magic, like Peter and the Starcatcher, which is currently playing at the Curran Theater in San Francisco. Continue reading “Finding Magic with Peter and the Starcatcher”

Annie Giveaway!

In 1982 I was 6 years old. The same age my daughter is now and when the movie Annie came onto the big screen it was the most wonderful and amazing thing I had ever seen in my whole young life.

The music, the attitude, the sweetness and those fabulous orange locks! Annie was my kind of girl and I learned every song word for word after listening to the soundtrack album on my record player. I knew she’d always hold a special place in my heart.

That’s why I couldn’t be more excited to be giving away FOUR TICKETS to see the live production of Annie being put on by Tri-Valley Reparatory Theater at the beautiful Bankhead in Downtown Livermore!

That’s right, my friends at TVRT are back and better than ever with their production of Annie! The show will be opening tomorrow night and running through February 5th!  Performance dates are, January / February 2012
Jan. 21, 22, 27, 28, 29; Feb. 3, 4, 5. You can buy tickets here via the Bankhead Box Office. Continue reading “Annie Giveaway!”

Letting Our Freak Flag Fly at Shrek the Musical

“Let your freak flag fly” may seem like an odd piece of advice to offer my Kindergarten and Second Grader, but that was the lesson learned last week when we were lucky enough to catch “Shrek The Musical”  in San Francisco. And I have to say it’s a lesson I’m more than happy to support my kids getting. Continue reading “Letting Our Freak Flag Fly at Shrek the Musical”

Beauty and the Beast

There is something about the theater that is so full of magic that I can’t help but be swept away every time I get the chance to go. And if you add in a little Disney magic to boot, you’ve got a night to remember. And that’s exactly what I found when Cheyanne and I had a girl’s night out in the city. We went to the opening night of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at the Golden Gate Theater and were mesmerized from the moment we sat down.

I freely admit that I have done my share of trash talk when it comes to Disney Princesses. But I always feel that Beauty and the Beast (even in the pre Disney/original version of the tale) stands apart from other fairy tales because when you look at it, the person in need of rescue is Beast more than Beauty. And at the end of the day it Beauty who has saved the day, not the prince. Read more

Our Visit to Neverland

“So come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in Never Never Land!”

I believe in fairies. And I’m not ashamed to admit it. I mean I don’t go around telling people that, but between you and I, I do.

For a story about fairies, flying, magical places beyond the stars and little boys who won’t grow up, Peter Pan is one of the most relatable stories ever written. As children we shout that we believe in fairies, we dream about what it would be like to fly to Neverland and we keep an ever-watchful eye for pirates.

But then we grow up, and the magic is lost somehow. Until we have our own children. And then, just as Wendy says goodbye to Peter in the end, the magic returns and the story only begins again with our own child.

Yesterday my own two darling children and I hopped on the train to San Francisco, a magical place in itself, to see the live production of Peter Pan at the three sixty Theater. I knew it would be special, but I had no idea it would be the most amazing live theater experience I’d ever seen.

When we saw the real Wendy, John and Michael fly through the air above us along with Peter and Tinkerbell my heart began to race. I looked over at my kids and both of them were sitting there with smiles on their faces and pixie dust in their eyes.

They were mesmerized.

And later when we all shouted that we believed in fairies so that we could save Tink’s life, I felt myself start to cry.

Patrick with Nate Fallows (Peter Pan)

Sometimes as adults the stress of life can be overwhelming. And the magic of childhood is only a distant memory, if we remember it all. But in that moment as I watched Tink light back up I remembered. I remembered what it was like to believe in fairies, and I remembered that magic still exists.

And in the last moments of the show, as Peter Pan smiled at Wendy’s girl Jane, for a moment I looked up and thought maybe somewhere there really is Neverland. Just maybe…

But lucky for us the magic did not end there. Thanks to a very generous invitation from SHNSF we were able to meet up with some of my favorite local bloggers and meet the cast of the show. All of them were so unbelievably sweet to my kids, only reinforcing the magic of the day.

Patrick & Cheyanne with Abby Ford (Wendy Darling)

I love the theater. I love classic books. And I love taking my kids on magical journey’s to places like Neverland. And I love that my kids think Pixie Dust is real and that fairies are never far away. And I won’t ever be the one to tell them otherwise.

“And because Peter never grew up, when Jane had her own children, they flew away with Peter too, and so it will always be, as long as there are children.”

Thanks so much to cast and crew of Peter Pan in San Francisco for an amazing day. And to SHNSF for putting together this event and allowing my kids and I to be a part of it.

Though SHNSF provided tickets to the show I was under no obligation to write this post or in any other way compensated for it.

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