Beef and Boards Presents "Annie"

This afternoon, Christy and I had a real treat. We got to take Teagan to Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre to see "Annie." We arrived at the theatre and picked up the tickets. The buffet is set up where the stage eventually comes out. We are taken to our table, order our drinks (coffee for Christy, iced tea for me, lemonade for Teagan). We load up on food in the buffet- Teagan wanted some of everything. Fruit, salad, baked fish, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, mac n cheese, chicken fingers. That was everything TEAGAN ate. Christy and I also had roast beef and fresh veggies and Christy managed to snag some baked apples. We ate well! The show starts after the buffet is removed. The emcee comes out and goes through the basics and then announces birthdays, groups, celebrations in the audience. There was a married couple there celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary! Pretty amazing. The lights go to half. The music starts. The lights go dark, the curtain rises, the set moves into place. The lights come up on a few beds overloaded with orphans. I had to force myself to not stare at my daughter. She was sitting on Aunt Christy's lap on the other side of the table. Every time I would turn to catch a glimpse of how she was enjoying the opening... I'd get all choked up. First few numbers of the show... I was all kinds of teary and fighting off these emotions. Not sadness, of course. But the excitement of seeing a show like Annie... one I'd not ever seen on stage but had grown to love passionately through the soundtrack and, later, through the movie. I'd acted out every song, every role, in my bedroom. Soundtrack at full volume... Miss Hanigan, Annie, Grace, Rooster, Lily St Regis, Daddy Warbucks, The Lovely Boylan Sisters. When I was a camp counselor for a summer day camp for kids with emotional disorders... I actually started many a morning by being totally silly to "You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile," to the delight of the kids. I had daydreams of being discovered and being asked to be an orphan... but I didn't dare to dream of being Annie... except while in my bedroom, on my bed-stage... To take all of that and pass it along to my daughter like this... I'm not sure there are words for it, really.