Lions and Tigers and Bears

Oh My!

We’ve had three great theatrical experiences during our European sojourn. And these do include two lions, one tiger and one bear.

Tiger

In October I took Sam to see the Brighton Royale Theatre‘s production of The Tiger Who Came to Tea. This was a special production for children, adapted from a British children’s book by Judith Kerr. It was a delightful show about a stripey tiger who unexpectedly arrives for tea one afternoon. A sort of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” for the toddler set. The tiger, welcomed warmly by Sophie and nervously by her Mum, ends up eating all the food in the house. My favorite part was when the Tiger appears in the doorway unbeknown to Sophie and Mum. While the actors looked about haplessly, ALL the kids in the audience were shouting– “There’s a Tigah! A TIGAH! Over Thah!”

Sam’s favorite part was when the Tiger drank all the water out of the tap.

Lion

In November we happened to be in the Paris Luxembourg Gardens at just the right time on a Saturday to attend a Guignol puppet show. Guignol is a French icon: a hero both clueless and clever, who gets in and out of scrapes with wit and panache. A cheeky chap, you might say. Guignol has been around since the early 19th century, and the Luxembourg theater has been around since 1933. So I was quite excited to take in a show. We saw “Les Dernières Aventures de Pinocchio,” in which Guignol helps Pinocchio in his quest to become a real boy. As with “The Tiger Who Came to Tea,” the kids shouted at Guignol, warning him of impending danger. “Là! Là! Il y a un lion!”

Sam’s favorite part? When the lion chased everybody.

Bear

Last Sunday we went to see “The Wizard of Oz” at the Brighton Royale Theatre. And no, there was no bear in this production based on the MGM movie. But there was at least one bear in the audience, since Sam insisted on bringing her best bear Molly.

The show was spectacular. It was bright, colorful, funny, with infectious energy plus beautiful lighting and jump-out-of-your seat pyrotechnics. About halfway through the first scene I thought, “Something’s not right with the actors’ voices… oh! It’s that they sound American.” Only the scarecrow was played by an American (he was also the director and choreographer); all the other principal actors were Brits. The woman who played Dorothy sounded uncannily like Judy Garland.

To my surprise and amusement the audience of adults and kids did “talk at” the show. Every time the wicked witch (or her Kansas alter ago) flew or bicycled across the stage, people booed, hissed, or called out warnings to Dorothy and her companions.

But the wicked witch was too much for Sam. Her loud cackling and thunderous entrances on stage spooked her. Sam comes by this reaction honestly. When AC was about the same age, he and his parents had to leave the movie theater during a viewing of the MGM film version when the camera zooms in on the green warty face of the witch.

Luckily we didn’t have to leave the performance early because after the intermission Sam fell asleep on my lap!

As for Molly Bear? Sam told me this evening that “Molly didn’t like any of the play,” but that she, Sam, liked the Munchkins, and Glinda the Good Witch. “She was very fancy.”

Then Sam asked me what the name of the bad witch was. When I said that I didn’t know, she said, “I think her name is… The Secret Witch.”

I’m glad that Sam is curious about what scares her. Perhaps in a few years we’ll take her to see “Wicked.” 😉