For our daughter’s 4th birthday, the wife and I purchased tickets to Disney’s new Broadway-bound musical, Frozen.  It. Blew. Her. Mind.

Aside from Wonder Woman, Anna and Elsa rank pretty high on Little’s list of awesomeness.  She has Anna and Elsa dolls and other toys.  She can sing the songs.  She has an Anna and Elsa dress.  She loves Frozen.  We knew this was going to be a great gift, but I couldn’t have guessed just how great it was going to be.

A about a week out from the show, we told her we had a surprise for her birthday.  We didn’t tell her what it was, we didn’t tell her where it was, we just told her it was a surprise.  She tried to con it out of us by telling us it’s not good to keep a secret.  She is right, we do teach her not to keep secrets, so we had to explain the difference between a surprise and a secret.  A surprise is something fun that you’re eventually going to tell someone, but a secret is something you’re never going to tell, especially if it’s something bad or something someone asks her not to tell her parents.  Yeah, she didn’t care.  She wanted to know, but we kept our surprise.

The night of the show, the wife told our daughter to choose her fanciest dress because we were going to take her our for her birthday and it was just going to be the three of us…no little sister.  When we told her that, she knew it was going to be special, and lo and behold, she chose to wear her Anna and Elsa dress.  We all got dressed, said goodbye to Tiny and the sitter, loaded the car, and headed to the theater.  We still didn’t tell her where we were going.

Fancy night out for Littles’ birthday!  Frozen!

We walked up to the theater, and Littles saw the sign.  She knew exactly what it was.  A look of surprise, followed by a huge smile came across her face,  “FROZEN!!!!” she said excitedly.  Now, she still didn’t fully know what was going on.  She recognized the logo on the sign, but as we later found out, she thought we were going to see a movie, since that’s what she’s used to seeing at our house.  We tried to explain to her we were seeing a musical with real actors and people, but it was clear that didn’t register to her.

I’m 4 and I’m seeing Frozen!

The show was held at Denver’s Buell Theatre.  The place is beautiful, and huge.  Littles looked all around in amazement, while still not realizing exactly what she was going to see.  We could see her mind trying to process it all.  Everyone was dressed up, people had drinks and snacks, and there were tons of little Anna and Elsa’s running around.  We took tons of pictures and then found our seats.

Momma and Littles are ready to see Frozen!

Our seats.

Littles kept asking when the show was going to start and we kept telling her it was only going to be a few more minutes.  Finally, the lights went out, the music began to play, the actors and actresses came out on stage, and Littles looked like this for about 2 hours…

Her eyes were glued to the stage.  We could have lit off fire crackers next to her and she wouldn’t have batted an eyelash.  She was locked in and hanging on every word.  After a few minutes we asked her if she was liking it and she would just nod her head and say, “This is magnificent.”  Then, at intermission, we finally caught a glimpse of what was going on in her head.  The wife asked her if she was liking the show, and Littles asked, “Are they real?”  That’s when it dawned on us that Littles still couldn’t tell the difference between the movie at home and what she was seeing.  We tried to explain to her the people were real and they are actors and actresses on a stage, but we could tell she didn’t quite understand, but she would in a few minutes.

Act Two is about to start!

At the end of intermission, the lights went out and one of the actors started the second act in the aisle, close to the stage.  The spotlight on the actor might as well have been a light bulb above Littles’ head.  It finally clicked.  She looked at us and said, “THEY ARE REAL!!!  GOD MADE THOSE PEOPLE TOO!!!  ANNA AND ELSA ARE REAL!!!  THIS IS THE BESTEST DAY EVER!!!”  Littles finally understood.  This wasn’t a movie, those people were real.

Littles was right.  It was a magnificent show.  The music was amazing, the acting was incredible, and some of the special effects left us wondering how they did that.  The show stirred up my own emotions and made me think about my own experience in theater; wondering if I could have ever done something like that, or if I still could do something like that.  The best part about this show was watching my daughter’s reaction.  I was so excited for her.  I felt like I was watching it through her eyes, and I was amazed.

Littles did lose a little steam towards the end.  The show started at 7:30pm, which is her bedtime, but we figured she wouldn’t mind because she’d be so into it.  We were right, but she did get a little tired toward the end.  She finished the show snuggling on my lap, sucking her thumb and twirling her hair.  It was the perfect ending to the show.  My girl is getting older, but she’s still my little girl.

Trying to keep her eyes open

As we were leaving the theater, the wife said something interesting.  She said, “I wonder if she’ll remember this and want to be involved in theater when she’s older?”  I didn’t think much of it at the time, and I probably said, “Yeah, maybe.”  After thinking about it for a couple of days, I realized something.  When I was her age, I had a similar experience, and it is one of my earliest childhood memories.  When I was 4, my sister was in a production of Annie, put on by the Schenectady Light Opera Company.  I remember being drawn in by it.  Even though I was a rambunctious kid who never sat still, I remember going to rehearsals, seeing the show, and being amazed.  Looking back, that experience shaped a lot of my interests later in life as I was involved in music and theater.  I too, can’t help but wonder if Littles will remember this night and be affected by it like I was.  Maybe she will, maybe she won’t, but one thing I know for sure…I will never forget the look of amazement on her face.  Happy birthday, Littles!  Momma and Dadda love you so much!