My Great Big Musical Saturday

This is going to be a quick, completely personal post. I have a busy day ahead of me.

I am not a particular fan of Monty Python. Despite my dearest friends' earnest efforts to convert me, that type of humor simply doesn't appeal. So when a close friend asked if I wanted to see the musical Spamalot, I later made a previous engagement and pled off.

Then the assault came from a different front. One I couldn't so easily ignore.

About ten years ago, my sister-in-law K decided a subscription to the Dallas Summer Musicals would be a good learning experience for my six-year-old niece (Yes, my brother and sister-in-law are the complete helicopter parents). K purchased three seats (front row center) at the Dallas Music Hall so that she, my brother and my niece could attend a half dozen musicals every summer.

There have been lots of funny family stories that came out of those three seats. When L was in first grade, her teacher called K to say she had some concerns about the child.

The teacher had instructed the children in her class to write a sentence using the word "hair." Fresh from a weekend viewing of South Pacific, my precocious niece wrote the sentence, "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair."

The twenty-four-year-old teacher, who had never heard of South Pacific, was appalled by L's choice of sentence, prompting the phone call home. K was forced to explain the reference.

Now, ten years later, the lovely sixteen-year-old L is a veteran of every major musical ever produced on stage, which brings me to my present dilemma.

K cannot attend the play today. My brother P called to ask if I would like to go to lunch and a matinee of Spamalot with him and L.

Of course, I agreed to go. I never ignore opportunities to spend time with my brother or niece. Monty Python or not, I'll be there front row center at 2:00 PM.

And, because I spent thirty minutes last night figuring out how to post videos to this site, I'm going to share a scene from Spamalot with you.

Pray for me.

I've already decided that--as a reward for attending Spamalot--I'll be at the late viewing of the new Die Hard movie tonight. Bruce Willis' wise-cracking John McClane is all the grail I need.