Seattle Mom Blogs

Hola, I’m Isabel and you can usually find me over at Hola Isabel.  But for today I’m over here at Seattle Mom Blogs sharing the love for all things Seattle!

My husband decided that this summer should be known as The Summer of Fun for our little family.  I admit I was a little skeptical when he first told me this.  And then I remembered that I was due to have a baby at the end of August.  So yeah, we must get in all The Summer of Fun that we can before we introduce a newborn baby into our lives and get rid of all fun.  At least for a few months.

We’ve been trying to do a couple of Summer of Fun activities per week.  Thankfully Seattle is full of awesome and fun things to do, so we hadn’t had any problems coming up with activities.

Until last week.

We’d done one activity (had dinner on the beach) but were looking for something to do on the weekend.

Enter the Youth Theatre Northwest.

We were lucky enough to score some tickets (thanks to the director of the theater) to the Saturday night showing of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” performed by local youth from the age of 3 to 18.  I didn’t even know theaters like this existed.

And especially not on Mercer Island.

According to their website:

The Youth Theatre Northwest is a school, theatre, and home for children and families. At Youth Theatre Northwest, children and young adults explore the depths of their creativity and experience the thrill of live performance. Through the magic of theatre, YTN helps young people find their “inner light” of self-confidence, sensitivity, creativity, and leadership.

Sounds like a great program for the kids.  But also for the patrons of the theater.  (Like me!) (And my family!)  (The Summer of Fun continues!)

I decided that this would be the perfect way to introduce our four year old, My Sweet Babboo, to the theater.  I insisted we all dress up and we headed to Mercer Island. (Okay, so my kid wore shorts.  But look, he has a jacket on too.)

We don’t watch a lot of Disney movies at our house, so my son had never heard of “Beauty and the Beast”.  It had been a long time since I’d seen the movie, so I sort of forgot about THE BEAST being a little scary.

Oopsie.

Yeah, the beast scared My Sweet Babboo.  Which is really a compliment to the actor (an excellent actor named Atticus).  His voice was booming.  His singing was awesome.  And his mask was furry and scary.

I think I should have taken the few minute before the show started to warn my son that he might be scared a little.  Instead I took pictures of the stage.

Anyway, once Babboo got past his initial nervousness with the beast we all enjoyed the production.  Who knew such young kids could kick so much butt when it came to the theater?!  (I didn’t.)

The costumes were great.  The set was great.  The acting was great.  The singing was great.  (We especially liked the role of Gaston.)

I found myself looking over at my husband from time to time and, be assured, even he had a smile on his face the entire time.  It truly was the perfect Summer of Fun activity for the whole family.

My only complaint was the theater felt like it was about 20 degrees inside.  I’m 9 months pregnant and even I was freezing.  Oh, and I couldn’t bring my water in with me.  But that one I sort of understand.

“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” is showing until the 15th, so you’ll need to get your tickets fast.

“Thoroughly Modern Millie” starts it’s fun on August 27th and continues through September 5th.  I would love, love, love to go and see it.  Here’s hoping we can sneak away from the baby by then.

So, if you’re looking for the perfect Summer of Fun activity for your family, drive on over to Mercer Island and watch some awesome and talented kids from the Youth Theatre Northwest put on a mighty fine show.

Just remember to bring a jacket.