goodbye, dolly

i love musicals. i grew up watching them over and over. memorizing lyrics and singing along. dancing along to the choreography in our family room downstairs as i pretended that i was dorcas from seven brides from seven brothers (she didn't have to dance too much). my siblings and i have some really fond memories surrounding the culture of watching musicals that we grew up in. you can sing the first couple words of a song and we will all join in together and maybe even start dancing for you. we can't help ourselves. kind of like the people in musicals.

i still love musicals, but rarely watch them any more. i don't have a whole lots of spare time and when randy and i do get a moment to settle down and watch something, the sound of music is not on the top of randy's list (but it is on the top of mine!).

i can't remember what triggered it, but for the last couple weeks i've been thinking a lot about musicals and wondering if my girls are ready for/would enjoy some of the musicals that i loved so much as a kid. maybe maria von trapp could somehow kill that inane, constant desire to watch dora that i am constantly trying to stamp out, yet burns brightly in madeleine's bosom.

yesterday, on a rare, quiet sunday afternoon, and with all of this musical nostalgia brewing inside of me, i decided to sit down and watch hello, dolly. definitely one of my favorites. madeleine came out of her nap about fifteen minutes into the movie, so decided to see if she was ready to enjoy a good musical and i let her join me.

no more than ten seconds had passed when she said, "why are they all singing and dancing?" i explained that it was a musical and the actors do that a lot during the movie. it's a fun way to showcase their talents while still progressing the plot (i think that part was over her head). apparently this was not a satisfactory answer because she asked me this question repeatedly throughout the rest of the movie. not just at the beginning of each song, but several times throughout each song. each time i tried a different response, but she was not appeased.

and so, what i thought would be a bonding, enjoyable experience for my daughter and me, turned into a disappointing deconstruction of one of my favorite musicals. it really takes the magic out of the movie when you constantly have to explain dolly levi's motives in a three year old's vernacular. try as i might, she just couldn't understand how the parade was a metaphor for life and its experiences.

maybe i'll have to watch them on my own for a while.  

and let me just say that she has never asked why the little mermaid bursts into song randomly or why she is so infatuated with eric and being a human.