dynamic elf

My experience of seeing Never After this weekend was about equally split between my joy/relief/pride at seeing ceelove's musical finally up on a stage and hearing audience laughter all around me, and my position as a cultural attaché for N. She was so freaking thrilled to be there, having heard the music around our house for a long time now. In fact, she got a little upset when she learned that we had morning plans on the day of the show because she was afraid we would MISS IT! and that was NOT OKAY!

Before the show, she was beaming sunlight out every pore and socializing with everyone she saw. ("Molly, we know a lot of people here," she said at one point.) But during the show, I think I was talking and translating for about the first 40 minutes. A partial list of some of the questions she asked:

• What is a lesbian?
  
• Why does she only want to marry women?
  
• What happened to the baby? Why can't we see her as a baby anymore?
  
• Why are her parents sad?
  
• ...But why are her parents sad?
  
• Why are they "very marry men"? Is she going to marry them?
  
• How many are there? Why is she marrying them?
  
• Can I sing along?
  
• I think she wants ME to marry her.
  
• Can I sing along now?
  
• Why is she sad now? (after a kiss)
  
• very quietly:la la la la la! la la la la!
  
• Why did she run away?
  
• Are those dragons or dinosaurs?
  
• Did she give the dinosaurs their ears? Is that what she's doing?
  
• Does she miss her mommy and daddy?

The whole thing seemed to be a very intense experience for that little girl. Afterward, when we went up to see ceelove, N did NOT want to let her go. She gave her a few hugs and clung to her like a cuddly little bear trap. I think she liked it.

To everyone who was involved: Thank you for such a wonderful show. To everyone seated around me: sorry about the noise! She has a lot to learn yet about whispering...