90 minutes in Ponyville

It was a night on the town for Anna and me tonight. About 6 weeks ago, Heidi bought tickets to My Little Pony Live: The World's Biggest Tea Party as Anna, being a 5 year old girl just adores My Little Pony. The fact that they were around in pretty much their current form when my sister was Anna's age continues to blow my mind, but that's really neither here no there. In any event, last week Heidi asked Anna who she wanted to go with her, as we'd only purchased two tickets. Anna very deliberately thought about it and decided that it was going to be me because "I don't get to see my dad as much." So off we went tonight.

The show was passable entertainment for the 3-8 year old set. The funny things was that I fully expected it to be crammed with little girls and their mothers. But there were a surprising number of dads there as well - not usually alone with their girls, but along for the ride with their wives. I also spotted a few young boys as well, which REALLY surprised me as I didn't figure that any little boy would be caught dead at My Little Pony Live. But in any event, they had a pretty good turnout - about what they had when we went to see Clifford The Big Red Dog last February.

The storyline was predictably teaching a life lesson - this one being about working together to accomplish a big task - said task being the world's biggest tea party, natch. I got a huge kick out of the ponies though - and it took me a minute to figure out why. The costumes were so funny because really, the person was only in the front of the costumes - as if the back half of the pony was one humongous butt. The front legs were the only ones that moved and bent - the back legs were clearly just full of stuffing and consequently, they all kind of looked like they were paralyzed in the back half of their body. And then, of course, there was Rainbow Dash who spoke with this fetching British accent as if she were the Alexis Carrington Colby of Ponyville minus all the adultery and bitchiness and hostile takeovers of Denver Carrington. A musical number featuring Rainbow Dash, disco balls and a dragon doing the rap-record-scratching bit just made me laugh.

Mostly though, it was Anna that made me proud. She sat in her seat quietly when she was supposed to but was not afraid to play along with the characters on the stage. I looked at her a couple of times and wondered at what age this kind of thing ends and morphs into something different. I know - I always have to turn every good moment to something a bit bittersweet, but really, I was just savoring the moment.

And really, I've never seen a kid so happy to get a Mylar balloon and a streamer at the end of a show.