So remember my obsession with all things Christmas? We took the kids to watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer : The Musical!!! The hubs loves all things theatre and we usually sneak out to the Mirvish theatres for our date nights so he was thrilled when we were invited to watch Rudolph the Musical as a family.

This production is only in town for one week so you better run if you haven’t made plans to attend a showing. From November 11 to 22^nd kids aged 2 and above and their families are invited to kick off the holiday season with the beloved TV classic .

I’ve sung the song plenty of times and finally watched the TV show last year with Little Monkey so this year I was excited to introduce her and Baby Boy to Rudolph and his friends. There are 2 p.m. showings but we caught the 7:30 p.m. show and arrived at The Princess of Wales Theatre at 7:10 p.m. I brought a couple milk bottles with us as I knew Baby Boy would get cranky and wasn’t really sure if we’d last the 100 minutes (that included the intermission). Didn’t he act like the perfect gentlemen! Be sure to grab booster seats as you come in as they were extremely helpful (and comfy) for the kids.

 

Of course no theatre visit is complete without a bag of popcorn for the kids and beer for the parents! I truly believe that the snackertainment strategy is what helps us enjoy many an outing with two kids under the age of five. As we settled into our seat (ALWAYS separate the kids…the hubs and I flagged each kid on either side) we couldn’t help but notice the excitement in Little Monkey’s eyes. She has always been enamoured by theatre and we’ve never had any issues in bringing her to live performances since she turned 2. Two really is the magic number I feel because even Baby Boy was well behaved.

Before we left home I had the hubs put on the cartoon so Baby Boy could also be acquainted with the characters and this helped us greatly. He’s a VOCAL boy and as soon as the show started he started pointing things out LOUDLY but  a couple “shhhhhs” did the trick. Santa and Mrs. Claus, Hermey the Elf, Bumble the Abominable Snow Monster ( MY FAVOURITE!!), Clarice, Yukon Cornelius and, of course, Rudolph took us on an adventure that had everyone captivated. I love that this story teaches kids that what makes one different can be what makes them special. Little Monkey didn’t really pick up on the topic but I made it a point to talk about it during the intermission.

 

I am absolutely flabbergasted that Baby Boy sat in his seat for the entire duration (minus a 15 minute stint on the hub’s lap at the very end) and I think I have to credit the catching tunes, the animated actors and the costumes. I’m a sucker for big costumes and so the “Lion King” as Baby Boy called out and ” Monster Snowman” were my favourites. Little Monkey oddly enough liked the scene with the doe and Rudolph…she’s getting into love stories already!! With snowflakes and winter storms, the set is well designed and yet simple enough for young kids to follow along. There’s many animated characters and animals (glamorous hand puppets) that captures adults and kids. This is definitely a show for kids and there’s no doubt about that. I loved that the entire audience (karaoke style) was asked to sing the song at the very end of the show.

Baby Boy’s applause (at the right moments) is proof that even the very young can be theater lovers. He was so cute that I spent quite a bit of time looking at his reactions and head bopping. I can easily see us making a visit to the theater a holiday tradition and during our visit Little Monkey already spotted that Cinderella (Dec 1-Jan 10) and Beauty and the Beast (March 2-6) are heading to Toronto – they’re going on her Christmas list she said! Cinderella is recommended for ages 7 and up as it’s the Rodgers & Hammerstein version, so we’ll be saving that for a couple years! Tickets to these shows are already on sale and would make fabulous gifts for the Princess loving kids in your life. We always opt for experiences over “things” so you know these are at the top of our holiday lists.

Now.. tell me you aren’t humming…

“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You would even say it glows…..”