Kids

We attended two events recently that, unknown to us at the time, were designed with kids in mind.

On Tuesday we entered the Fisher Theatre to see High School Musical and were greeted with pre-teen to early-teen kids and their parents filling the lobbies. Disney first made the movie and then the television series of the same name and it attracted a large following but I had no idea the following would be so young. The production was excellent. The story is about a jock and a geek (I do not particularly like this word and seldom use it since it has negative connotation associated with it, but it will have to do in this case) falling in love and eventually gain the support of their "groups" so they can participate in the high school musical and become romantically closer. (Some aspects of West Side Story--love story, Jets and Sharks--but without violence.) Many high school stereotypes--coach, drama teacher, jocks, drama queen, and intellectuals or geeks. Good story and good message to to kids about fitting into different groups, having different interests, and being tolerant of differences. And these kids in the audience seemed to get it as evidenced by their enthusiastic applause and cheers. I was impressed with how well the kids behaved--shows good parental guidance.

Last night we went to the Palace to see the Detroit Shock play Phoenix Mercury. We had vouchers for free tickets that we got at Detroit CityFest on Friday, and decided to upgrade at the box office to get seats closer to the court. As we walked in the main entrance a sign welcomed one and all to Kids Day! The kids were enthusiastic (read loud), especially during the timeout giveaways as they tried for free pizza and shirts. The Shock won handily after a slow first half, helped by scoring a league record 40 points in the third period. Fun time!

(I have had looping in my brain a fun song about kids from Bye, Bye Birdie that seems timeless.)