Last night Tess had a part in her first play in German! The timing was awkward, somewhere along the way a note was missed, and we had planned Dave’s birthday party the same night as Tess’ play.  A little creative planning, flexible friends, and we fit both into one long night.  Our neighbors pitched in and not only ferried Tess to her play early, but got us tickets and seats all together.

When we got there, five minutes before curtains up, our biggest problem was parking on the narrow side streets.  We also didn’t have time to load up at the cash bar parked right outside the theater doors.  Germans are exceedingly practical and I shouldn’t have been surprised to see beer & wine being the number one fundraiser at a school function.  In fact, I should have planned to buy some glühwein to sip while enjoying  the show.

Honestly, I could have used a drink to sit through the play.  I’m not a play person.  Put it all in German, with school age children, and mediocre microphones, and it’s anstrenged (exhausting).   Leonardo und das magische Amulett is about a boy from 1348 who, magically, gets transported to 2011.  In his first minutes there he panics at the sight of a dragon… the best special effects of the night: a huge poster of an 18-wheeler toted across the stage.

The whole play, or rather rock-mystical, is set to pounding 70’s disco music.  All accompanied by high-pitched solo’s and the enthusiastic choirs of all three small towns that make up our neighborhood.  I thoroughly enjoyed the choirs. The kids rocked and sang their little hearts out.  Some of them, like Tess, obviously thought they were center stage and played to the audience. Still, intermission couldn’t come fast enough and we thoroughly enjoyed our mimosa’s and “hot dogs”.  Hot dogs in Germany are longer, thinner and come with a shorter, crustier bun.  While I love them, I wonder every time why, after centuries of making “hot dogs”, they haven’t figured out how to make the bun long enough to c over the dog.

Finally the curtain fell, and rose again to the whole cast.  The audience burst into thundering applause as the kids beamed on stage, and Tess took a bow.  And another bow.  And yet a third bow.   I’m sure I mentioned she had a part in the choir, one of the choirs at that, and yet the bows she took, complete with sweeping arms, were truly worthy of a star.  I’m thinking taking a bow is not part of the German culture.

After we quickly rushed home to a house teeming with guests, hot BBQ’s and a blazing fire out on the patio.  Dave has learned to doctor up a wicked glühwein  and we had a wonderful evening under the stars with our friends, speaking English, and celebrating his birthday.