This Nose is for kids too . . .

I wrote recently about Pinocchio and Cyrano, the two most famous noses in literature.  What I didn't say was that Pinocchio isn't the only story loved by young people.  I took my two grandchildren to the show on Sunday, thinking to give Mom and Grandma a Mother's Day break.  Helen is 10, Henry is 8, and I thought they might just get through three hours with maybe a little snooze when Cyrano went into his fifth act swan song.  Three hours, they said?  Wow.  But mostly to my surprise they hung in there all the way without an eye lowered and pronounced afterwards that it was the very best show I had ever taken them to.  They said it was great.  They were with it from beginning to end.  They liked the swordfight, the love story, the nose jokes, the battle, and especially the man in the moon.  They liked Cyrano, Roxane, Christian, all the Gascons, everyone.  They understood it perfectly--kids always understand;they are the best audiences for Shakespeare summer in and summer out.  Neither Helen or Henry will have a career in the theatre, unlike their grandfather who also fell in love with Cyrano when he was 8.  But they will now forever have Cyrano de Bergerac as a life memory.  And that's worth something.  Afterwards, Helen told me, "I wish there was a THEATREWORKS in Boulder."  I told her I was glad there was only one THEATREWORKS and that it was in my home town, because that meant she would have to come here to see the show, and then I could see her too. I think she was all right with that.