Snow White at CCT

What do parents do if not try to pass down each and every one of their hobbies to their kids? That's why I've already introduced movie musicals to Edith. That's why she asks for the "Hamilton" soundtrack as soon as we get in the car. And that's why, for the second year in a row, Edith and I went to a show by the Columbus Children's Theatre.

OK, so children's theater isn't exactly a hobby of mine, but I do love to see a good show. And a 50-minute show without an intermission seems like a good introduction before going to see something much longer -- and more expensive. Last year she and I saw Rapunzel as part of her Christmas present. Last week it was Snow White.

The productions are low-key but well done -- minimal sets, four actors/actresses and lots of audience participation. Edith loudly asked some questions during the show, but no matter. With a theater full of children, it's bound to get a bit noisy.

And we couldn't leave without meeting Snow White, of course. If I heard correctly, Edith was describing her shoes.

A Night Out at 'The Book of Mormon'

It was a toss-up as to which I was more excited about: seeing "The Book of Mormon" at the Ohio Theater in Columbus, or having only my third kid-free night with Paul since Edith was born.

Paul and I tried to get "Book of Mormon" rush tickets through the lottery system in New York more than two years ago with no luck. When a couple of our friends earlier this year asked if we'd be interested in getting tickets with them to see the travel production, we didn't hesitate.

As for the kid-free night -- it's totally our own fault that we don't have more. Paul's family on the west side of Columbus is always willing to watch Edith, but we just don't often taken them up on it. On Friday, however, Paul's mom occupied a happy Edith while we went out to dinner with our friends and saw the show.

"Book of Mormon" is a raunchy musical centering on two young Mormon missionaries who are sent to Uganda to spread their teachings and convert residents to their faith. It wasn't the best musical of all time (I largely prefer the classics, like "South Pacific" and "Anything Goes"), but it was far from the worst and I would certainly recommend it. A good time was had by all!

As much as I enjoyed the show, it was almost just as nice to eat a good meal in which I didn't have to worry about anyone's manners, what or how much they were eating or whether they were properly using a spoon. An evening in which I could actually relax.

A Second Birthday on Broadway: Anything Goes

For my second birthday in a row, Paul presented me with tickets to the Broadway show I most wanted to see at that particular moment. It's a moving target, and Paul has evidently acquired the skill to keep up.

Last year we saw "South Pacific." This year: "Anything Goes."

I'd never seen the musical in any format ever before, but I became vaguely enamored of the Broadway revival when I heard that Sutton Foster was the star. She's been associated with happy memories in my mind since we saw her in "Thoroughly Modern Millie" during our honeymoon in 2003.

She won a Tony for "Millie," and she won one again just last month for her role as Reno Sweeney in "Anything Goes." That, two more Tony Awards (one for Revival of a Musical and another for choreography) and a toe-tapping performance during the Tony telecast replaced "How to Succeed in Business" at the top of my to-see list.

The show met expectations (and probably exceeded Paul's, since it also starred Jessica Walter, aka Lucille from "Arrested Development). I was whistling the title song all the way home.

The theater itself was interesting in one respect. Our seats were in the mezzanine, but we didn't have to climb any staircase. Instead, ticket-holders with stage-level seats had to go down a level.

Last year I lamented that we hadn't been taking advantage of the terrific shows at our fingertips. I've gotten better, but only very slightly -- in the last 12 months, I also saw a play in the fall. Birthday resolution: stop being so complacent.

Sunday Night with the Upright Citizens Brigade

The one thing that's been on my New York to-do list the longest finally got checked off on Sunday: a visit to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

The theatre is well-known for its improv and stand-up shows that rarely cost more than $10 bucks a pop. Paul's friend Ryan was visiting from Columbus, so we decided to check out the free Sunday night show.

I'm not sure why it was free, because I gladly would have paid. In fact, you reserve your tickets online for most UCB shows and then pay when you get there. Not this one. We got to the theatre a little after 7 p.m. so we could snag tickets when they were released at 8:15 for the 9:30 show.

So there was a lot of waiting. The worst part: a pop-up shower forced wimpy ol' me into a nearby grocery store while Paul and Ryan held my place in line. The best part: The guy behind us in line was celebrating his birthday with friends and gave us some leftover donuts.

I love New York.

Our reward for waiting was Horatio Sanz (of SNL fame) and Jack McBrayer (Kenneth on "30 Rock") along with a handful of lesser-known but just as talented comedians in a two hour improv show.

The theatre was tiny -- only about 150 seats. Actually, about the only way our seats could have been worse is if we wouldn't have had any -- and there were plenty of people standing. Even still, we were three or four rows from the stage, so close that our location on the far left didn't really matter. And the $3 PBRs helped.

All in all, I had a great time, and Paul and I left wondering why we'd never done it before. We'll definitely do it again.