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Carnival of the Animals and The Story of Babar

November 11, 2010

On Sunday, my 17 month old and I headed to Navy Pier to be audience members at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's Family Series performance of Carnival of the Animals and The Story of Babar.  Performed by The Chicago Chamber Musicians, this hour-long performance was a great introduction to classical music!

The stories were told by a narrator as the musicians played behind him.  It was so neat to hear how the music told the story and to watch the young audience members react to what was being played. 

My little guy was a bit young for the concert (they recommend 4 and up), but he did love the music.  The main problem is that he wanted to participate a little more than he should have!  He clapped and yelled "YEAAAAA!" several times, pointed to the lights and loudly exclaimed "OFF!  OFF!" when the house lights went down and babbled away to me and the sweet family sitting in front of us. 

Luckily, Chicago Shakespeare Theare has a "crying" room and they were kind enough to let us move in there.  From that sound-proof room we could still see and hear the show and my kiddo could clap, babble and roar to his heart's content. 

Roar?

Yep! At one point the narrator asked the audience to roar like a lion.  My son LOVED this and continued to roar for several minutes after the audience and musicians had moved on to something else. 

Again, I say "Thank goodness for that crying room!"

Prior to the show, the lobby was full of musicians playing and taking pictures with and talking  to the audience.  Once the show was over, each child received a free copy of Carnival of the Animals by John Lithgow and a recorder.  (Thank you, show sponsor Target!) It was so great for the kids to have an opportunity to meet the performers and then have a reminder of the show to take home with them!

Sadly, this concert was only last weekend, but I will definitely keep you informed of future events like this.  It was a lovely afternoon and I'm excited for my little one to experience more concerts as he gets older!

I was offered comp tickets to this concert, but all opinions are my own.