That antiadoption grrl

Rylie and I had such a great day yesterday!  We got into the city at 1pm, an hour before the show was set to start, so we got our tickets for "Rent" from the will-call booth and took a walk up to the massive Times Square Toys 'R Us.  I hadn't been there since before the kids were born, and Rylie was very impressed with the indoor ferris wheel and the moving, roaring dinosaur.  We didn't have time to ride the ferris wheel (by my estimation .  . . in hindsight we probably did have more than enough time), but we walked through all three levels, saw all the toys, and got to wave at Geoffrey Giraffe posing for pictures.  I didn't have my camera and wasn't terribly interested in having a picture with a big box toy store mascot, but Rylie was excited to wave at him.

At 1:30pm, we walked back to the theater and waited outside for ten minutes to get in.  Rylie was impressed with the photos and graffiti outside the theater, and even more impressed with the decorations inside.  THEN, we got to our seats and she saw the set and was even MORE impressed.  She asked me why they had all that junk piled up there -- the set is designed to look like a "bad" area of NYC -- but then she just sat there taking it all in.  I think we were both so excited we were ready to burst when it finally started.

Our seats were terrific.  When Mark walked out to the edge of the state to start the show, we were both shocked at how close he was (and yeah, the "Rent" guys are two of the very small group of men I find attractive).  I was worried that the actor playing Roger didn't look "right" from his head shot in the program, but he was totally transformed for the stage and he was perfect after all.  Rylie was transfixed by the whole show, between the set and the dancing and the songs.  She knew all the music and the storyline well enough to keep up, and kept smiling at me throughout the whole thing.  

It was just such a great experience.  I hated spending the money, but I am so glad we went.  She is going to remember this for a long time, and it was a perfect day for both of us.