Date Night - High School Dinner Theatre

Last week, I took advantage of an opportunity that doesn’t always come around so I have to admit, I splurged. Our local high school was having a dinner theatre for their spring production “Grease”.

At $20 per ticket, it was a bit above my usual budget, but I couldn’t resist.  I told my Queen to dress in her best 50’s costume for the night. When it was time to go, she had put together a poodle skirt and a sweater with a scarf tied around her neck and white bobbie socks and sneakers with the sides painted black with felt pen to look like saddle shoes. I slicked back my hair and put on some white socks with black shoes and black pants with a white t-shirt. We were ready to rumble!

The dinner was at 6 pm and high school is only about 6 blocks from us, so I told her I would “pick her up” at 5:30. I bought a carnation and took one of BooBear’s hair scrunchies and pinned the head of the carnation with some greenery on it and made a wrist corsage. Dad managed to find me a small white cardboard box that he’d gotten from the bakery and we put some tissue paper in it and laid in the corsage.

At 5:20, I went to the front door and rang the doorbell. BooBear told me that my date would be right down and took me to the living room to wait. The kids always get right into the spirit of things and asked me what my intentions were. I was sitting there holding that box with the corsage between my knees and I was honestly feeling nervous! When my Queen finally came out and said she was ready to go, I presented her with the wrist corsage, and BooBear helped her put it on. Then, with a sweater around her shoulders, we were off.

We stayed in character for the whole walk. I told her that I thought she was the prettiest girl in school and asked her if she would like to go steady with me. She told me she wanted to think about it and not rush into anything.

When we got to the school, it looked like they had a sellout crowd.  The kids had outdone themselves with the decor. They had the tables neatly set with white paper tablecloths and a candle in a bottle on each table. With the main gym lights off and just some glow of the lights from the kitchen and stage behind the closed curtains, it looked like a pretty authentic restaurant. The kids that were dressed up like waiters took their jobs seriously.  After they showed us to our table, they pulled out the chair for my Queen and then for me to sit. Then with napkin over one arm, we were given the choice of beverage... fruit punch or lemonade. 

The menu only had one item, but it was one of my favourites -  spaghetti and meatballs with jello for desert. The attentive waiters kept coming around each table to offer more fruit punch and lemonade and clear away any dishes we were finished with. 

After the meal was finished, the diners were asked to vacate the gym while they set up the chairs for the show. That gave us 20 minutes to walk around the school yard and reminisce about our own school days.

Finally, we were given the go ahead to come back in for the “Theatre” part of the show. Now the tables were stacked in a corner at the back of the gym and the chairs were arranged in rows in front of the stage. We took our seats and sat back to enjoy “Grease”.

Anyone who has watched a school production has to make allowances for the fact that these aren’t professional actors, but I have to say those kids outdid themselves. I was proud to see how many really good singers the Drama Club has. They were backed up by the members of the school band who also did a pretty incredible job. Needless to say, we gave them a standing ovation when it was all over.

On the walk home, the Queen took my arm and I stopped just before the house to steal a kiss.  When I asked her if she’d given any more thought to going steady, she told me that she had decided she would. Another smooch by the gate, and I still had her back home by 10!