Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Dad's Do Urinetown?


As I sat in front of the door with my typical “are you two leaving me again with this big damn mongrel” look, I caught my Dads talking about this musical they were about to witness. Now there are two things you need to know that make this conversation so confusing for even the smartest of rescue dogs. First, a musical and Dad Ed typically do not go together. He’s not exactly one who embraces the arts and culture in any sense of the word (remember, he thinks a women’s final four is embracing art). Now Dad Steve, he appreciates the arts, music and good entertainment and does his best to get Dad Ed to open himself up to more of this type of entertainment. But it’s not like season symphony and opera tickets are arriving at the house. Lastly, this musical sounded – well a bit more to my taste, as well as…nasty. It’s title: Urinetown. That’s right. And yes, my ears were checked out on my last high-priced vet visit. It was definitely Urinetown. It seemed one of Dad Ed’s friends who has a tremendous appreciation for the theater, Broadway, small community theaters and all that “stuff” as Dad says convinced them to attend. So off they went.
Now usually my time without Dads in the house is spent wondering if Foster my new big, dumb but hopelessly lovable brother will leave me be while I catch up on my sleep. But I stayed awake this time. I couldn’t stop thinking about Urinetown. So there I sat. Comfortable at the end of the king size bed with a perfect view of the front yard, the street below and anyone who dared to walk near. I was watching for Dads to return. I had to hear more about Urinetown. Well finally the two were zipping up the driveway and none too soon. Dad Ed thinks he’s doing me a favor by keeping CNN playing when he and Dad Steve are away and quite honestly I’m sick of the election cycle. I mean for the life of me this one is easy enough for even Foster to figure out. Stay with something that has crashed and burned over the past seven years or make a new start – but like Sadie’s Dad, I digress.
As Dads opened the front door and Foster knocked me down to jump to their shoulders, I listened carefully. I had to know about Urinetown. Well, much to my surprise they loved it. They said the musical was fun, entertaining, had many undertones of current events, some talented performers and left them thinking the 20 bucks they spent was not near enough. “That’s it?” I barked. “You mean there wasn’t one pup in the production scouting out spots to mark? “ I mean really. Doesn’t the title make you think at least one dog was in the production? Are we not famous for relieving ourselves in public? Do we not deserve a character in such a production? I suppose the important thing is that Dads stepped out of their comfort zone of margaritas, beer, chips/salsa, football and weekends at the pool. They enjoyed some “art” albeit about urine.