I have spent most of my life growing up in the Midwest, specifically Michigan. Beloit College’s Student Engagement program makes it possible for poor college students like me to have access to see free musicals monthly. This past weekend, my roommate Kara and I signed up to see Matilda the musical in Chicago the day before Easter. In general, I was excited to go see a musical live. The only other one I can remember seeing was The Phantom of the Opera that I saw with my older sister last year for my 18th birthday. The only other time I have been to chicago was when I was much younger and I couldn’t remember much.

When the bus was driving through Chicago, I was definitely in awe. I couldn’t believe how big and close together everything was. My roommate, Kara, who is from New York was not impressed and thought it was funny that I thought Chicago was big. For someone who spent most of their life seeing flat plains and random buildings popping up here and there, Chicago was huge! I didn’t even get to explore the middle of Chicago because we were dropped off in front of the theater and went directly in. The sky was dark, but the city was lit up in beautiful colors. I would love to go back sometime and explore the sites and buildings. The lovely thing about going to school in Wisconsin is that I am closer to Chicago and can take an almost two hour bus trip to get there.

The Oriental theater was the biggest theater I have ever been to. The trim and decorations were amazing! Everything was gold and the architecture was very fancy. The pictures I took don’t even come close to justifying how beautiful it was. Even Kara said that it was the biggest theater she has ever been to.

We had balcony seats, and could see all the way down to the orchestra pit. Overall the musical was an amazing production. I loved how clever all the music was and couldn’t believe how young some of the actors and actresses were. The entire time I was sitting there all I could think of was the fact that some of theses kids were 13-15 years old performing live musicals. Here I was, a freshman college student doing nothing special in particular. I was mindblown to be honest. I couldn’t believe the amount of talent being produced by these preteens. Props to them for knowing what they want to do with their lives and going out and achieving that goal.

The ride back was relaxing and Chicago was even brighter since it was eleven at night when we left. I spent most of the bus ride home thinking about how I had forgotten how much I enjoy musicals and seeing them in person is even better. My goal in life now is to see as many musicals live as possible. Life is short and you have to make sure you do the things that make you happy.