EEK At the Greek 2014

Funny Mom contributor Heather went to the annual EEK! At the Greek concert at the Greek Theater in LA last weekend, all opinions are our own. Heather, her son and friends had a great time. Below you can read her funny and fabulous recap.

We waited with growing excitement for the EEK at the Greek! event on October 25! We’ve driven by the Greek Theater on the way to the Griffith Park Observatory several times and have wondered what it would be like inside. The opportunity to attend EEK at the Greek 2014! With wonderful friends on behalf of Funny Mom, Desiree Eaglin, was like being given a golden ticket!
Every moment of the drive into LA was filled with excited wonderment. We weren’t sure EXACTLY what to expect, but we knew it was going to be a blast! Simply the idea of Trick or Treating AND cool spooky music…ahhh-maz-ing! We pulled into the reserved parking area (which I highly recommend). It was a breeze! And, I’ve never had parking attendants that were so kind. A short walk led us to the will-call window to retrieve our tickets (again with kind, courteous staff). We could already see the decorations and hear the festivities. The kids were off-their-rockers excited!
When we entered the gates to the activities area, the kids were greeted with “loot” bags and us moms got the programs. The decorations were truly spooktacular! Ghosts, spidery webs, skeletons, pumpkin patch, huge EEK! sign, a super inflated ghost…just enough spooky without being terrifying. The skeleton scene set up at a table like they were chillin’ out enjoying a bottle of wine in the ‘graveyard’ were fun. The ghosts hanging in the trees that moved every so slightly in the breeze actually spooked one of the moms making her scream and everyone around her laugh like crazy.

The kids had a bit of a tough time deciding what to do first, so we cruised around and looked at our options; Trick or Treat, costume contest, coloring, face painting, dancing, balloon twisting, cupcakes, hitting up the snack bar. Trick or treating turned out to be a priority! After a nice stash of candy and even a key chain, it was off to briefly watch other kids having their faces painted. Our kiddos opted out of face painting, but agreed it looked cool. They found the art table and knew THAT was what they wanted to do. After all, they got to autograph their art and have it displayed. They felt famous! Oh, and the artist that created the coloring pages had on a cool costume that included crayon ‘bullets’. So much creativity! The coloring pages were all very similar, yet every one of them was unique. The display was like looking at stars in the sky.

Before heading to our seats, we hit up the restrooms. I know, I know…TMI. Well, as a mom, trust me, I have an interest in the abundance, ease of access and cleanliness of restrooms. There was like a zillion well stocked and pretty darned clean restrooms. Get this…a venue with NO RESTROOM LINES! Yes, I was so amazed, I took photos…sorry.

After the pit stop, we were off to look for our seats. We had General Admission tickets which meant we had another tough choice since every seat in the house was about perfect. A brief chat with my friend, the observation of the candy in the loot bags and the obvious very, very excited kids made the decision to sit nearer to the back a no brainer. If the kids got rowdy, we’d have an escape route! Sitting in his seat for more than 5 seconds is usually painful for my energetic guy, even when he’s not hopped up on sugary yumminess.

Boy was I surprised when the music started and the kids sat listening and watching with eyes on the stage and screens, lollipops in mouths, discovery which instrument was making the sound like they were solving the greatest mystery everrrr. I enjoyed the music immensely, but watching the kids enjoying the music like that just made my heart swell.
As with the decorations, I was a bit worried that the spooky music and story might be scary rather than spooky and leave me with a nightmare ridden child for weeks. Nope! The performance was fast paced, engaging and the kids’ imaginations were on hyper drive in an awesome way! I also wondered if there’d be enough movement on stage to keep my son engaged. Oh, there was movement alright! The conductors were fascinating and the big screens helped us see what was happening on stage when we couldn’t see the costumed musicians in the back. Both the kids exuberantly, but quietly (surprise!) pretended to conduct the orchestra throughout most of the show. Super cute!!!

The old Disney cartoon, “Skeleton Dance” was a hit! The kids watched the screen, then the stage, then the screen, then the stage and looooved it!
Bruce Boxleitner using just his voice to act out The Tell Tale Heart accompanied by the music setting the mood of the story was fascinating. I mean, the lollipop that my son was nursing ever so slowly was pulled from his mouth and that mouth stayed silently open in awe except for the occasional “gulp” until the story ended.
One of the highlights was the junior conductors. We weren’t real sure what was happening when it was announced that the junior conductors would have the opportunity to conduct the symphony, each taking a turn. The stage soon filled up with dozens of kids in adorable costumes. You know I was thinking, “Wow…this is going to be a realllly long song.”. Turns out there were only five previously selected junior conductors who did each take their turn conducting and they did fantastic! My son was so, so, so jealous and wanted to be on that stage.

When the concert ended, the lights came up and we wandered down to check out the reserved table seating, oggle over some of the equipment, watch the instruments being packed up and the stage cleared. Including a quick pic with the skeleton crew member…literally. They danced, they conducted, they listened, they giggled and did indeed have a blast! And we moms enjoyed every single moment too!

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EEK! At the Greek is an annual concert that takes place the weekend before Halloween. For more information log on to Events at The Greek Theater