Relative Something

It might be a little early in the calendar year for the school prom but that’s where we were last night. Cyndie, Elysa, and I made the long drive to the Chanhassen Dinner Theater to attend a performance of “The Prom” because a Hays relation is in a leading role.

Elysa got us discounted tickets provided to MacPhail Center for Music which led to a festive number of connections throughout the evening.

In a wonderful web of fewer than six degrees of association, Cyndie and I met Austin Wahl. See if you can follow this:

• Our friend, Gary Larson hosts periodic music evenings in his home and invited me to play guitar.
• On one of these occasions, we meet his friend, Ned Wahl who also plays guitar.
• We soon learn that Ned already knows our daughter, Elysa through his interactions at MacPhail.
• Ned’s son, Austin takes a position teaching at MacPhail.

Elysa was exchanging greetings with multiple people from MacPhail connections early on. When she said, “This is Austin Wahl,” Cyndie and I exclaimed, “Ned’s son!”

That was a wonderful bonus on top of the main attraction of our night. Monty Hays performs in the role of Emma, an Indiana teen whose prom is canceled because she is a lesbian who wanted to bring her girlfriend as her date.

Monty’s dad is my nephew, Beau Hays, son of my brother, Elliott.

Family resemblance? If not clearly apparent in our faces, the mannerisms tend to be revealing.

We guessed that it has been 13 years since we have seen each other. Beau reminded me that he has yet to visit our place in Wisconsin because he missed the big family gathering in 2014 when a tire blew out on his way here.

We’ll have to remedy that because brief greetings amidst a swirl of energy during the opening weekend at a dinner theater among friends and multiple generations of family relations is a tad chaotic. They need to come to hang out with some horses and linger with us.

Opening night of “The Prom” was Friday but Monty’s parents, Beau and Katy, were out of town until yesterday, so this was their first time seeing the show. We gathered in the bar after the show to greet Monty where emotions ran high at the sight of not only Mom and Dad, but also unexpected relatives.

A rare sighting of these five Hays relations in one place at the same time.

Monty’s performance is stellar and the musical is an entertaining dose of humor, real-life drama, live music, great singing, and impressive dance routines.

A STORY OF LOVE, ACCEPTANCE AND EMBRACING THE PERSON YOU WERE MEANT TO BE!

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