Just returned last night from New York where we spent three days wandering around the great city, stopping at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where we tried to convince our 8 and 10 year old boys that art really does matter (had success with the 10 year old but the 8 year old found it challenging after the initial excitement over having an audio guide faded)– and the Museum of Natural History where they watched their mother go crazy over the Big Bang exhibit (next lifetime I am coming back as a cosmologist! ) The eight year old may have had difficulties accepting the soulfulness in the eyes of Velázquez’s  portrait of Juan de Pareja but he had no such difficulties during the performance of The Lion King we took in the night before. It was truly wondrous to watch his face light up during the opening segment as Julie Taymor’s wonderful costumes came alive on the stage and we were treated to the parade of spectacular giraffes, elephants and lions supported by a  wonderful African beat.   I had known of Taymor through her design of  The Magic Flute Continue Reading →