Adieu, adieu to yieu and yieu

But daughter #2 and her friends said so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu. Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu to school after the final performance of a run of The Sound Of Music on Wednesday.

Yep, Wednesday night. When they kicked off at the same time as England v Croatia in the World Cup semi-final – and just like the game at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, this was a sell-out too. We bought 15 tickets for the first show on Sunday for daughter #2’s aunties, uncles and cousins and the show was magnificent.

There were kids on that stage who we’ll be scrambling around for tickets for off Viagogo at five times face value in a few years.

Daughter #2 played Liesl von Trapp and, funnily enough, she is indeed 16 going on 17.

She loves acting and is off to the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in September to study for two years – possibly five if things go well.

She loves dancing, and having shelled out for lessons three nights a week for donkey’s years, well she might.

But singing? That was the bit she was dreading. In your nightmares, standing in your school hall, singing a duet in The Sound Of Music with all your family watching in the audience is that part of your nightmare where all your clothes fall off and your teeth fall out. If she was nervous, she hid it well and she sounded wonderful. They all did. We’ve seen their school plays for years and this was the best one yet.

It may sound strange for someone of advancing years such as yours truly, but this was the first time I’d ever seen The Sound Of Music and there’s some pretty dark stuff in it – what with all the Nazis.

But away from all the goose stepping and yelling, there were some genuine moments of humour, none of it overplayed and all of it successful.

And you didn’t need to be a theatre impresario to spot some of these kids have long and successful careers in front of them.