Ring 1: Water for Elephants
I read the book Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen nearly two years ago while we were living in Michigan and I remember enjoying it tremendously. The movie comes out tomorrow and I’m anxious to see it! I love the spectacular style, history, and glamour of the circuses of the early 1900s. Visually, the select few production stills and trailer snippets I have seen have been stimulating and enticing. I think Reese Witherspoon will be lovely in her role, though I’m not too sure about the casting of Robert Pattinson yet. The film’s eclectic beauty and creativity remind me of Moulin Rouge and Big Fish. I’m really hoping for an uncommitted evening sometime very soon so we can go see it, and I hope it doesn’t disappoint!
Ring 2: The Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William
At just a touch over a week away, this one’s bound to be a circus of a whole different kind! I mean, have you seen the publicity, social media, official royal memorabilia, and strange unofficial merchandise for this shindig yet? China sets, coasters, t-shirts, fingernail decals, copycat jewelry, wall hangings, and other useless crap you’ll never use…and I’m hardly even skimming the surface here! There’s even two look-alikes of the famous pair that have been traipsing about London lately acting out possible royal wedding scenarios. It’s all a bit crazy, but I’m not even going to pretend that I’m not excited to see which dress and tiara Kate chooses! She has great style and I think she’ll choose something really beautiful! And let’s be real here, if I weren’t working on April 29th, I’d definitely be planted in front of the tube watching the affair unfold. Though I’m more than over trials and tribulations of the wedding planning process, I’m still a girl and therefore I still love weddings. I can’t wait to hear all the grand details of this one! It’s bound to be pretty fabulous. Unlike these hideous nails. Can you believe someone out there is actually buying this crap? Whoever you are, thanks for making the rest of humanity look stupid.
Yep, definitely a three ring circus in and of itself. A pretty, pretty circus that I can’t wait to see!
Ring 3: Cirque Du Soleil’s Ovo
Now this, folks, is a true, legitimate circus and it was grand! If you read my last post, you know that we scored free tickets to the Cincinnati premier of Cirque Du Soleil’s Ovo last night. I’d hoped to go anyhow, but when I went online to reserve seats I found that those ticket prices just weren’t in our budget (like, at all) and winning tickets wasn’t proving successful either…until they basically just landed in our laps the day before the premier by the miraculous fluke of sheer, right place at the right time dumb luck. Our luck didn’t stop there either! We were also treated to free parking at Coney Island, free ritzy butler-served appetizers, free cartons of popcorn, free soda in really nice commemorative Ovo cups, free gourmet bug cupcakes (um, they were delicious!), and free champagne! I added up the cost of everything – tickets, fees, parking, and the food and drinks we consumed – and had we paid for this incredible 6-month anniversary date night last night, we would have spent a grand total of $265. That’s $132.50 per person…and it was all free. We had a great time! Some of Ted’s students from CCM were also in attendance last night, so it was nice to schmooze with some people we knew while sipping champagne and watching amazing acrobatics.
First of all, if you’ve never seen Cirque Du Soleil you are missing out on some seriously good stuff. Talented and flexible doesn’t even begin to describe it. The whole experience is literally spectacular, and there is no other word for it. The lavish costumes, the live musicians and singers, elaborate sets that are constantly changing and evolving and surprising you with new unexpected challenges and tricks, the immense big top tent and vast rigging systems, the gorgeous atmospheric lighting, the exotic acrobatics of all imaginable and unimaginable kinds, the phenomenal talent, the funny characters – it truly was one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen. We were laughing and cheering and clapping and in complete awe. Even the bathroom stations they had set up were nifty – no smelly porta-potties at Cirque! We had perfect seats that were nice and close to the stage, but far enough away that you could see the whole picture. Though $105.50 per seat seems (and is) pretty steep, after enjoying the show so much and seeing how massive the cast and crew is, and understanding all the technology, rigging, equipment, tent stuff and more that goes into such a large-scale production, I can easily say the price is justified. It’s worth it and if we have the chance to see another Cirque show in the future, I’d pay the $100 per ticket (though free was obviously preferable…). If Ovo is coming to a city near you, you need to go see it!!! Click here for some excellent info and pictures of the awesomeness of this production.
Onto the pictures! For obvious reasons, there was no photography allowed in the big top tent, so I don’t have any fun stage shots to show you, but I do have a few pictures from the rest of the evening at Coney Island. Enjoy! :-)
Now, this is a circus you want to be a part of!
