In A Tent. Under the Stars. A Magical Evening!

Catherine

6 years ago

If you are imagining me out in the wilderness camping in a tent—get the thought outta your head! That isn’t me idea of a magical evening.

I’m not that kind of camping girl. I’m afraid of fire and bugs.

I’m talking about real enchanting magic. We went to Cirque du Soleil Tuesday night and it was beyond any spectacle I could ever imagine.

This is the tent I was talking about!

Let me tell you about our evening….

Bonaparte thought it would be a nice night out if we saw Cirque due Soleil. Neither of us had ever seen it and have heard great things about the many different performances and themes. Of the two of us, I was the one who was ambivalent about going but the Frenchman insisted. And he thought it would be a fun outing for us to take his granddaughter.

I think the Frenchman just wanted to see Cirque du Soleil because of the french roots!!

So, we made a true evening out of it.

The three of us sat down to a meal of my home-made mac & cheese—of which Miss Sophie had two healthy servings. For dessert she also had two helpings of the frozen nougatine that I made. It’s such a pleasure for me to see a child enjoying a meal!

This was a pound of macaroni, three cheeses and a thick bechamel sauce. Bonaparte who claims this is peasant food ate 3/4 of this….glad he left some for Sophie and me!

Here’s dessert. Nougatine drizzled with Chocolate sauce–because Sophie loves chocolate sauce!

We headed off for the four-minute drive. Cirque du Soleil was supposed to be held in Philly—right in center city but there was some sort of issue with the space; and so, it was moved to Oaks, which is up the road.

This really exceeded any expectations that I had!

I pass this tent on the way to work every day. And it doesn’t look as large from the road as it is IRL. The tent was huge and thank God, air conditioned. Our seats were incredible. Third row from the stage so we had a great view.

Here’s where the magic happens!

Sophie with Bon-papa! Ever the Parisien, he was upset that she wore sneakers. She’s eight years old. Was she supposed to wear heels?

As luck would have it, Sophie was seated behind a woman with a Marge Simpson updo; and as soon as Bonaparte was ready to switch seats with her, an usher showed up with a booster seat. Talk about a child-friendly venue! They thought of everything.

We had fantastic seats but this is like watching a ball game at Fenway–there ARE no bad seats!! I wanna go again!

The show itself ran a total of around 2 ½ hours with a 25-minute intermission. On a Tuesday night, it was mobbed, it was almost a sell-out. We were lucky to get the tickets that we did!

And during the intermission, my gurl Basimah found the last blue slushie for Sophie. If you go to see Volta in Oaks, you HAVE to go to the concession stand where Basimah works. Her smile is infectious and she’s the best!!

Now—I really had no expectations other than thinking I would fall asleep because I’ve been working so hard at work. That wasn’t the case. I can’t even begin to tell you how spell-binding this Volta themed story of Cirque du Soeil was. Since I don’t believe in spoilers, there is a theme to the story about freeing yourself. And the way it was done was with such vibrant energy and entertainment.

Sophie told Bonaparte that she and I were “two peas in a pod”. I think that ranks me as the cool granny! I’m hip!1

Sadly, I wasn’t able to take photos once the show started but I did manage to copy some for you from the website.

The freespirits! The costumes were so hippie-bright. I must admit though, I wanted to run up on stage and put the long-haired guys hair in a man bun!

This was nothing compared to the four people that ended up doing all sorts of fun double-dutching with the ropes!

I thought this was cool until it was outdone when she stood on his head while he unicycled!

A central part of the story this cutie on wheels was…

This guy ended up suspended in air..

There was a lot of air time..

As I used to be a baton twirler, the baton twirling dancer was crazy good–she worked four at a time!!

(John Mahoney / MONTREAL GAZETTE) ORG XMIT: 58504 – 3135

Bonaparte and I considered this the showstopper. Although this photo is from the Montreal show, the woman who did this ariel dance suspended by her HAIR in the air was mesmerizing. I could have watched this for two hours!

Another showstopper was the BMX portion of the show. These guys were nuts–I can’t even with what these guys did! Totally fearless!!!

The costumes. The talent. The excitement. The entertainment. I would love to see this again and again. But seating is very hard to come by during this stop of the tour.

I want to be a member of the Cirque Club!

Overall, it was an A+ evening. I’m not even going to ask my stepdaughter, Claire, what time Sophie went to sleep from all the sugar I let her have. But that’s part of the fun of being a grandparent!!!!