Defying Gravity

Marina loved the musical Wicked when I took her to see it five years ago. So when it came back to town, I decided to take her again. We were both excited to see it again. Marina decided to wear a black dress with silver sequins as a nod to Elphaba.

We decided to go downtown early and have dinner. When we got to the theatre we saw a huge crowd milling around. Apparently there was a delay opening the building. So I took the food to the car while Marina got in line. When I came back she had already befriended the people around her in line.

We had enough time to pick up drinks and Marina wanted popcorn. (I was surprised at that considering she just ate dinner.) It wasn’t too long before the show started.

The show was wonderful, just as we remembered it. Marina still loves the song “Popular.”  And “Defying Gravity” never disappoints. After the show we were both raving about it.

Barnum

This afternoon we had tickets to see the musical Barnum at the Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs. We ran into more traffic than we expected but we still arrived early for the show.

Since we were early, we spent some time looking at the display of “curiosities” from PT Barnum. Those were interesting, although some were kind of gross!

The theatre was decorated like a circus. There were colored lights strung over the audience and huge posters on the wall. The musicians we replaying circus music. It was a fun atmosphere. Fifteen minutes before the show started a group of actors came out and interacted with the audience.

The two little girls next to me had several actors show them card tricks. We enjoyed watching them.
Once the show started it was filled with acrobats, jugglers and other stunts. It was a great show and Marina loved it. Marina waved to an actress we know at the curtain call.

As we were leaving the theatre, Marina mentioned we never got to see the mermaid mentioned in the show. But when we got to the lobby, there she was! Of course we got a photo with her. We waited in the lobby for our friend and talked with her for a while. As we were talking, the actors who played PT Barnum and Jenny Lind came by. So we took photos with them as well. Traffic wasn’t as bad going home and we made good time back to Denver, arriving around dinner time.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Marina and I have many summer traditions. One is going on theatre hikes. The first play of the season, Jack and the Beanstalk, opened this weekend. We usually go later in the season, but as we seem to be getting busier and busier, I thought we would go early this year.

We got an early start and had a fairly easy trip. We found a place to park for the park shuttle. We were waiting for a little while, so we talked with the volunteers who were there. They showed us a free photo booth, so we tried it out.

After being dropped off by the shuttle, we went to the picnic shelter to check in. Our hike guide was an actress who had been in The Oddest Sea two years ago. As usual, Marina liked hanging out with our guide throughout the hike.

The show was a bit darker than others we have seen and Marina seemed to pick that up. But she enjoyed the show. At the end of the show we took pictures with the cast.

A Game of Thrones and Baseballs

I’ve been a fan of the TV show Game of Thrones for years. Marina has never watched it with me, but she was still interested in going to Game of Thrones Night at the Rockies game tonight. We both wanted to dress up, so we got costumes months ago. My costume was Catlyn Stark and Marina dressed as her daughter Arya.

When we arrived we saw that very few people dressed up for the event. But we didn’t really care. We had fun with those who did. And we got lots of compliments on our costumes.


We arrived early so we spent time talking with the people in front of us. They were from Baltimore and like to travel to different cities to see the Orioles play. It was interesting to hear about their experiences.

For the beginning of the game we had the sun shining in our eyes. So we got up in the second inning. We picked up our t-shirts and got in the line to meet Dinger. We were close to the front, so when he arrived at the beginning of the third inning we didn’t have to wait long.


We picked up snacks and drinks before going back to our seats. By then the sun was no longer blinding us. The game, however, wasn’t a great one. There was a lot of scoring, but the Rockies were behind the whole time. After the eighth inning, we decided to go home.

Aladdin Movie

Jasmine has always been one of Marina’s favorite Disney characters. So she was very excited to see the new Aladdin movie. Our tickets were for the 3D version.

Both of us really enjoyed the movie. We loved Jasmine’s costumes, the small changes to the storyline and Will Smith as the Genie. And, of course, Marina loved Rajah, the tiger!

Somewhere That's Green

Last summer, I took Marina to see Little Shop of Horrors. She really loved the show, so we decided to see it again. Marina’s phone was low on batteries, so we spent most of the drive talking, which was nice. She was interested in all the old mining sites we drove by. My GPS took us on a strange journey. But Marina looked up the address on my phone and got us to the theatre.

We still managed to be early for the show. Since it was a bit chilly, Marina ordered a hot chocolate to drink and she got a snack as well. After that, we settled into our seats.

Once the show started, Marina loved it. One of our friends was playing Seymore, so that made it more fun. After the performance ended we stayed for a talkback. Marina asked a few questions. Once that ended we spent a few minutes talking with our friend. We were even able to take Marina’s picture with the Audrey II puppet.

Another Princess Partea

For the past two years Marina and I have attended The Princess Partea. While Marina said she wanted to go, at times she felt reservations about being too old. However, today she was excited to go. She wasn’t sure what to wear, so I suggested a Cinderella costume. She finished it off with sparkly shoes and a blue crystal tiara.

The hotel the Partea was at this year is fairly close to our house. So we were able to arrive early. We ended up in a long line when we arrived but it moved very quickly. Once inside, we looked for the princess meet and greet lines with the shortest wait. We quickly saw Merida, Mary Poppins, Tinkerbell and Sleeping Beauty. Then we saw Jasmine’s line was fairly short, so we met with her. Marina was particularly excited to see her with a new Aladdin movie coming out soon.

At that point, we were shocked that the line for Anna and Elsa was pretty short, so we went o see them. Last year their line was long the entire time, so we happy about that. Next we went over for pictures with Moana, who had an amazing palm tree made of balloons near her.

One of the longest lines was for Belle. But we were willing to wait. She was, as always, just lovely to us. After a few pictures, we went into the Under the Sea Tea Party where we sat down for a bit and had a snack. Then we got into the fairly short line to see Ariel.

The longest line during the whole party was for Cinderella. But since Marina was wearing a Cinderella costume we had to see her. While we were waiting in line, Marina saw there was no line for Moana, so she talked with her and Merida to pass the time.

After a lovely visit with Cinderella, we saw that the lines for most of the princesses were practically nonexistent. So we stopped by to see many of them again before we were ready to leave.