Monday, November 11, 2013

Seeing The Greatest Show On Earth



Yesterday, I took the Overlord to see something that she has never seen before, and something that I haven't seen since I was 6. The circus.


To elaborate, we went to the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus held at the Consol Energy Center. The theme this year was Dragons. So the entire circus had more of an oriental feel with swordsman and Japanese drums and acts of strength with people breaking wooden sticks with their heads.





As I mentioned before, the last time I was at the circus I was 6. I remember the smell of animal dung and hay was strong in the air. Hay bales laid in circles to form a ring as the ringmaster introduced all the acts.


Above is the ringmaster for this show. A very eye-appealing dark-skinned fellow who introduced acts and sang. Yes, he sang through most of the show and was very good at it. His name is Jonathan Lee Iverson and he is officially the first African American ringmaster to join the Ringling Brothers circus. You can read more about him here. I'm giving him a plug because he waved at me while heading 'off stage' when one of the acts started. Our seats were at one of the entrances for the acts to enter the arena. He didn't have to do that, but he did. So he gets his props here. You can also see a better picture of him through the link.


The circus had all tha acts you would come to expect. They had the lion tamer featured above and the elephant balancing act featured in the photo below.


I don't want to say too much about the circus because there was a theme to it, with a logical set of acts to support that theme. So if you plan to take the kids, you'll enjoy the experience without any spoilers coming from here.

While the circus was geared toward kids, it will definitely awe the adults who go there who don't have any little ones. And you won't smell animal dung. They kept it extremely well-cleaned. There isn't even any hay bales to mark the ring parameter if you have hay fever.

The Overlord enjoyed some of the show but was antsy for a bit. There was a kid behind us with an over-priced spinning light toy that made the Overlord reach out for it and get angry that I didn't buy her one. Um... $17 for a light-up toy? I don't think so. Even the light-up necklaces were $11 a pop. And the food prices at the Consol Energy Center were outrageous. I spent a total of $9 and change for a regular french fry and a small container of apple juice that I probably would have spent $5 for at a McDonalds. Yeesh!

Anyway, it was an entertaining 3 hours out on the town. If the weather was better here (40 to 50 degrees outside), it would have made everything perfect. Yet I had no complaints about the circus or the seats (we were six rows up in two seats that were separate from the rest of the aisle -- we felt very important) as I'll take her again when the circus comes rolling into town.

5 comments:

  1. Sooooo glad that your little girl got to see the circus!
    I love the circus....always have. It's a treat for adults as well.
    This is a happy post....and I'm so glad that you will take her again when the circus comes back to town.
    I have two very vivid and happy memories of events that Mama and Daddy took me to...one was the circus and the other was "Holiday on Ice"....an ice extravaganza show. I was mesmerized by both.
    Wonderful that you were able to enjoy the circus together.
    Love,
    Jackie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jackie! I'll definitely take her to more kid-oriented shows -- weather permitting. Next stop: the museum.

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  2. Sounds like ya'll had a great time (sans the food & souvenir $$). I recall a lipizzaner horse show my Mom took me to. It was so amazing I'll never forget it.

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    Replies
    1. The had wonderful horse shows where the horses were literally galloping sideways as they were balancing on top and doing tricks underneath the horses. It was great!

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