This is the Greatest Show

Tonight we made our return to the Greatest Show on Earth, which of course is Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey's Circus.  We had seats at the front of our section, pretty much exactly where we sat for the ice hockey game a few weeks ago, dead center.  It was a great "overview" sort of seat, because just like this circus used to be, there is so much going on all at the same time.  I mean, it's still a three-ring circus, although there's not technically rings so much as areas where performers are doing their thing.  Simultaneously, you have these Ethiopian acrobats climbing up poles and launching themselves horizontally while at the same time there are BMX cyclists doing tricks all over the place.  Where do you look?  

It was pure nostalgia for us.  I was not sure what to expect, given that the circus had to shut down for a while for financial reasons.  It had to reinvent itself, and I remember wondering if it would try too hard to copy Cirque du Soleil or instead just continue to be what it's always been.

I'm happy to report that it's sticking with spectacle.  There are themed costuming and music, but it's not so much a story like you see with Cirque.  It's simply a massive collection of talented performers over a large area.  And it's everything you expect in a circus, from trapeze to acrobats to one of my favorite things ever, the human cannonball.  

We went down to Gwinnett and got there early enough to get some popcorn and of course I got myself a program.  I now have a program for all the Ringling Brothers circuses I've been to, which goes back to the 70's.  I had them in the car with me so Nana and Ye-Ye could look through them on the way down.  Memories! 

There was no one in our section, except for two others, so we had these cushioned seats all to ourselves up top.  It was a splendid view, and nice and comfortable too.  

Here's me and my girl.  We had a great time tonight.  We were wondering how things would be now that there aren't any animals in the circus, but in fact things were pretty good.  There was a robotic dog that was pretty fun, and as always, things moved along very quickly with all the space on stage.  Your eyes would be watching something at the left, while something at the right would be setting up.

There were some unique acts too, a bola swinging performance from Argentina, and of course the wheel of death thing that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Oh, and a guy on a three-story unicycle.  That's something you don't see every day.  I think Barnum would be proud of that one.  He's not on the three-story one here, but later on he was rolling along carefully on this unicycle that was as tall as where our seats were.

Oh, and the human cannonball of course.  That was super fun.  Maddie has now seen two of those in the past six months.  Yes, there was the one at the Cumming Fairgrounds too.  For some reason I think this would be tremendously fun.  It was the last thing pretty much of the circus, all part of the ending musical number.

All in all, I think they did a fantastic job with the new vision for the circus.  The trapeze act was different, a criss-cross of performers, and there were other twists on many of the classic acts within the circus.  There were new things to see, new performances, and the clowns were entertaining too.  We all had a really good time tonight, and were glad we went.  Nostalgia was there in a huge way, but truthfully it was just a great circus as it's always been.  We're glad we went, and we'll continue seeing it when it comes around again. 

Speaking of circuses,  we did have a fun morning at KidPak.  You an see our skit here, where all of us are various pieces of food performing one of the parables from the New Testament.  The skit is called "The Unforgiving Cheeseburger," which may tell you all you need to know.

It was a fun morning.  We were talking about Jacob and Esau, and forgiving others because we're "better together."

It was a solid morning at KidPak, and also the end of that month.  We start our "Slam Dunk" series next week with some new booklets.  Things are moving along pretty quickly there!

Tonight after the circus there wasn't as much time to do much but sleep, but we did squeeze in our reading for the night - the story is moving along now with a tense chase scene as Magrat is fleeing from the evil elves.  After reading, it was time for prayers - and a good night's rest after a full, fun day!