Disney on Ice Dare to Dream-Closes The 12th (photo filled review)

Here's our original photo filled coverage from opening 
night at United Center, Chicago


Last call for Disney's Dare to Dream in Chicago!

Disney on Ice's Dare to Dream is a huge hit with adults and kids alike.   My kids particularly loved the Tangled story line, with impressive aerial arts.   My 10 year old son is learning trapeze and silks, and my 8 year old, daughter, is learning lyra-the aerial hoop so they were particularly attentive.   I'm still in awe of the horse!   How did they do that?!  Maximus stole the show as an angry, goofy, equestrian on 4 skates.   The kids are also inspired to visit New Orleans now, and thoroughly enjoyed the way The Princess and The Frog translated to ice.

We've given away tickets and hair cuttery gift certificates, and excitedly talked about the show for weeks.   If you live in Chicago and have somehow still not gone to see the show, it's your last chance, unless you want to take a road trip!   If Disney's Dare to Dream is heading for your town, then lucky you!

Check out all the show details here.   Our give away is over, but you can still save $4 with the code word MOM.   

Love, Loss & What I Wore Special Offer

Highly recommended!   ChiIL Mama saw the opening night and loved it.   Check out our slide show recap of our pre-run party last June at Water Tower Place.   I got to meet Producer, Daryl Roth, Director, Karen Carpenter, and special guests, Mellody Hobson and Christie Hefner.   The fabulous fashion sketches were by students from The International Academy of Design & Technology.

We saw the original cast on opening night and thoroughly enjoyed this production.   The cast rotates, and always features a powerhouse line up of great theatre women.    Since the show is set up as a staged reading, rather than a blocked production, it's got a casual coffee with friends vibe.    The stories come off as intimate recollections of events, and are all the more powerful for the presentation.

I laughed when I saw the production disclaimer that there is nothing particularly inappropriate for kids, but that they might be bored by it, like they are by adult chats.   This is very true.   While the adults in the audience laughed frequently and empathetically, and gave the show a unanimous standing ovation, I didn't bring my kids to this one.    It's more of a girls' night out or date play.  I brought my neighbor and we enjoyed a glass of wine, a lot of laughs, and no little people who needed the bathroom.

Rotating Cast includes Roni Geva, Cindy Gold, Taylor Miller, Loretta Swit, Dawn Wells and Whitney White!
 

Proving that a great show is always in fashion, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, with its starry rotating cast and compulsively entertaining subject matter, has become an international hit. This intimate collection of stories by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron is based on the best-selling book, as well as on the recollections of the Ephrons’ friends. Like the popular book, the show uses clothing and accessories and the memories they trigger to tell funny and often poignant stories that all women can relate to, creating one of the most enduring theatergoing experiences in New York and now across the country.

“Goes directly to the heart, soul and vanity
of every woman, young and old.”
–Liz Smith, Variety

“Funny and Poignant!”
-Associated Press

“A show about matters of the heart and matters of the closet!”
-The New York Times

Ticket prices are $68 to $78

Theatre : Broadway Playhouse, Chicago Illinois


Dates : September 14, 2011 - January 01, 2012


Running time: Approximately 100 minutes with no intermission

 

CircEsteem-Week 6-Final Summer Camp Show

Photo Credit:  CircEsteem
Photo slide show of the final show of CircEsteem's Summer Camp-week 6 


Check out ChiIL Mama's own Sagezilla, with her feet over her shoulders, well on the way to learning "jelly rolls" in Acro.   She's the one with the looping side braids.    You can also see her "on top of the world" balancing on the globe (the big ball) with a hula hoop!


Both Sagezilla and Du-Jay ran away with the circus for 2 weeks of fun this summer.    We have been in Saturday classes with CircEsteem for a year and are excited to continue.   We highly recommend their excellent staff, great kids and families, and esteem and strength building classes.    Follow CircEsteem on Facebook or check out their web site to keep up to date.   They'll be announcing their fall line up of classes next week, and we'll keep you posted here, at ChiIL Mama, too.


If you missed our recent video interview with Maribeth Joy, CircEsteem's Executive Director, you can check it out HERE.


We also have a zillion photos and live show footage from both their winter shows and their big spring extravaganza, we'll be posting this fall.    We're still in the editing process.   There's some incredible talent here, and we love what CircEsteem is doing for Chicago kids' minds, bodies, and spirits.    Check 'em out.    They're an amazing, local resource we're jazzed to be a part of!