Wintuk

Good lord, the things that we do for our kids.

Recently I was contacted by the lovely people from Cirque du Soleil (no, not to join their contortionist department, smartypants) and offered tickets to Wintuk. Now, I'd been to Cirque du Soleil approximately thirteen years ago, with my husband, before we were married. "What the hell is this?" he asked as a twirling acrobat met with thunderous applause. "Why are we here?"

I was pretty sure that I never needed to go see another performance.

But my eleven year old daughter wanted to go. So badly that when she got sick with the flu the day before we were supposed to see the show last week, she cried bitter swine tears of disappointment.

Fortunately, the Cirque du Soleil rescheduled the show. Well, probably the show went on as planned, but we got tickets to the show a week later.

And it was fantastic. And not just because when we entered the theater, I noticed a Medical Room to the side with a stretcher. Nor because they served cocktails and had a coffee bar that proudly announced that they'd spike your coffee with booze. A venue that caters to the parents, is a venue that is after my own heart. And possibly liver. (I had a Sprite.)

It was fantastic because it was funny. It was fun, and smart, it was musical and it was visually stunning. I fell in love with the costumes in the first act, it was as though graffiti had come alive and been turned into outfits by Versace. The story itself, well, a boy, winter, cold, no snow, was fine, but the visual telling was masterful.

My daughter was entranced. I adored it. The finale was spectacular. I don't want to give anything away, but let me just say that the audience stood up and cheered. Seriously, a standing ovation at the circus. It was that good.

So, if you haven't seen Cirque du Soleil, go. And grab a coffee with brandy on your way in. Because all those acrobatics look really exhausting, and we need to fortify ourselves.

To get a 30% discount off a child's ticket, go here. Your child will thank you. Enjoy!