Sleeping Beauty – website

Location: Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire

Phone: 847-634-0200

Dates: July 7 – August 18, 2012
Wednesday-Saturday at 10:00 am

Admission: $15 a ticket

Parking: There is free parking in the attached lot.

Bathrooms: There are public bathrooms with changing tables. In the bathroom we were in, the changing table was above the sinks, making it difficult to use if the bathroom is crowded. The sinks and soap were too high for Cooper to reach so he had to be lifted up.

Nursing: There is no designated nursing area.

Handicapped/stroller accessibility: The theatre is handicapped accessible. I would not bring a stroller if it could be avoided.

Food: There is no food available at the show. There are restaurants in the attached Marriott Resort.

Special events: 

• Cinderella will be on the Marriott stage from November 17-December 31, 2012.

We paid: We received two complimentary tickets to the performance. Our tickets would have cost $30 for Cooper and I to attend.

Our experience:

We usually go to events as a family, but Cooper and I attended a performance Sleeping Beauty together while John took a day with Dexter. Cooper was very excited about our Cooper-Mommy day and excited to see Sleeping Beauty.

The was performed in the round (stage in the center with seating around it on all sides). All of the seats were very good, but before the show Cooper was concerned about the small size of the stage. Once the show started he didn’t mention it again.

The show started with the birth of the King’s daughter, Amber. Each of the witches – Marigold, Perwinkle, and Ruby – bless the child with one wish, when the evil witch, Magenta, appears to curse the child. We later find out Magenta is out for revenge because the previous king banished her from the kingdom because he outlawed purple.

As Amber approaches her 16th birthday, the date she will prick her finger and fall into a deep sleep until she is awoken by the kiss of her true love, she is a a tomboy, despite everyone wanting her to be a proper princess. She’s not allowed to leave the kingdom (for fear that she will be harmed by the curse), but yearns to be free.

I won’t give away the whole story here, but (of course), she does fall into a sleep and several adventures take place in the process of trying to wake her.

There are several songs throughout the performance and the situations when the audience needs to chant to help the characters complete tasks. The costumes are beautiful, the performance was entertaining and Cooper and the other kids seemed to really enjoy the show.

There are a few times when Magenta can be a bit scary – especially with flashing lights and scary sound effects. There’s also a dragon in the show that Cooper enjoyed it a lot. It’s a three-person costume and the actors are dressed in black, but still very visible in the costume so I don’t think it would be very scary to kids. Cooper actually said the dragon was his favorite part.

I like how they incorporated all the different colors into the show. I thought the story about Magenta being banished was a little odd, as was the resolution of it, but Cooper didn’t seem to mind it. I’ve probably seen a few too many princess stories because I was pretty sad to see the happy ending of the story was that a sheltered 16-year-old girl is married off before living her own life or even choosing her own husband, but that’s really an issue with the traditional fairy tale than this performance. Regardless, Cooper thought the ending was good and was very enthusiastic about the show overall and I enjoyed myself too.