My two-year-old son Cole, my husband, and I had the opportunity to go see the Gazillion Bubble Show playing at the New World Stages in New York City recently. Needless to say, Cole was giddy with excitement the moment we told him we were going to see "the Bubble Show". (Keep reading for a chance to win a family four-pack of tickets!)
Being the shameless parents that we are, Brian and I milked Cole's enthusiasm for all it was worth to get him to do things that would normally take some convincing: "We need to have a long, good night's sleep to see the Bubble Show." "We can't see the Bubble Show if you don't finish your eggs." "The Bubble Show won't take kids wearing pajamas and a dirty diaper." "The Bubble Show won't start if you don't sit in your seat." It worked like a charm. And for Cole, all his hard work paid off in the end.
Cole was mesmerized from the moment the Gazillion Bubble Show started. True to its name, the show literally had gazillions of bubbles floating all across the stage and into the audience. Created by Fan Yang, a bubble expert who holds 16 Guiness Book of World Records, the Gazillion Bubble Show blew us away (pardon the pun) with bubbles that we didn't even know could be done. There were bubbles with smoke, rainbow bubbles, bubble planets, hat bubbles, bubbles the length of the stage, square bubbles (yes, square!), ice cream bubbles, bubbles within bubbles, bubbles within bubbles within bubbles, bubbles spinning around each other, volcano bubbles and more!
The audience participation part of the show was my favorite. It was priceless to see the kids' faces on stage, and host Deni Yang did a great job making the kids feel comfortable. The 70-minute performance with no intermission kept Cole entertained for most of the show. The only time Cole started getting antsy was near the end during the laser light show, but he was quickly drawn in again when millions of bubbles began to float throughout the theater.
A tried and true indicator of the entertainment value of a show is the reaction of the crowd when the show is over. As soon as the lights came back on and he saw all the people leaving the theater, Cole started crying for more bubbles. And he protested all the way outside the building. (For those of you not in the know, that's two-thumbs up in Toddler-ese.)
The Gazillion Bubble Show is now playing at the New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street in New York City. To get the most out of show, I would recommend sitting in the first couple of rows.
