Princesses in 4D!

Last weekend I was in Creating Art's 'Princess, Prince, & Pirate's in 4D' show.  Our director, Shannon, had written it to be a Choose Your Own Adventure show so the kids would actually decide what was happening throughout the show.  It was based strongly on improv and allowing the children to get involved and no show was going to be exactly the same.

Flynn & Rapunzel

To make the show 4D there were scents that were sprayed throughout the theater depending on where we were; there was a beach/sea scent, a clean scent for the library, and woodsy/musk scent for the forest.  We also had snow during our scenes with Anna and Elsa, and other little touches to create all the senses.  The kids really loved deciding how we would react or what we would do and were very vocal about it.  What Princess did they want to see first?  Did we want to find Elsa or build a snowman?  They were creating magic!  Of course, there were songs involved in every step of the way!

For this show most of us had to play two different Princesses, and the guys had to play multiple roles as well from Princes throughout history.  I started off the show as Rapunzel and the kids were so excited to see me.  During both shows I had little girls run up and hug me or tell me they just watched my movie.  They don't care that there's a show that's going on, they just want to talk to you because it means so much to them.  It was so adorable!  I also got to sing 'I See The Light' with Flynn during our opening scenes.  I had a quick change to Pocahontas, whom I played for the rest of the show.  Lucky for me, I had two extremely long wigs and got to play the best of both worlds, a blond and a brunette.  The story-line led us to find our Fairy Godmother's magic wand that was found by Robin Hood, stolen by Blackbeard, and with the help of Capt. Jack Sparrow, Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Prince Charmping, Aladdin, Jasmine, and more we were able to get the magic wand back to it's rightful home safe and sound, making it an adventure.  Along the way, I lead everyone 'Just Around The Riverbend' as we later on had to 'Build A Snowman' with the help of Christophe, Anna & Elsa, and more.

Just some of our Princesses before the show...Belle, Rapunzel, Tinkerbell, Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White!

It was crazy how excited all the kids were to tell us what was happening or what we missed while we were off-stage.  Our first show went almost 90 minutes because the kids were so talkative with us.  Luckily, we planned for that during our second show and were able to keep things moving more quickly for our Sunday show.  Either way, the children loved it, and the parents did too!  We always get the kids up and dancing with us and there's plenty of time after the show for pictures as we get mobbed on the Promenade after our final bows.  

It's not always kids wanting to take pictures with Snow White & Pocahontas ;)

This was definitely my favorite Princess Show because of all the characters involved and also having the Prince's and Pirate's join us too.  It made it exciting for the little boys as well to have someone to look up to.  For putting the show together in just a week I'm so proud of all of our new members as well as our veterans.  I only wish that the show would have run for another week or two!

*Thanks to Kristina, Alex, & Finley, Neil and Spark, and others who came to see our Princess Show!*

The Princess Extravaganza :)

Right after we finished up Wizard of Oz for Creating Arts we were already prepping for The Princess Extravaganza the following weekend at The Promenade Playhouse.  I had no idea how inspiring it would be seeing all the Princesses in one place at one time and I can't even imagine how the children felt when all the ladies were on-stage together!

Pocahontas Make-Up & Costume :)

I was playing Pocahontas that weekend and we had a total of four shows, two per day, and each show was packed with parents and children, friends and family.  I was greeting and ushering guests into the theater.  It was so much fun to have kids run up to me, excited to talk about their favorite princesses, and of course, the best part were the hugs!  I don't think there is anything better than a hug from a little girl or boy.  I loved that they recognized me right away and would just chatter away about the princesses or that they come to all the Creating Arts shows.  One little girl even recognized me from when I played the Wicked Witch.  I was amazed because I even changed my voice for this too!  I can't believe how smart these kids are :)

After the show started I was able to watch and to see all the Princesses on the stage together.  It blew me away.  Even when you're in Disneyland you may run into a Princess or two but it's very rare to have a few you see throughout the day, let alone 14 all in one place at one time.  If I was excited, I can't imagine the kids not being in total complete awe.  I did get to sing the last number with them and then I gave an announcement at the end for the raffle winners who would win a Princess Party.  Once we were outside we were swarmed by children and people on the Promenade asking for pictures, hugs, autographs, and stories.  Thankfully, I remembered enough about Pocahontas that I was able to talk about Flit and Meeko, and who could forget, John Smith.  It was a total blast!

Our Princess Extravaganza Cast!

We do these Princess Shows every few months and right now the favorites are Elsa and Anna from Frozen.  I'm looking forward to playing another Princess and getting to entertain these incredible kids again soon!