Where-To-Go Wednesday: Sleepover at the American Museum of Natural History and Edwin: The Story of Edwin Booth

We were given free tickets to a sleepover at the American Museum of Natural History for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Sleepover at the American Museum at the Natural History

Where: Central Park West at 79th St.

              New York, NY

Who: Ages 6 and up

 

Mom's view: The American Museum of Natural History was the setting for the first movie of Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum trilogy. You too can spend a night in that museum. If you are expecting the exhibits to come to life in the middle of the night, you will be disappointed unless the idea of exhibits coming to life is kind of scary to you. However, if you just want to have a good time, you will not be disappointed. While not all of the museum's exhibits are open during the overnight, a limited number of exhibits are open for at least the first few hours of your sleepover. Exhibits open at the time of our sleepover included a dinosaur exhibit, an alligator exhibit which included live alligators and an exhibit called "The World Inside You." Of course, the same exhibits may not necessarily be open for every sleepover especially since some exhibits may only be temporary. It is fun to get to explore at least some of the museum without the huge crowds that often fill the museum during regular opening hours, and you may even find yourself  lucky enough to explore an exhibit or two with only your family or group as we did.  Keep in mind that you probably will not have time to explore all the exhibits available during the short time period when they are open so you should work your way through them in order of what interests you most. When the exhibits close, there are plenty of other fun things to do and see, such as,  a flashlight fossil hunt, a 3D movie about the National Parks and a live animal exhibition. All in all, a sleepover at the American Museum of Natural History is a truly unique and fun experience. If you do participate in a sleepover at the museum, cots will be provided to sleep on, however, you will have to bring your own blankets and/or sheets and pillows. Also, you will be given a snack at night and breakfast the next morning, but no dinner will be provided. You will also be given free passes to visit the museum the next day. However, the passes do not include any special exhibits, and you will not be able to store your overnight gear in the museum while you are visiting. Sleepovers are available for scout groups and/or for families. There are also adults only sleepovers. For more about sleepovers at the American Museum of Natural History go to http://www.amnh.org/plan-your-visit/amnh-sleepover. For more about the American Museum of Natural History in general go to http://www.amnh.org/. We will also be talking more about the American Museum of Natural History in future posts.

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We were given free tickets to Edwin: The Story of Edwin Booth for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Edwin: The Story of Edwin Booth

Where: 423 W. 46th St.

            New York, NY

Who:  Recommended for ages 13 and up

When: Now through September 18, 2016

Mom's view: The story of the life of the actor, Edwin Booth is a fascinating one. He was a member of talented but troubled Booth acting family, family which included an alcoholic father, and a brother who was responsible for the assassination of President Lincoln. Therefore, the idea of a show about his life is good a one. This particular show, however, only does an adequate job of covering this subject. Although, you can learn some interesting facts about Booth's life, such as, the effects both real and psychological of having a notorious brother, the show feels very long.  The songs are not very memorable either.  They don't really seems to move the plot along, but instead slow it down, The acting, however is good. From Dana Watkins as the anguished Edwin Booth, to Patricia Noonan as his loyal but long suffering wife Mollie right on  down the line the acting is first rate. Watkins and Todd Lawson as his brother John play particularly well off each other. The show is worth seeing for the performances but it does seem to go rather slowly. If you love historical dramas and/or shows where you can learn a little bit about a person in history's life, you would probably enjoy the show.  It is not a good show for children under 13 due to the subject matter which includes alcoholism, infidelity and children born out of wedlock among other things. For more information or to order tickets go to  http://www.greatcircleproductions.org/.

And that's Mom's view. Tune in to tomorrow's Talking Topics post for more about sleepovers at the American Museum of Natural History.

Photo credits: All Edwin: The Story of Edwin Booth photos by Jeremy Daniels