What: Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical
Where: Fox Theatre
When: May 17 – 22, 2011
Cost: Tickets begin at $25 (or win 2 tickets here to opening night) Tickets can be purchased at the Fox Box Office or through Ticketmaster

For all you hippies born in the wrong era, here’s a show for you. The 2009 Tony Award Winning Musical Revivial Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is coming to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre from May 17 – 22 as part of the Broadway Across America series. You’ll recognize a lot of the songs including “Let the Sun Shine In,” “Aquarius,” “Hair,” and “Good Morning Starshine”. The show is about the birth of the cultural movement in the 60′s and 70′s that changed America. The musical follows a group of hoeful, free-spirited young people who advocate a lifestyle of pacifism and free-love in a society riddles with intolerance and brutality during the Vietnam War. The shows characters explore sexual identity, challenge racism,  experiement with drugs and brun draft cards.

How You Can Win Tickets (for opening night Tues., May 17 at 8 pm)
Subscribe to Field Trips with Sue by email (and be sure to follow-up and verify your subscription)
Leave a comment: Let me know you’d like to win by leaving a comment below.
Like Field Trips with Sue on Facebook: Post something on the wall about Hair – or perhaps your hippie moment (keep it clean please)
Follow @suerodman on Twitter: Tweet - See Hair @thefoxtheatre May 17 – 22 cc: @suerodman
Email: Invite two friends to subscribe to Field Trips with Sue and join our Facebook community. cc: sue(at)fieldtripswithsue.com on the emails.

What: Shrek the Musical
Where: Fox Theatre
When: April 26 – May 1, 2011
Cost: Prices Start at $18 (Win Tickets here for opening night, Tues., April 26 at 8 pm) Tickets available at The Fox Theatre Box Office, www.ticketmaster.com or 1-800-982-2787
Discount:  With code FIONA, ticket buyers receive a $5 discount and a $5 donation is made by Broadway Across America – Atlanta to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

My kids love the Shrek movies. If yours do too, here’s a great way to introduce them to live theatre – go see a show they know and love.

Shrek the Musical tells the familiar story of a swamp-dwelling ogre who goes on a life-changing adventure to reclaim the deed to his land. Joined by a wise-cracking donkey, this unlikely hero fights a fearsome dragon, rescues a feisty princess and learns that real friendship and true love aren’t only found in fairy tales.

We’ve got a four pack of tickets to give away for opening night. If you’d like to win, below are several ways. Each is a new entry. We’ll announce the winner on Friday.

How You Can Win Tickets (for opening night Tues., April 26 at 8 pm)
Subscribe to Field Trips with Sue by email (and be sure to follow-up and verify your subscription)
Leave a comment: Let me know you’d like to win by leaving a comment below.
Like Field Trips with Sue on Facebook: Post something on the wall about Shrek the Musical
Follow @suerodman on Twitter: Tweet - Shrek the Musical @thefoxtheatre April 26 – May1 cc: @suerodman
Email: Invite two friends to subscribe to Field Trips with Sue and join our Facebook community. cc: sue(at)fieldtripswithsue.com on the emails.

Photo by Kathryn Kolb

What: Beauty and the Beast
Where: Center for Puppetry Arts
When: April 7 – May 29 (see site for times)
Cost: $16 includes admission to the performance, Create-A-Puppet Workshop and museum exhibit admission or Win Tickets below (April 9 at 2 pm)

Center for Puppetry Arts brings back its popular modern adaptation of the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast, artfully presented in a bilingual blend of Spanish and English.

The Center’s distinctive production takes place in an urban environment where Beauty and her mother run a beauty salon, owned by the tyrannical Doña Arruga. During a business deal gone awry, Beauty’s mother stumbles upon the Beast’s “lair”, a fantasy forest in the midst of the city. Obeying the Beast’s demands, Beauty goes to him in return for her mother’s safety. Although afraid of the creature she expects to find, Beauty realizes that beneath the Beast’s shaggy exterior, there is a loveable and lonely friend.

Photo by Kathryn Kolb

Representing the urban world in which they live, mops, rakes, pipes, wrenches and other “found” objects, make up the cast of characters.  Innocent Beauty, fiery Mama, power-hungry Doña Arruga, and the surprisingly sweet Beast embody their most identifiable characteristics from the objects of which they are made.  For those who have always wanted to see a cat boogie, a book rap, and two mops fall in love, entonces this is the perfect show!

Create-A-Puppet Workshop and Museum Tour
Included in the ticket cost is admission to the Create-A-Puppet Workshop, where visitors can create their own Cool Cat Hand Puppet or pick up a Create-A-Puppet To-Go Kit to continue the fun at home!

Investigate all kinds of puppets in the Center’s permanent museum PUPPETS: The Power of Wonder, which includes three exclusive exhibits featuring the work of Jim Henson.

How You Can Win Tickets (for the April 9, 2 pm show)
Subscribe to Field Trips with Sue by email (and be sure to follow-up and verify your subscription)
Leave a comment: Let me know you’d like to win by leaving a comment below.
Like Field Trips with Sue on Facebook: Post something on the wall about the Puppet Show
Follow @suerodman on Twitter: Tweet - See Beauty & the Beast @ctrpuppetryarts @suerodman has a giveaway on Field Trips w/Sue
Email: Invite two friends to subscribe to Field Trips with Sue and join our Facebook community. cc: sue(at)fieldtripswithsue.com on the emails.

What: The Music Man
Where: Fabrefaction Theatre Company
When:Through April 10
Cost: Tickets are $15 – $20 See below for Military Discount

Meredith Willson’s The Music Man follows fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill as he cons the people of River City, Iowa into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys’ band he vows to organize – this despite the fact he doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian the librarian, who transforms him into a respectable citizen by curtain’s fall.

This local production of the Tony-Award winning musical has lots of neighborhood talent including: Jeb Carter, Delany Dunn, Allen Hill, Morgan Giesler and Caroline Geckler to name a few.

This weekend is Military Appreciation Weekend. Tickets for military personnel, their families, and veterans are only $10 for these performances: April 1 at 8 p.m., April 2 at 2 and 8 p.m., and April 3 at 3 p.m. To redeem the Military discount, enter code “MILITARY” when purchasing tickets online or call the box office at 404-876-9468.

How You Can Win Tickets (each item is an extra entry)
Subscribe to Field Trips with Sue by email (and be sure to follow-up and verify your subscription)
Leave a comment: Let me know you’d like to win by leaving a comment below.
LikeField Trips with Sue on Facebook: Post something on the wall about the Music Man
Follow@suerodman on Twitter: Tweet – See The Music Man @Fabrefaction @suerodman has a giveaway on Field Trips w/Sue
Email: Invite two friends to subscribe to Field Trips with Sue and join our Facebook community. cc: sue(at)fieldtripswithsue.com on the emails.

What: Barney Live in Concert – Birthday Bash!
Where: Philips Arena
When: Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 10:30 am and 6:30 pm
Cost: $15 – $45

The first show I ever took my boys to was Barney. I still remember my middle son, who was about one standing in the aisles pointing at the stage repeating “Ba” over and over and then he decided to storm the stage and go meet the purple dinosaur. Luckily, I could still run faster than him.

Well, Barney is back for a birthday bash in a brand new, interactive, live stage concert, featuring more than 25 fun and upbeat sing-along tunes including favorites, such as “Mr. Knickerbocker”, “Dino Dance”, Baby Bop Hop” and “Rock ‘n Roll Star”. You’ll be singing and dancing in the aisles with your favorite purple dinosaur and his friends Baby Bop, BJ and Riff. It’s a fun filled show all about sharing, caring and friendship.

Want to win tickets? Field Trips with Sue has a Family Four Pack up for grabs. If you’d like to win a four pack of tickets, leave us a comment below.

Want an extra shot at winning:
Twitter: Follow @suerodman and tweet me that you’d like to win tickets to see Barney at @philipsarena on April 7.
Facebook: “Like” Field Trips with Sue and Leave a comment on the wall letting us know you want to win.

What: The Body Detective
Where: Center for Puppetry Arts
When: Jan. 20 – March 13, 2011 (Super Sleuthing Detective Days Saturday, January 22 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday, January 23 from 12 – 5 p.m.)
Cost: $16 includes admission to the performance, Create-A-Puppet Worksop and museum exhibit admission or Win Tickets Below

Someone has discovered a living, breathing body in Bodytown, and Detective Sam Flat Foot is hired to find out who is responsible. On this mission, Sam hustles with the local muscle, bones up on the skeletal system and rides the bloodstream into the heart of the city in order to assemble his “body” of evidence. The show starts at the Five Senses Nightclub, before traveling through the dark alleys and side streets of the skeletal system, the bloodstream, all the way up to the “brains” of the operation!

Create-A-Puppet Workshop and Museum Tour
Included in the ticket cost is admission to the Create-A-Puppet Workshop, where visitors can create their own Singing Skull Rod Puppet or pick up a Create-A-Puppet To-Go Kit to continue the fun at home!

Investigate all kinds of puppets in the Center’s permanent museum PUPPETS: The Power of Wonder, which includes three exclusive exhibits featuring the work of Jim Henson.

Super Sleuthing Detective Days (Sat., Jan. 22 – Sun., Jan. 23, 2011)
Little flatfoots are invited to take part in three special activities designed to teach about the systems of the body. Visitors can play the “I Spy Museum Stake Out” game, crack open a case file and discover their very own detective identity in the “Detective Name Game”, or see how they measure up in the “Spine Up, Line Up” photo op. There will also be a Healthy Children Initiative resource table onsite, where guests can pick up some helpful handouts about healthy eating and living from community health partners. Costumes are encouraged.

How You Can Win Tickets
Subscribe to Field Trips with Sue by email (and be sure to follow-up and verify your subscription)
Leave a comment: Let me know you’d like to win by leaving a comment below.
Like Field Trips with Sue on Facebook: Post something on the wall about the Puppet Show
Follow @suerodman on Twitter: Tweet - See The Body Detective @ctrpuppetryarts @suerodman has a giveaway on Field Trips w/Sue 
Email: Invite two friends to subscribe to Field Trips with Sue and join our Facebook community. cc: sue(at)fieldtripswithsue.com on the emails.

What: Peter Pan The Show
Where: Pemberton Place, adjacent to World of Coca-Cola
When: Jan. 21 – March 20, 2011
Cost: Preview Jan. 22 – 27 $50. Afterwards, tickets range from $35 – $75. Click for ticket info.
Win Tickets here for the show on Jan. 25 at 7:30 pm

I CANNOT WAIT to see this show! This has been a favorite story for all my boys. In fact, I once had a Disney World schedule derailed by Peter himself. I don’t do Disney without a strict plan. There is no room for error or dilly dallying in my Disney plan. For a relaxing family vacation, go to the beach, Disney is all about timing, there is no relaxing:) So when I casually mentioned, “oh look, there’s Peter Pan,” I had no idea it would take us off on an un-planned, un-scheduled chase to find him (FYI – He’s generally near the Pirates of the Caribbean ride)

Photo by Kevin Berne

Peter Pan The Show, is NOT a Disney remake, it’s the JM Barrie stage production, perfect for my guys who are a little bit past the animated version. In addition to being an urber cool venue – the show will be in a 360-degree CGI theater, erected in Pemberton Place between The World of Coca-Cola and The Georgia Aquarium, the performance is in-the-round and includes music, puppets, and of course flying.

For the best deal on tickets, go to an early show. Special preview pricing is available for the Jan. 22 – 27 shows – tickets are $50 (then go up to $75). I’ll bet there are lots of folks who would like to win tickets too! Here’s how you could win 4 tickets to the Jan. 25, 2011, 7:30 pm performance. Each item is a new entry.

How You Can Win Tickets
Subscribe to Field Trips with Sue by email (and be sure to follow-up and verify your subscription)
Leave a comment: Tell me your favorite Peter Pan story – be it the book, movie, show or the Peter Pan in your life.
Like Field Trips with Sue on Facebook: Post something on the wall about your Peter Pan story.
Follow @suerodman on Twitter: Tweet - See @PeterPantheShow in-the-round @Pemberton Place 1.21 – 3. 20. @suerodman has a giveaway on Field Trips w/Sue 
Email: Invite two friends to subscribe to Field Trips with Sue and join our Facebook community. cc: sue(at)fieldtripswithsue.com on the emails.

Boy it was tough to get up this morning for the Field Trips with Sue segment on Better Mornings Atlanta. I’d gotten used to sleeping in a bit over the holidays. If you didn’t get up early enough to watch, here’s what we talked about.

In the 5 a.m hour (click here to watch)
Center for Puppetry Arts Free Musuem Days (we’ll be giving away tickets to The Body Detective next week, so check back with us)
Callaway Gardens Free in Jan. and Feb.
Dollar Days at Yellow River Game Ranch (FYI – this link goes to a post from last year – we’ll have an update next week)

In the 6 a.m hour (click here to watch)
Peter Pan (the upcoming play) Giveaway  – Keep watching FTWS for info on this
Arkenstone Paintball - This weekend is an airsoft weekend, paintball (and a post with video) coming next week
Beech Mountain Ski Resort, North Carolina (we’ll have more on Beech Mtn. and snowy fun coming soon)

What: Phantom of the Opera
Where: The Fox Theatre
When: Show runs June 30 – July 18, 2010. Ticket give-a-way is for Thurs. July 1 at 8 pm
Cost: Regular Tickets start at $24.25

Phantom of the Opera is coming to the Fox Theatre next week. It will be the last southeastern stop on the tour, so if you want to see it, make plans now.

I know this is a favorite show for a lot of folks. We’re giving away two sets of tickets for the Thurs., July 1, 8 pm show. If you’d like to win, simply leave a comment below.

Want more chances to win?
Follow @suerodman on twitter and tweet: I entered to win tickets to Phantom of the Opera @thefoxtheatre from Field Trips with Sue www.fieldtripswithsue.com You can too.

“Like” Field Trips with Sue on Facebook (www.facebook.com/fieldtripswithsue) and leave a comment under this post.

If you don’t win the tickets, check out the ticket discounts on Atlanta on the Cheap.

A friend once told me she was surprised I could keep this blog going for over a year. “I would have thought you’d run out of things to write about,” she said. Well I am continually amazed at how many cool, fun things there are to do in Atlanta. I’m even more amazed that there are so many free and inexpensive things to do.

Here is a fantastic list of free and inexpensive summer activities for families from Amy Ryan and Amy Rice. We’ve reviewed many of these activities on this blog, so if you want a little more info, use the search box on the right column of the blog to find the post. There are also several videos we’ve reviewed at www.youtube.com/suerodman.

Thank you to Brandi Diamond, Pam Hansen, Patty Harris and Jaime Lackey who forwarded the Amy’s email to me. As summer begins, be sure to tell your family, friends and caregivers to subscribe (it’s FREE) to Field Trips with Sue via email, or Facebook and follow @suerodman on twitter for fun activities throughout the summer.