Cirque du Soleil - Twas The Night Before...

Cirque du Soleil is bringing 'Twas The Night Before to Carol Morsani Hall at The Straz Center starting November 18, and it's their first Christmas show. The whole thing is built around Clement Clarke Moore's old poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, which you probably know as the one that starts "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house..." The story follows Isabella and her father, and their family tradition of reading the poem together gets interrupted by a snowstorm that sends them on a trip through a winter wonderland full of whimsical characters, acrobats, children, and reindeer.

It's an 85-minute show with no intermission, and Cirque made it specifically for families. That means the acrobatics are mixed with a soundtrack of holiday classics that they've reimagined in their own style. Even Santa's reindeer get their own moment, turning their energy into a hoop-diving number. They describe it as a holiday classic reimagined with a modern, cirque twist, and it plays at the 2,610-seat Carol Morsani Hall at 1010 North Macinnes Place in Tampa.

There are plenty of dates to choose from, so you can pick whatever fits your schedule. It runs from November 18 through November 29. Most nights are at 7:30 PM — November 18, 19, 20, 25, and 27. Saturday, November 21 is the busiest day, with shows at 1:00 PM, 4:00 PM, and 7:30 PM. Sunday, November 22 has a 3:00 PM and a 6:00 PM, and Saturday, November 28 is just a 1:00 PM matinee. Tickets run from $82 to $118.