There's also an underlying ecological message to the show. With the oceans covering 70 percent of the Earth, messages displayed on the dolphin exhibit's video screens suggest it would behoove humans to take better care of them.
Of course, the old standbys are there; about 70 percent of Our Ocean Planet is behavior the dolphins already know. After all, what dolphin show would be complete without ball tosses and 10-foot leaps into the air? You still get to listen to the dolphins chatter and get to be jealous of the one lucky audience member who gets to touch one of them. And you still get to watch the flippered friends splash the first four rows or so of spectators.
"Those people that are sitting right over there," Hotchkiss says before the show, pointing to a group of dolphin enthusiasts sitting to the right of the tank. "They're totally in the splash zone, and they want to be in the splash zone."
Hotchkiss smiles and laughs, a laugh that is as incredulous as it is amused. In about 20 minutes, as the show nears its end, those people are going to be soaked. And they're loving it.
So, it seems, is just about everybody. Even those who get to leave the show dry.
"It was awesome, amazing," says 10-year-old Jordan Pinter, visiting with her family from Illinois. Her brother Corey, 6, agrees: "I thought it was cool, especially when the dolphins made this big jump, like, whoom!"
In its first few days, Daisey says, Our Ocean Planet seems to be proving a thought-provoking hit. Whereas the old show elicited a lot of laughter and amazement, the new one seems to be piquing people's curiosity more.
"People have had a lot more insightful questions about the dolphins," she says. "People seem to be taking a lot more away from the conservation message. They're asking more about what the dolphins really feel."
if you go
Showtimes for "Our Ocean Planet," the new dolphin show at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, are 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets (aquarium admission plus dolphin show) are $27.95 for ages 12-59; $26.95 for age 60 and older; and $17.95 for ages 3-11. The aquarium is at 501 E. Pratt St. Call 410-576-3800 or go to aqua.org.
