Paying good money to see Britney Spears wear skimpy circus outfits and lip-sync songs we don’t know yet is just something that must be done. And we will enjoy it because Barbie is still what little girls play with. Deep in us, we know that our plastic doll came to life, only to be trashed in the tabs, and that if she is going to emerge from a meltdown on a trapeze, we will cheer her on. Because everyone likes a show, the Circus Starring Britney Spears has been bringing that—to New Orleans, to Nassau Coliseum, to Miami (where she, in typical fashion, flashed her lady parts and acknowledged it in a mic she thought was still off). The show will be 90 minutes (they all are) with a preset set list more fierce than fragile; “Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman” is no longer the brand of a 27-year-old divorced mother of two wearing tassled pasties. The new album, fortunately, holds up and is tailor-made for arena shows that feature jugglers, acrobats, and naughty male dancers who need to be whipped.

THE PUSSYCAT DOLLS OPEN THE SHOW AT 8 P.M. AT THE VERIZON CENTER, 601 F ST. NW. FIND TICKETS ON CRAIGSLIST. (202) 661-5000.