Cirque Du Soleil

Luzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico (Cirque du Soleil)

May 28, 2019

"Luzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico" is Cirque du Soleil’s 38th original production and its 18th performed under The Big Top. The name is a combination of the Spanish word for light (luz) and the word rain (illuvia). Written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca (co-authored by Julie Hamelin Finzi) with Patricia Ruel as Director of Creation, the colorful show is a surrealistic journey through the various landscapes and arts of the country. Using the frame of a traveler parachuting into a land of memories, the show moves from a movie set to the ocean to a smoky dance hall to the desert. It touches on the music, design, sports, entertainments, animals and mythology of Mexico. [more]

Ovo (Cirque du Soleil)

July 7, 2017

The Wall is also used by the performers who climb on it, disappear into it, and use it as both a platform and a launching pad. The most remarkable act is the finale – the “Trampo Wall” performed by the ten Crickets in green. A colony of Crickets run, jump, and travel straight up the four story vertical wall without artificial support. They also use air track and trampolines to take flight from the back of the stage to the very apron. One watches with bated breath in absolute disbelief. [more]

Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities (Cirque du Soleil)

October 10, 2016

Cirque du Soleil's "Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities" has a wonderful premise and an eye-filling mise en scène. However, without the needed narration or program notes, the idea remains still in embryo. The problem one supposes is how to narrate a show that is intended for international audiences. [more]

Toruk – The First Flight (Cirque du Soleil)

September 10, 2016

The show includes pole vaulting, giant flowers that rise up out of the ground, the building of the bone structure of the totemic Thanator, the high flying of the Toruk, a flock of birds played by kites, pulsating live drumming, two earthquakes, the lava flow, a three story water fall, and the rise of the river by which the Pandorans are saved. Along the way the questers are beset by various exotic animals played by 16 huge puppets (designed by Patrick Martel) which are manipulated from inside by the performers. As the trio travel from one clan to another, the environment before us morphs from one colorful place to another in Carl Fillion’s monumental set and prop design. [more]

Paramour (Cirque du Soleil)

June 9, 2016

"Paramour," the Cirque du Soleil’s stab at producing a Broadway style musical at the Lyric Theatre, is the circus equivalent of a jukebox musical. Instead of songbook—Beach Boys, Four Seasons, Carole King, etc.—this show is a panoply of circus shtick: juggling acts, trampoline chases, trapeze acts, contortionists, teeter board high fliers, etc. Although the circus bits aren’t truly integrated into the overblown plot—a rather silly "42nd Street"/"A Star is Born"/"Red Shoes" mash-up—it’s great to see the Cirque du Soleil performers in any context, but why the creators couldn’t dovetail the wonderful circus bits with an intelligent plot, is a mystery considering all the money that clearly went into "Paramour." [more]

Varekai: Cirque du Soliel

July 30, 2014

The title is a Romany word meaning "wherever." The narrative framing device is the Greek myth of Icarus, imagining that of instead of drowning in the sea after flying too close to the sun, he lands in an enchanted forest populated by exotic creatures. [more]

The Anthem

June 14, 2014

This campy extravaganza channels the spirit, tone and sound of past offbeat edgy musicals: an appropriate subtitle for it would be Ayn Rand Superstar. [more]

The Threepenny Opera

March 5, 2006

The best way to imagine what has happened to the beggars, the bourgeoisie, the pimps and whores, and the sordid denizens of the underworld in this operatic rant on the evils of capitalism is to think of a Cirque du Soleil troupe on Valium and under neon (what was lighting designer Jason Lyons thinking?). Worst of all, it is plodding and dull and an eyesore thanks to Isaac Mizrahi's Halloween-on-Fire-Island costuming. [more]