Friday, 10 November 2006 09:05 pm
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deckardcanineLast night I went with my family and a couple of our friends to see Cirque du Soleil's Corteo. I had skimmed a couple reviews of it, both lukewarm regarding the acrobatics. To think that, they must be more seasoned circus-goers than me.
Actually, there's a very good chance that they are. I have seen only two professional circuses before this. One was, I think, Barnum and Bailey, but I was about six years old and have very little memory of it. The other, which I must have seen around age 15, was Le Cirque Eloise. Taking place on a standard stage rather than a circular one, it had a few memorable stunts -- particularly balancing acts on a ladder and a bicycle -- but at least half the time was spent on a clown and his foil, an elementary Spanish-speaking woman. Clowns have never scared me (this one didn't have an outlandish getup anyway), but their humor tends to be too corny and juvenile even for me. My main experience with the circus comes from watching about a dozen performances at Independent Lake Camp by kids ages 7-16 who practiced for two weeks. As you can imagine, that is only sporadically wowing and varies little from one show to the next. There is one other program I've seen that might count as a circus: Avner the Eccentric, a one-man, mostly silent set of unusual feats. Now that was good, regardless of your age.
Anyway, Corteo. First the bad news: I've come to the conclusion that the circus is possibly the worst medium for a coherent story. This one, near as I can tell without looking it up, is about a man who dreams of dying in bed, getting a funeral, and joining the choir of angels, with several events having nothing obvious to do with the rest (well, it is a dream). It doesn't help that only about half the spoken words are English, the rest being Italian with some Spanish and French at least. (Small wonder that we heard a few spectators speaking foreign languages near us.) The clowning is no better than that of Le Cirque Eloise, especially in the second half; we all hated one old-fashioned part toward the end.
Now the good news: IT'S WELL WORTH THE TICKET, at least if you haven't seen Cirque du Soleil before. Those people have the coordination to make Daredevil blush to match his mask. Okay, there were a couple mistakes in the second half, but nothing from which they couldn't rebound. I do not agree with the reviewer who said that the first act is the best; it is very good but very overshadowed in our estimation. Some of the acts look fun enough to show up in your favorite dreams (we'll exercise a little discretion by not trying it at home), and I can't help but wonder what their childhoods were like. The length and pacing are about right, and the world-beatish music would go into my iPod if I had one.
Actually, there's a very good chance that they are. I have seen only two professional circuses before this. One was, I think, Barnum and Bailey, but I was about six years old and have very little memory of it. The other, which I must have seen around age 15, was Le Cirque Eloise. Taking place on a standard stage rather than a circular one, it had a few memorable stunts -- particularly balancing acts on a ladder and a bicycle -- but at least half the time was spent on a clown and his foil, an elementary Spanish-speaking woman. Clowns have never scared me (this one didn't have an outlandish getup anyway), but their humor tends to be too corny and juvenile even for me. My main experience with the circus comes from watching about a dozen performances at Independent Lake Camp by kids ages 7-16 who practiced for two weeks. As you can imagine, that is only sporadically wowing and varies little from one show to the next. There is one other program I've seen that might count as a circus: Avner the Eccentric, a one-man, mostly silent set of unusual feats. Now that was good, regardless of your age.
Anyway, Corteo. First the bad news: I've come to the conclusion that the circus is possibly the worst medium for a coherent story. This one, near as I can tell without looking it up, is about a man who dreams of dying in bed, getting a funeral, and joining the choir of angels, with several events having nothing obvious to do with the rest (well, it is a dream). It doesn't help that only about half the spoken words are English, the rest being Italian with some Spanish and French at least. (Small wonder that we heard a few spectators speaking foreign languages near us.) The clowning is no better than that of Le Cirque Eloise, especially in the second half; we all hated one old-fashioned part toward the end.
Now the good news: IT'S WELL WORTH THE TICKET, at least if you haven't seen Cirque du Soleil before. Those people have the coordination to make Daredevil blush to match his mask. Okay, there were a couple mistakes in the second half, but nothing from which they couldn't rebound. I do not agree with the reviewer who said that the first act is the best; it is very good but very overshadowed in our estimation. Some of the acts look fun enough to show up in your favorite dreams (we'll exercise a little discretion by not trying it at home), and I can't help but wonder what their childhoods were like. The length and pacing are about right, and the world-beatish music would go into my iPod if I had one.
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