Cirque du Soleil is Back in Town

[innerSpaceman]

Cirque du Soleil's traveling show "Corteo" has finally reached Southern California, and will be here for a few months. Go see it. It's terrific.

They've set up the yellow and blue big top in the parking lot of the Great Western (fka) Forum. Staring the first week in November, they'll be somewhere in Orange County.

That may bring it closer to some of you, but I wouldn't wait. Corteo's already 2 years old, and the newest of their traveling shows, "Kooza," opens in San Francisco before year's end. Once a new show comes out, the last one is official "old." :p


Corteo is a beautiful piece about a clown's dream of his own funeral. Borrowing liberally from the dreamlike feeling of "O," yet exhibiting perhaps the most "circusy" of acts since the troupe's beginnings in L.A. some 20 years ago, "Corteo" is Italianate lovely and acrobaciting - and another Cirque triumphant feast for all 12 senses.


:snap: :snap: :snap: :snap: :snap:

[mousepod]

So, who wants to make a road trip to see Kooza? I have to admit that CdS has been hit and miss for me for the past few shows, but the fact that David Shiner (Fool Moon) is the writer/director really piques my interest.

[Stan4dSteph]

So, who wants to make a road trip to see Kooza? I have to admit that CdS has been hit and miss for me for the past few shows, but the fact that David Shiner (Fool Moon) is the writer/director really piques my interest.Kooza was great. I saw it in Montreal over Memorial Day weekend. It's the first show where I almost saw someone get seriously injured. The contortion act is crazy-amazing. So was the Wheel of Death.

I also recommend Corteo. I loved the theatrical quality of it. My favorite act was the chandeliers.

[innerSpaceman]

mousepod, I am DEFINITELY interested in a Kooza road trip. I dislike having seen Corteo when it was already 2 years old, and at least one act was axed along the way ... meaning I missed it, and missed the energy of newness I love so much.

I'm certainly keen on heading up north to see Kooza before it bothers to meander down south in a few years. Bah. I may be wrong, but it seems SoCal is always Cirque's longest stop on the tour (between LA, OC and San Diego, Corteo - for example - will be here nearly 5 months), and I get the feeling that's why we've moved from (nearly) first on the tours to last.


In any event, I think the traveling shows have been on a string of success since 1999. I loved Dralion that year, and I really liked Verakai (though the music was weak), plus I dug the mini-show, Delerium, and now I've really enjoyed Corteo.


I was not so thrilled with Ka in Las Vegas. I liked it, but not enough to see it again. It will be the first Vegas show that I don't feel like repeating. Heheh, I'm seeing Love next month. Wonder if I'll love it or hate it.


But Kooza in San Francisco? Count me in!

[cirquelover]

We plan on making the road trip down to see Kooza also. Sadly we weren't able to go to Montreal for this one and join the group we go with. We also missed CirqueCon this year for the first time, it was in Orlando a couple of weeks ago.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I saw Corteo Friday night and loved it! After being less than thrilled by recent Vegas shows (don't get me wrong, I liked Ka and Love, but didn't adore them), it was a treat to see CdS return to its roots. Corteo was innovative both physically (sets & apparatus) and artistically. And, of course, the male eye candy is always nice too. :evil:

[innerSpaceman]

Heheh, likely the best male eye candy of our performance came before the show officially started. Performers out in the audience, carting around a coffin, were measuring various guests for a fit inside said coffin. At one point, they picked out a man so beautiful - I thought for sure he was a shill. But not so. Anyways, they lifted up his shirt to the neck, and oh my!:eek: Beauty indeed!

(I saw the guy at intermission, and winked at him ;) )



My fave "illusion" came before the show, too. There's a curtain down over the stage when you arrive (oh, and I'll spoiler tag this, since it was a surprise to me)...
It's a gauzy curtain that you can vaguely see through. there's a huge mirror on the stage, because you can make out the reflection of the audience, and the performers with the coffin. We were sitting close to the stage, so it was almost easier to follow the action in the reflection than to crane my head around to watch the coffin stuff.

But at one point, the coffin in the reflection headed straight for the rear of the audience, while the coffin in the audience was not moving!

:confused: :confused: :confused:

I thought I was having an acid flashback. (I was, after all, on LSD for many a Cirque performance.)
:cool:


But when they raised the curtain, er, curtains, there was a "second" audience directly across. The stage was simply a narrow strip between two separate seating areas. Hahahaha!


(They did this same two-sided thing with the stadium show, Delerium. I'm tired of it already. It inspires some interesting staging, but I like it when they can have a bit more of a stage set.)

[Gemini Cricket]

I don't know how I feel about the "tent versions" of Cirque. "Quidam" was just okay...

[innerSpaceman]

UGH - Quidam was the ONLY show I have a negative opinion of, and I've seen every show put on west of the Mississippi (with Love coming next month).

That's 13 shows, only one of which was a stinker. And it was Quidam.


(That's the only one Ghoulish Delight has seen also. PLEEEASE do not judge Cirque du Soleil by the trainwreck that was Quidam!)

[Ghoulish Delight]

That's not the only one I've seen, I saw Alegria and Mystere as well.

But I happened to enjoy Quidam (though less than the other two).

[Gemini Cricket]

I loved "O".
:)

[innerSpaceman]

Yeah, they don't do the water tank thingy with the traveling shows.

[NirvanaMan]

Never seen one. I would love to someday. Just saw something on the Vegas one on the Travel channel or Discovery or something the other day.

[innerSpaceman]

If in Vegas, see "O" - that's currently their most impressive one there. Be wide awake, though. The show is quasi-hypnotic. You would also enjoy "Zumanity" - it's right up your alley.


You would not go wrong seeing "Corteo," either in L.A. or when it comes to Orange County in November.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I loved Quidam!

[Gemini Cricket]

With Quidam, I liked the whole kid and parents floating off the ground thing at the beginning. Pretty cool. The clown ghost thing bleeding flowers was pretty neat too.

[innerSpaceman]

Ugh, too dark and moody for me. I also remember being really impressed with only one of the acts (I don't remember what it was at this point). The costumes, trying to look like Kafka-esque, soviet-era streetwear, were beyond boring. I didn't take an immediate shine to the music, but would have bought the CD anyway at the venue ... except it wasn't yet available. So, I've never become familiar with the music. It might have grown on me, for all I know.


* * * *

On another BAH Cirque du Soleil note ... in reading the review of Corteo in today's Variety, I learned that the act I thought had been axed somewhere along the tour (the ladder-balancing act) was instead simply missing from Saturday's performance. Ugh, the very reason I go within the first few days of the tour's arrival is to avoid acts gone missing due to injury. I'll never forget the regret of taking some friends to see Saltimbanco after raving about it to them, only to have the show evisserated by three missing acts!


Since then, I've never gone to see the travelling shows more than once. But now that someone was obviously injured within the first two performances, maybe I'd like to see Corteo again, later in the run.


So, if anyone's been inspired to check it out ... let me know if you'd like me to check it out with you.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

The ladder balancing act was in when I saw it Friday night. He must have injured himself Saturday day.