I was in Vegas a while back and had the foresight to set aside a few hours of my otherwise busy weekend for a Cirque du Soleil show. This time around I thought I’d go old school and head to Treasure Island to catch Mystere, the first Cirque show to take up residence in Sin City. It has withstood the test of time because it has all the elements that make Cirque a world-class spectacle – humor, music, mind-bending acrobatics, unbelievable athletes, and acts that absolutely attack your senses and sensibilities. If you’re going to a Cirque show for the first time I definitely recommend you start with this one.
The first element of the show to completely disarm me came as we entered the arena. Before us stood an usher of sorts, a charlatan in disguise. A somewhat insane-looking older gentleman in a mussed tuxedo with a pile of white hair on his head. The look on his face said ‘I’d like to help you find a seat, but I’m not quite sure what I’m doing’. For better or for worse, we were approached by another usher who politely showed us to our seats. In hindsight this was good fortune, for as soon as we sat down it became clear that the charlatan usher was leading various guests around the arena on a wild goose chase, much to the amusement of the previously seated guests in the arena.
Another amusing element to the show was the ‘baby’. She came out early in the show with some of the other bizarre creatures that inevitably inhabit the stage of a Cirque performance. As part of the act she chooses an audience member in the front row as her ‘mama’. As the baby begins to play with her new mama, you can sense a level of engagement with the audience that is unique to the Cirque experience. Sure enough, as the show goes on, the baby reappears at select moments, soliciting attention and companionship from the unsuspecting ‘mama’ in the audience. There’s a very funny twist at the end of the show that I won’t spoil here.
After the introductory elements and the music set the tone for the ensuing drama, there were then a string of acts so unusual and unbelievable that they left my senses completely drained for the remainder of the evening.
The first was the aerial cube, which apparently has been a staple of the show since 1995. Visually speaking, the act is remarkable. The cube, which has no body, only a frame, spins on the various body parts of the performer with an impossible display of color that leaves the viewer nearly hallucinating before it’s over. The difficulty of this act is almost completely forgotten due to the brilliance of the visual effects it produces.
‘Hand to Hand’ is an act I’ve seen adapted into at least one other Cirque show (Le Reve, I think). In this act, two men perform an intertwined act of balance and strength atop a revolving sphere. Watching this act it’s hard to believe it’s real. The two men move impossibly slowly and precisely, hoisting each other to balance on a hand or a foot of the other, then somehow reverse positions without losing their grace of movement. Truly impressive.
The other act that really captured my imagination was the Trampoline and Korean Plank. This act epitomizes what I understand to be the Cirque experience. Several dozen acrobats weave around the stage and take turns catapulting each other into space with the planks. What makes this a true Cirque experience is that not only are the acrobats amazingly skilled and precise, but clearly much work has gone into making the procession of acrobats visually compelling. It’s hard to put this into words, but the movement of the acrobats around the stage and through the air creates intricate visual patterns that make the experience much more rewarding than the individual feats of the acrobats themselves. You can’t watch this act without feeling both the compelling skills of the performers as well as the choreography behind it. That’s the Cirque spectacle in a nutshell.
So, all in all a great time! I think I’m finally getting the hang of this whole Cirque phenomenon. Now that I’ve been to a few shows, I have a much better feel for what it’s all about. The more shows I see, the more I’m able to stop trying to figure out what’s going on, and instead to focus on and truly enjoy the performance in front of me in its entirety.
Tags: cirque, cirque du soleil, hand to hand, korean plank, las vegas, mystere, show, treasure island
