Ahh, le Cirque, le Cirque du Soleil. On Sunday night I travelled to the city with some friends to share in the Cirque's Alegria experience. Alegria is actually one of Cirque's older touring shows, though it was the only touring show I hadn't seen either on video or in person. Needless to say, I was really quite (appropriately) bouncy in anticipation.
I was doubly keen, as I had caught a glimpse of a particular act from Alegria a year prior, an act that looked amazing and that I really wanted to see. A few days before the show, however, I read a blurb in the SF Chronicle indicating that while Alegria was one of their older shows this particular incarnation had been pretty much completely revamped (!?) with all the acts changed... save one. Uh oh...
As it turned out, the one act I knew of and thus wanted desperately to see was still in the show. Crisis averted. So how did this newly redone show do overall? (spoilers to follow!)
Alegria definitively does have an oldschool Cirque feel to it. That terminology may seem confusing, but I define 'oldschool Cirque' as the Cirque shows pre-Quidam. The newer shows tend to feature a few pure-dance-like numbers, and have more pretence of theme and/or story, while the older shows are more in the realm of liberal freeform fantasy. Alegria was definitively a whimsical escapade, but with a few elements that spoke to the new style ... almost to strongly.
The stage for one was very spartan compared to either... well, just about all their shows, even Saltimbanco. Featuring a rusty-like structure forming part of a dome near the back, a large mirrored lozenge was suspended over the back stage -- until it was inexplicably removed during the intermission, to be equally inexplicably replaced by a lantern of some sort. Hmm. The stage was nifty in that it curved quite seriously upward near the back, where the musicians played in full view under the structure.
Costumes were fantastic. Less overall lycra content than other shows, but an intricateness in the accessories and the whole that made up for it quite fantastically, making for a continual eye feast, and adding to the impressiveness of being able to perform in them. The anticipation to see the next batch of costumes was nearly as high as that for the next act.
Trapeze acts bracketed the show, beginning with a dual independent trapeze act, with the two performers on their respective bars twirling and leaping about to catch themselves with either hands or feet on the bar or rope. Nicely done were the smiles plastered to their faces as they looked at each other continually during the act, ending with a flying dismount that made good use of their harnesses. The end act we knew would be serious when the brought out a net (first time I had seen a net at a cirque show), and consisted of 8 well-costumed guys, two on a single trapeze seat below, catching one of the six who flung themselves from one of the three bars set in a very obtuse triangle above the swing (with the middle bar higher than the other two). It was quite the act to watch, but unfortunately it stayed firmly planted in the simple zone, never getting more gripping than the first few leaps. A shame, as it appeared as though it could have quite handily gotten more complex with the interaction of so many performers and, more importantly, the three bars being used in conjunction (think a set of widely-set parallel bars from gymnastics) in a complex game before the throwing of selves.
Appearing early in the show was the act I had been dying to see. Parts of the stage slid away to reveal a trampoline surface set about a foot below the level of the stage, forming a large X. The performers flipped and bounced their way down these springy runways, gathering an impressive amount of speed to perform aerial maneuvers at their last jump and landing on a mat at the edge of the stage. In rapid choreographed succession they would cross each other, providing quite the dizzying spectacle. I had expected them to jump over each other at the crossing, but instead they would simply cross each other succession, though they did occasionally jump over the clowns at the end of their runs. Interspersed throughout were breaks in the tumbling action where the artists would 'dance' (bounce in sync and in interesting ways, using the stage as well) up and around the X. Definitively the highlight of the show for me, a very high energy set with well-placed serene moments. An aerial ballet with tumbling.
Hand balancing, an old staple of Cirque routines, was made new through the performer. A very good-looking young Russian, who appeared quite lithe and small as well as looking very strong, effortlessly pulled himself up atop the blocks from a few angles throughout his routine. The usual body contortions, spins, impossible angles and hand switches were especially a joy to watch because of how easy it appeared for him and how quickly he moved vis-à-vis the other Cirque shows. A definite treat to watch.
Unfortunately for the contortionist in the second half, however, along with the hand balancer we had already seen a performer do a ribbon and hula routine, manipulating her props while performing various contortions without missing a twirl. A third contortionist just seemed, well, stale by that point. It did not help that the flying man routine did not show that night; while it is not uncommon for an act to be changed or omitted from a particular performance, this proved to be a hindrance as its removal reduced the variety of act styles.
The strong man and the fire dancer were interesting exhibitions, but did not evoke any particular sense of awe. The Russian bars, however, were pure Cirque acrobatic beauty, again in amazing costume and with a small twist at the end (double pun, ouch, if you see it you will know) that was very nifty.
One of my biggest nits with the new Cirque shows has to do with their clowns. Not that they clowns are not funny, for which they usually are with inventive skits, but the fact that the clowns do not fit within the theme of the show. Either they are dressed differently (contemporarily), or their acts are quite definitively cut from a different cloth, pulling themselves out of the show around them. Admittedly, with the pure whimsy of the oldschool shows it is easier (Quidam = street performers = all to easy), so the fact that Alegria's clowns were just as interestingly dressed and felt more part of the show should come as no surprise. What was interesting was that after nearly every act there was a clown routine. The clowns were very expressive, but I would have to say it fell short of the standard set by the other Cirque shows I have seen. Think chuckle vs laughter or amazement.
Alegria really stepped off the beaten oldschool path with a very long solo clown routine that ended the first half. Lasting what must have been a good 10-15 minutes, it was as if we had left the big tent and instead traveled to a black-box avant-garde theatre. The best way to describe it was that the play had the feel (though not the theme nor the story) of the film Alegria. (The film has very little to do with the circus known as Alegria, but was made by the same creator) Highly esoteric, very slow in parts (long moments of silence and no movement by the clown) and being rather dark and brooding, I really wonder how this will play at audiences across the continent.
Another inexplicable non-oldschool moment was with one performer walking to the edge of the stage, where a mechanical bird descends... the actor grabs the legs, the bird rises 4 feet, then descends... the actor drops off, the bird retreats. End. ?
In the end, as the fantastic music swells, personally I would not call this the strongest of the Cirque shows. Of course, poor-cirque is like saying poor 18 year scotch: not bad by any stretch of the imagination. And the X-trampoline act, as I like to call it... the one act I was desperate to see lived up to all of my own-induced hype and made the show more than worthwhile.
Next up... 'O' in Las Vegas. Cirque on several hundred thousand gallons of water? I am so there...