Cirque du Soleil and theater of spectacle

(Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba at Walt Disney World in Florida.)

I’ve been on a bit of a Cirque du Soleil kick this summer.

When I was in Florida last month, I saw Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba, a permanent production at their purpose-built theater in Downtown Disney. It was surreal and gorgeous, not only for the impressive athleticism of the acrobatic acts but for the theatrical package that it was all wrapped in. There is music, dance and plenty of fun staging: in the opening act, things descend from the ceiling and ascend from the stage, a bicycle scurries along upside down, objects fly through air and acrobats traverse the audience, creating a very mysterious and surprising environment. The acts themselves are beautifully staged as well. In the aerial act, a male aerialist wrapped a long red cloth around his chest, then flew into the air and circled the audience - instead of looking comically superhero, the effect was of a graceful, powerful bird sailing through the sky. And the fact that it was right there above us was truly powerful. Later, in the act he was surrounded by four other female aerialists who fell down and up their cloths in surreal time to his act. Their arrangement around him, plus the music, made a very stirring and entrancing visual. Truly theatrical in every way.

(Curtain call for O at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.)

A week later I found myself in Las Vegas for a very, very brief trip. I cleared time to see O, Cirque’s permanent production at the Bellagio Hotel. It is performed in an enormous swimming pool, and it was amazing to see how many different ways that they came with to play with the water. The acrobatic acts here were almost secondary to the staging and stagecraft. At the beginning of the show, the huge red curtain didn’t just lift away normally, it billowed, then got whisked away from the center of the cloth and disappeared into the distance above. Yes, the distance - the stage warehouse was enormous. All that before the water had showed up! In the water, stage platforms were raised and lowered to change the playing surface between solid and liquid. The hydraulic platforms, combined with stage lighting, allowed for a bunch of neat tricks: held just below the water, performers skipped across the lake as though they were walking on the water. In a different moment, sirens hypnotically walked into the water and slowly sank below the surface. Carousel horses drifted through the air and dropped into the water, turning into boats. Contortionists performed on lily pads, and trapeze artists arrived from the distance on an enormous Flying Dutchman type boat contraption in the sky. I was in awe of the theatrics. The show is certainly more a collection of stunning stage images than a story, but sometimes spectacle is all you need - particularly in Vegas.

Inset photo: The pool and stage, photo from CirqueduSoleil.com.