Cirque Du Soleil s Corteo Review

Take a typical nightmarish dream sequence you maytossed onto the spinning circular stage out of the
have deep in the night, add ponderous acrobatics andpocket of some benevolent giant.
aerobatics, an eerie story of clowns, death and aFrom the roof came a steady air raid of angles that
funeral, sprinkle in a carnival-like atmosphere ripe withhung on to wires and floated around the set handing
little people and balloons, and inject a heart-poundingvarious props to the actors.
live, original score that combines with strange scenesThe second half was even more stunning than the
that surround you like a psychedelics-infused blanket,first. It opened with some of the performers
and you've got Corteo.bouncing along a skinny, long trampoline that cut
Last night I went to the Boston show of Corteo,through the diameter of the stage. And then the
another installment of the hugely popular Cirque Dutrapeze act started above. Never a mistake, never a
Soleil. It's a circus, a theatrical musical, a gymnasticsslip, just crazy body flinging at its finest.
show and more. The audience surrounds a perfectIt's funny because I recently heard Howard Stern
circular stage, all under a gigantic big top that(the radio jock) try to get one of his regular listeners
successfully blocks out every single photon ofto do a stunt for his Sirius Satellite radio show. He
outside light.wants Eric the Midget to "fly with balloons" by
The entire circle, both stage and audience stands, isstrapping him into something that would allow him to
sliced in half by two curtains that were afloat from a bunch of balloons in Stern's studio. The
semi-transparent gauze. Between these ephemeralwhole thing is hilarious since Eric is ornery and
barriers stand the props and actors/athletes whostubborn and won't agree to it. Howard tries to
begin the spectacle.continuously talk Eric into doing it, ostensibly a great
The story is essentially about a clown's funeral,idea that will launch Eric into stardom, really a
although it took all six of my group to determine thethinly-veiled attempt at a desire for some good radio.
exact plot post-show. It opens with a clown on hisBut Cirque Du Soleil's Corteo beat Howard Stern to
death bed, I think, although almost everything is athe punch. A little person flew, and it was
tinge unclear. And the ongoing mumblings of thismagnificent, but it wasn't on the Howard Stern show.
doomed clown are in Italian to boot, so it was oftenIt was one of the most memorable scenes of the
tough following things. But he did take pity on thesecond half, and my favorite. It was a little person
crowd occasionally and would blurt something out infloating by balloons. Her name was Valentina, and her
English.size was probably about three feet tall. The kooky
It's difficult to put into words what I witnessed next.Cirque people strapped Valentina into a little harness
The lights and stage were gold, yellow, and earthy,that was attached to five or six large, helium-filled
the music was soothing yet bizarre, and this clownballoons. I am not kidding. A teeny, tiny three-foot-tall
sat on a bed while accosted by all kinds ofwoman named Valentina was floated around the
characters. They all started running by him on eitherinside of the big top by a bushel of weather balloons.
side of the bed. Clowns prodded him, small men andWhat's more, she actually drifted over us, the
women with sculpted bodies spun his bed around,audience, and would eventually descend onto the
and beautiful angle-wing laden women in tights clingingfrenzied crowd. The clown on the stage instructed us
to elaborate and ornate chandeliers floated aboveto hold two hands up like a platform as Valentina
him.came down out of the air. She would proceed to
The whole thing truly felt like some kind of mildlypush off the pair of hands, squealing away like an
disturbing dream. And not just watching the dream,exuberant pixie.
but actually experiencing the darn thing. The 'scenes'The stunts in the second half were amazing. A man
were rotated through strange and compellingclimbed up and down a ladder that was not leaning
theatrics and absolutely jaw-dropping acrobatics.against anything. A woman traversed a high wire on
The performers started bouncing on three differenther tip toes like a ballerina, then proceeded to climb
beds, flipping over each other, onto other beds andup another high wire that was at a 45 degree angle!
actually dribbling each other, all the while the stageAnd more gymnasts performed intricate,
rotated at a stately pace. They bounced around thesynchronized parallel bar feats.
stage like super balls ricocheting around a metal room.The show ended with the whole crew out on the
Then the ornate chandeliers that hung over the bedstage, the clowns, the gymnasts, the actors,
which had beautiful women hanging from them beganValentina, everyone. They all waved goodbye to the
to swing. The woman swung themselves around thestar clown who was flying up into the rafters,
entire place, all the while writhing and climbing amongpedaling a bike that was suspended fifty feet in the
the chandelier lights and chains.air, and drifted away to heaven.
It seemed like the show's wardrobe was 18thThroughout the show I looked over at the friends I
century French or Italian, with men's ballooning pantswas with and invariably saw lots of smiles. I was
at the thighs, and capes and sharp collars, as theythoroughly entranced the entire time, and I would
acted out some of the plot. But interjected in theabsolutely recommend Cirque's Corteo to anyone,
plot were amazing physical feats. For instance, therefrom eight to eighty years old. It was a great
was a scene where both men and women held ontoexperience and I think it would be a great place to
man-sized sturdy hula-hoops that they spun around inbring your kids, or a date.
while hanging on. They looked like they were just