Saturday, 10 February 2007
Sunday, 28 January 2007
Saturday, 27 January 2007
Alegria
As a surprise for my girlfriend last Thursday, I managed to get tickets to see Cirque de Soleil perform “Alegria” (Jubilation) at the Royal Albert Hall in London. I’d tried (and failed) to see them a couple of years ago and have long admired their blend of production and performance, so was looking forward to a spectacular evening.
Maybe I spend too much time at the cinema and have been spoilt by the death defying computer assisted stunts that are impossible in reality, but much of the show left me feeling “yes, but is that it?” Worse, the clowns who performed in-between each of the headline acts (often by parodying what had gone before) actually seemed to have more stage time than the actual performers – so much so that I was wondering if a couple of acts had pulled out. After a bit of searching on the web it would seem that the performance we saw perhaps lacked one act “Manipulation”.
Personally, it felt about 2 short.
I mean the clowns were good, excellent indeed, but several scenes felt dragged out to fill time.
I also felt a little uneasy about the standard of performance of a couple of the acts. The “Synchronized Trapeze” portrayed on the official Alegria web-site suffered a distinct lack of synchronization due to a solo performance rather that a duet and somehow felt like a bit of a con compared to the traditional trapeze acts we’re all familiar with. The “Flying Man” began well enough, but then seemed to fall a bit flat and ended without a big finale.
The audience seemed unsure of itself as well. Applause during the acts was often sporadic and less that wholehearted and maybe we were all sensing a performance that wasn’t quite on full throttle.
It wouldn’t be fair to finish without praise where it’s due and for me, the highlights were the tumblers on the “Power Track”, a cross-shaped floor level trampoline style tumbling mat that enabled the acrobats to perform a series of amazing interweaving tumble sequences and the finale of the show, the Aerial High Bar – a novel twist on a traditional trapeze act that had some beautifully choreographed and impressive moves - if only all the acts had inspired to a similar degree.
Cirque still has that unique blend of quirky characters, live music, quality performers and superb production that despite my criticisms, still made for a thoroughly entertaining night out. I look forward to seeing them again in the future, and hope my faith in their ultimate ability will be rewarded with a more jubilant performance.
Maybe I spend too much time at the cinema and have been spoilt by the death defying computer assisted stunts that are impossible in reality, but much of the show left me feeling “yes, but is that it?” Worse, the clowns who performed in-between each of the headline acts (often by parodying what had gone before) actually seemed to have more stage time than the actual performers – so much so that I was wondering if a couple of acts had pulled out. After a bit of searching on the web it would seem that the performance we saw perhaps lacked one act “Manipulation”.
Personally, it felt about 2 short.
I mean the clowns were good, excellent indeed, but several scenes felt dragged out to fill time.
I also felt a little uneasy about the standard of performance of a couple of the acts. The “Synchronized Trapeze” portrayed on the official Alegria web-site suffered a distinct lack of synchronization due to a solo performance rather that a duet and somehow felt like a bit of a con compared to the traditional trapeze acts we’re all familiar with. The “Flying Man” began well enough, but then seemed to fall a bit flat and ended without a big finale.
The audience seemed unsure of itself as well. Applause during the acts was often sporadic and less that wholehearted and maybe we were all sensing a performance that wasn’t quite on full throttle.
It wouldn’t be fair to finish without praise where it’s due and for me, the highlights were the tumblers on the “Power Track”, a cross-shaped floor level trampoline style tumbling mat that enabled the acrobats to perform a series of amazing interweaving tumble sequences and the finale of the show, the Aerial High Bar – a novel twist on a traditional trapeze act that had some beautifully choreographed and impressive moves - if only all the acts had inspired to a similar degree.
Cirque still has that unique blend of quirky characters, live music, quality performers and superb production that despite my criticisms, still made for a thoroughly entertaining night out. I look forward to seeing them again in the future, and hope my faith in their ultimate ability will be rewarded with a more jubilant performance.
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