Okay, I don't usually mention it when I go to the theatre. The last thing I want to become is a critic, so I keep my Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway opinions mostly to myself.
That said, Cirque Dreams, now in previews at the Broadway Theatre, absolutely blew my mind. It isn't theatre pre se. It's an old-fashioned, hard core "how-the-hell-did-they-do-that???" entertainment with no aspirations of being art. In fact, when it occasionally aspires to be more than a sideshow, it becomes more than a little tacky (hideous set and costumes, by the way --- just hideous).
But the feats! I have always, since my Peter Pan preoccupation, adored seeing people fly onstage. And these folks soar! A butterfly act performed between a man and a woman is beyond gorgeous and a similar routine performed between two scantily clad men is unashamedly and pointedly homoerotic. The bods on these people -- male and female --- PLEASE!!! My favorite routine, late in the show, is a balancing act performed by two doofy middle-aged men that left my jaw somewhere on the floor.
It's hard to recommend a show like this because its' general tackiness is tough to overlook. But I had the benefit of seeing these amazing routines from the third row, where you practically get splashed with sweat. Is it art? No. Is it thrilling? Oh yes.
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