Thursday, November 3, 2016
Review: Cirque du Soleil Creates a Wondrous World in TORUK - The First Flight
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| Photo: Jesse Faatz Costumes: Kym Barrett © 2015 Cirque du Soleil |
Don LaFontaine was one of the most prolific (and best-loved) voice actors in the movie industry for more years than I can even remember, until his death in 2008. You may not know his name but you've certainly heard his deep bass voice and famous catch phrase, "In a world..." in hundreds of movie trailers during his more than forty-year career. No one has come close to duplicating what he could do. He was one of a kind.
Were he alive today and recording the movie trailer for TORUK - The First Flight, that signature "in a world..." would be the perfect beginning to describe what Cirque du Soleil has created in this stunning yet atypical foray into acro-musical storytelling.
In a world where beauty lives in every detail and the lush jungles of Pandora pulse with life, it is up to one young boy to overcome self-doubt and save a dying people.
Much more than that you don't need to know, and a narrator will take care of supplying the finer points of the tale as you go along. What you do need to be aware of is not to expect what you would normally see in a Cirque du Soleil production. This evolution of the brand trades the troupe's normal progression of death-defying feats as self-contained acts and instead integrates a more streamlined set of athletics into a linear tale. The movement of the artists becomes a language all its own and everything they do is part of the larger sphere of the Pandoran universe.
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| Photo: Youssef Shoufan. Costumes: Kym Barrett © 2015 Cirque du Soleil |
It requires that the audience be ready to take in an enormous amount of potent stimuli as breathtaking projections sweep across the plains of the stage and throughout the audience. Vibrant colors, so tactile and rich you could almost reach out and dip your hand in them, create the vast landscapes, moving waterfalls, and mythical scenes. It is spectacular. The sheer scope of the vision boggles the mind. It's no wonder this show plays out in the largess of an arena setting rather than inside Cirque's smaller traveling tent.
The show may not have the same emotional reach we've come to expect but its highly creative design integrates such visual splendor and new forms of artistry and technology that it's impossible not to feel its impact.
TORUK brings to life the world of the Na'vi from James Cameron's epic film Avatar some 3000 years before we meet them in the film. Within this world, wondrous creatures exist - part puppet, part human, some comical, some ominous. There are Viperwolves and Direhorses, Austrapedes (a kind of ostrich/flamingo/dinosaur) and a Turtlepede (turtle shark). But none are more striking than the flying Toruk, a dangerous beast of prey whom the Na'vi fear.
The tribal sound of drumming is threaded throughout the score, along with haunting orchestral themes and a soundscape that incorporates the pulse of nature. Hoop jumping, fire twirlers, aerial silks, mechanical poles, and contortionists that balance on a moving seesaw of bones are a few of the artistic elements incorporated in the story. Boomerangs whoosh through the air and exquisite banshee kites elegantly lift in a butterfly dance overhead.
Make sure your smart phone is fully charged before you go. Once there, you can download the TORUK app which is a unique way to engage with the show in real time, making fireflies dance, woodsprites converge, and participating in other cool effects during the performance. TORUK may not elicit the same kind of emotional longing or ache for humanity I've felt in other Cirque shows but, in an age where we are becoming more and more disconnected, this is one way of using technology to give us the next best thing.
TORUK: The First Flight
November 2-6, 2016
Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario
November 11-13, 2016
Staples Center in Los Angeles
January 12-15, 2017
The Forum in Inglewood
Tickets: www.cirquedusoleil.com/toruk
TORUK creative team: 13 creators under the artistic guidance of Guy Laliberté (Guide) and Jean-François Bouchard (Creative Guide) for Cirque du Soleil, and James Cameron, Jon Landau, Kathy Franklin and Richie Baneham for Lightstorm Entertainment, along with Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon ( Show writers and Directors, Multimedia Directors), Neilson Vignola (Director of Creation), Carl Fillion (Set and Props Designer), Kym Barrett (Costume and Makeup Designer), Tuan Le and Tan Loc (Choreographers), Bob & Bill (Composers and Musical Directors), Jacques Boucher (Sound Designer), Alain Lortie (Lighting Designer), Patrick Martel (Puppet Designer), Germain Guillemot (Acrobatic Performance Designer), and Pierre Masse (Rigging and Acrobatic Equipment Designer).
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| Photo: Jesse Faatz Costumes: Kym Barrett © 2015 Cirque du Soleil |
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| Photo: Jesse Faatz Costumes: Kym Barrett © 2015 Cirque du Soleil |
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| Photo: Jesse Faatz Costumes: Kym Barrett © 2015 Cirque du Soleil |
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| Photo: Youssef Shoufan Costumes: Kym Barrett © 2015 Cirque du Soleil |
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| Photo: Jesse Faatz Costumes: Kym Barrett © 2015 Cirque du Soleil |
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Labels: cirque du soleil
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Cirque du Soleil's AVATAR TORUK - The First Flight, Coming in November
AVATAR, TORUK - The First Flight, the new Cirque du Soleil touring production inspired by James Cameron’s Avatar is coming to Southern California for a few short days in November. Written and directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, it will play the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, November 2-6, and at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, November 11-13.
The show transports the audience to the world of Pandora in a visually stunning storytelling odyssey. Through a riveting fusion of cutting-edge visuals, puppetry and stagecraft buoyed by a soaring cinematic score, Cirque du Soleil applies its unique signature style to James Cameron’s imaginary world and “makes the bond” between two kindred artistic visions that capture the imagination.
This live immersive experience is a living ode to the Na’vi’s symbiotic coexistence with nature and their belief in the basic interconnectedness of all living things. Narrated by a Na’vi Storyteller and populated by unforgettable characters, TORUK – The First Flight is a mythical tale set thousands of years before the events depicted in the film Avatar, and before any humans ever set foot on Pandora.
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| All photos by Errisson Lawrence ©2015 Cirque du Soleil. Costume credit: Kym Barrett |
When a natural catastrophe threatens to destroy the sacred Tree of Souls, Ralu and Entu, two Omaticaya boys on the brink of adulthood, fearlessly decide to take matters into their own hands. Upon learning that Toruk can help them save the Tree of Souls, they set out, together with their newfound friend Tsyal, on a quest high up in the Floating Mountains to find the mighty red and orange predator that rules the Pandoran sky. Prophecy is fulfilled when a pure soul rises among the clans to ride Toruk for the first time and save the Na’vi from a terrible fate.
The creative team includes 13 creators under the artistic guidance of Guy Laliberté (Guide) and Jean-François Bouchard (Creative Guide) for Cirque du Soleil, and James Cameron, Jon Landau, Kathy Franklin and Richie Baneham for Lightstorm Entertainment: Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, Show writers & Directors/ Multimedia Directors; Neilson Vignola, Director of Creation; Carl Fillion, Set and Props Designer; Kym Barrett, Costume and Makeup Designer; Tuan Le and Tan Loc; Choreographers; Bob & Bill, Composers and Musical Directors; Jacques Boucher, Sound Designer; Alain Lortie, Lighting Designer; Patrick Martel, Puppet Designer; Germain Guillemot, Acrobatic Performance Designer; Pierre Masse, Rigging and Acrobatic Equipment Designer.
Avatar, Toruk – The First Flight is part of a global tour which started in November 2015. The show in Ontario is presented by Visa Signature® and the show in Los Angeles is presented by Visa Signature® in association with Korean Air SKYPASS Visa®.
For tickets and more information go to www.cirquedusoleil.com/toruk.
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Labels: cirque du soleil
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Review: Run Away with Cirque du Soleil's KURIOS: Cabinet of Curiosities
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| All Photos: Martin Girard / shootstudio.ca Costumes: Philippe Guillotel © 2014 Cirque du Soleil |
Who hasn’t wanted to run away with the circus at some point in their lives? The ephemeral world created under the big top has always managed to entice with the glamour of its imaginary delights. Acrobats and elephants, beautiful people flying through the air, and the side show of unimaginable curiosities - they are all part of the ultimate escape from an otherwise ordinary world to a place where the extraordinary exists.
Even as a child in my tiny town of 350 people in the Midwest, I can remember the traveling circus that would come through once a summer. They set up in the park - and even though it consisted of only a couple on a trapeze, a single bareback rider, a clown, and a sideshow (with a very fierce gorilla and a few bottled “monstrosities”) it was still like magic to my 6 year old eyes.
Today the reigning kings and queens of the circus are the world-famous troupe, Cirque du Soleil. Hard to believe they began in the early 1980s as a small group of street performers who entertained the locals and tourists of Baie-Saint-Paul on the shores of the St. Lawrence River.
Since then, Cirque has completely reimagined the circus, theatricalized it, and morphed it into its own magnificent art form. Each show gives us a world we’ve never seen before and, as it draws us in, we become like children all over again, ready to run away - at least in our imaginations - to the circus.
In KURIOS: Cabinet of Curiosities, Cirque’s latest production on display at Dodger Stadium, science meets art in a Seeker’s (Anton Valen) steampunk-like fantasy world. Here we travel to a place where imagination creates all things, bringing to life the inhabitants of his cabinet of wonders in the most whimsical of ways.
There is the aviator (James Eulises Gonzalez Correa) whose flying machine opens up to become a platform for his rola bola cylinders and boards, stacked higher than it seems anyone could possibly balance upon. Just when you think you’ve seen him do it all, his platform lifts and begins to swing back and forth high above the stage and you are certain you’ve witnessed the impossible.
A duo springs to life on the Chinese Pole (Maude Arseneault and Mikaël Bruyère-L’Abbé) in a series of vertical tricks and drops that would seem to defy the laws of gravity and an aerial bike is the trapeze of choice for a young woman’s athleticism (Anne Wessbeicker) high in the air.
Contortionists (Bayarma Zodboeva, AyagmaTsybenova and Khaliuka Narankhuu) slither over and under each other atop a giant mechanical hand which is an amalgam of objects collected from the Seeker’s travels. A dinner party presents itself as the setting for one of the guests (Andreii Bondarenko) to display his chair balancing abilities to the amazement of the rest of the diners. As his stack of chairs grows taller and taller, they gasp as they realize an exact duplicate of their party is happening directly above them, only upside down.
Also overhead is a thrilling display of acrobats on an Acronet stretched across the full stage catapulting sea creatures up into an airborne underwater show filled with unexpected humor. Equally as amazing is the Banquine act, synchronized acrobatics on the floor of the stage that create human pyramids and sequences that again present feats of physical daring with astounding precision.
To complement these extraordinary talents are two comedy acts (both featuring David-Alexandre Despres), one that pays homage to circus history with his Invisible Circus, a mechanical marvel of timing and surprise, and another that reveals his expertise with physical comedy. In this scene he brings a young lady from the audience on stage to join him for a date at home. While the not-so-smooth Romeo goes to get them drinks, his hilarious cat takes over. This one you’ve got to see to believe.
Two other acts are wonderful examples of director Michel Laprise’s return to ideas that represent the heart of Cirque, which is to grab the audience and create an emotional connection with its invention. Yo-yos dressed up as watches are manipulated by an artist (Tomonari Ishiguro) who spins them faster than you’ve even seen before, straight up in the air, around and about as easily as if time itself stops to make it possible. The other is theatrical storytelling by a pair of hands (Nico Baixas) filmed in real-time and shown on a hot air balloon that floats overhead. Poetry in motion, it too is funny, sweet, and imaginative in its progression through its tale.
Other assorted oddball characters emerge to further create the colorful life of this cabinet of curiosities in motion. Costume designer Philippe Guillotel incorporates a myriad of elements culled from the industrial era into his fanciful creations while Stéphane Roy’s retro-mechanized set design of gears and recycled parts gives new life to repurposed outdated items. The score, written by composers Raphaël Beau and Bob & Bill and sung by Eirini Tornesaki is as haunting as ever.
KURIOS is an astonishing adventure into a world without limits where you’ll fall in love with every one of its curious characters. It is an emotionally rich experience - one that is sure to stimulate your own imagination and make you believe the impossible is possible.
Additional artists:
Acronet: Mathieu Hubener, Karl L’Ecuyer, Ryan Shinji Murray, Victor Degtyarev, Arnaud Caizergues, Jack Helme, Nathan Dennis
Banquine artists: Igor Strizhanov, Elena Kolesnikova, Roman Polishchuk, Serguei Okhai, Nikolay Atashkin, Sergey Kudryavstev, Roman Kenzhayev, Alexey Starodubsev, Ekaterina Evdokimova, Anton Lyapunov, Dimitri Parmenov.
Characters: Ekaterina Pirogovskaya (Klara), Nico Baixas (The Accordion Man), Karl L’Ecuyer (Mr. Microcosmos), Antanina Satsura (Mini Lilli)
Chaos Synchro 1900 Opening: Gabriel Beaudoin, Christa Mercey, and Kit Chatham
Musicians: Marc Sohier (band leader, bass, double bass), Kit Chatham (drums), Christa Mercey (percussions), Michael Levin (cello, keyboard), Lydia Kaminska (accordion, keyboard), Paul Lazar (violins), Patrick Kelly (guitars)
KURIOS: CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
Dec. 9, 2015 - Feb. 7, 2016
Dodger Stadium
1000 Elysian Park Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Tickets: www.cirquedusoleil.com/kurios or 1-877-924-7783
Photos: Martin Girard / shootstudio.ca Costumes: Philippe Guillotel © 2014 Cirque du Soleil
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Labels: cirque du soleil
Saturday, January 21, 2012
OVO - Cirque du Soleil's Theatrical World of Insects
Watching Cirque du Soleil’s OVO from the front row of the Big Top may not have initially been my first choice of seat locations, but in actuality it ended up being the perfect place to view this particular show. Because of my close proximity to the performers, I was able to see the nuances in their movements in a way that would have been lost at a distance. Every twitch of the head, shimmy in their bodies, and flicker of expression became a show within a show that was as delightful and comical as it was surprising. For that reason, I highly recommend you see OVO close-up.
That’s not to say that OVO’s cast of 55 isn’t also a ridiculously talented group of acrobats that will thrill you both on the ground and in the air as well. They emerge from a cocoon of aerial silks overhead, display precision foot juggling as worker ants, and perform a beautiful and dangerous airborne butterfly ballet suspended on a rope.
The Scarabs Volant trapeze act features six flyers combining disciplines like banquine, Russian swing and swinging chair, and is the most difficult act in the world to execute due to its distance between stations. It is magnificent from every angle. An amazing spider contortionist entices crickets into her lair, and a lone arachnid balances upside down on a unicycle atop a slackwire 15 feet above ground in a performance that had audience members leaping out of their seats in a standing ovation upon its completion.
But nowhere is the dazzling speed and agility of the artists more evident than in the final act in which 20 artists come together in a stunningly choreographed gravity-defying series of acrobatics, up a floor-to-ceiling vertical wall, using only a power track, hidden trampolines, and their own strength to propel them.
OVO premiered in Montreal in 2009 and will offer performances at Santa Monica Pier through March 11 before continuing its trek across North America. Writer/director & choreographer Deborah Colker is Cirque du Soleil’s first female director and the creative force behind the show. She has conceived an OVO that captures the constant swirl of activity in the insect world and focuses our rapt attention in a place we often overlook.
The story line features three distinct characters – a Fly, a Ladybug, and Master Flipo, the chief of the insects. Fly wanders into the insects’ midst carrying a mystical egg (ovo is the Portuguese word for “egg”) which becomes a source of great fascination for the bugs. When he meets a roly-poly cute-as-a-button Ladybug, the buzzing and cooing becomes a sweet courtship, with Master Flipo egging on the suitor amid large doses of humor and clownish interaction with the audience.
Berna Ceppas’ Brazilian musical score for OVO combines the sounds of bossa nova and samba with funk and electro music, and incorporates actual insect sounds into its ever-shifting soundscape, all performed live by a band of cockroaches. They make a sensual accompaniment to the crazy action.
Costumes by Liz Vandal are especially beautiful in their intricate detail, built for flight and embellished with detachable fantasy pieces. The lace wing legs of the dragonfly were quite spectacular when the artist balanced upside down, and the emerald green angular legs of the crickets were a source of much careful study. Gringo Cardia's sets, Éric Campoux’s lighting and Julie Bégin's make-up complete the onstage magic.
Those that have seen one will agree there is nothing like a Cirque du Soleil show. Beginning with 20 street performers in 1984, Cirque has grown into an artistic marvel with shows that tour the world delighting audiences on five continents. OVO’s exotic insect soiree, with its unusual creatures and amazing acrobatic feats, is just what the doctor ordered if you’re in the winter doldrums. It’s the best prescription for kids and adults alike.
Tickets are now available online at www.cirquedusoleil.com/ovo or at the box office located inside the main entrance tent of the Grand Chapiteau at the Santa Monica Pier. Box office hours are 12:00 pm - end of show Tues thru Sat; 11:00 am - end of show on Sunday and will be closed on all Monday’s and the following Tuesdays: Feb 7, 28 & March 20.
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Labels: cirque du soleil
Friday, January 20, 2012
OVO - A Terrific First Look at the Santa Monica Pier
The Foreigner Fly buzzes in to a most unusual insect community
Adorable cute-as-a-bug Ladybug is destined to fall in love with the Foreigner Fly, and silly eccentric Master Flipo plays it all for laughs.
A tour-de-force performance by a daredevil Spider atop the slackwire
The Ants and their fancy footwork and precision juggling....WITH kiwis!
A sensual Spider contortionist reels in the crickets.
20 artists in a stunning vision of theatrics on the
Trampo-wall drew gasps
The Firefly sends four spinning spools flying high in a dazzling diabolo display
Acrosport athleticism, sheer agility and grace by the sweetest Fleas you've ever seen
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Labels: cirque du soleil