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blueeowynI organized a group to see Cirque du Soleil's Kooza last weekend. It is the latest in a long line of Cirque shows that I have seen in person. The first being Nouvelle Experience in Fall 1991.
Overall, it felt more like a return to some of what Cirque was with some new twists. I liked the show but it didn't move to the top tier in the way that Varekai and Corteo vaulted over Dralion.
Some of the special effects like the costume changes at the very beginning of the show were wonderful. There was a poignant quality to this show similar to Corteo or Quidam which was very nice to see. The flow of the story I found to be less strong.
Acts
I loved the tumbling group that kept coming back in various costumes. They did some of the set changes but they also did some really nice tumbling and pyramid work. The mind bending part for me was when they were doing the teeter-tooter work and flipped a guy in stilts with him landing successfully (though it did take two tries).
The Wheel of Death was truly amazing to watch, the strength, balance & timing of the two guys (and the characterizations they did as they came in & out was fabulous. This may have been my favorite 'big' act in the show.
The contortionists rival them for sheer coolness. The flow of the 3 of them from one pose into another so that they compliment each others skills was beautiful. The one who ran circles around herself with her chest on the ground was slightly disturbing but really neat.
The juggler was very good and fairly entertaining, the putting rings various places on his body and then retrieving them was nice. The assistant didn't overly impress me. The Unicycle was pretty cool with the picking up and putting down of the lady. I think I recognized a bunch of the lifts and spins from pairs skating (and maybe some icedancing). Though doing it on a single wheel does make a difference. The running remount was cool.
The highwire act was reasonable but they didn't wow me like some have in the past although riding two bikes across a highwire carrying a third person on a rail is pretty radical. The solo trapeze person did not impress me. Some of the tricks looked fairly impressive (and getting it swinging to horizontal definitely is impressive) but the tricks mostly looked alike and I didn't like her attitude.
The guy on the balancing chairs was very VERY good but I agree with Orkney that getting a mechanic about 2 chairs earlier would have been nice to see (it was wobbling a bit). I have seen other chair balancing acts that I liked better because the chair placement was more interesting.
The clowns were very VERY fun. I didn't get the 'robot' or the point of that. I was a bit disappointed with the wandering into crass that they did (pretending to film some borderline softcore at one point). However the characters were interesting and easy to keep track of. The 'king' was very good as was the pick-pocket. The use of audience was interesting as well (I'm glad I wasn't in the 'special' seat!).
All in all a good show, very fun, and I am very glad I went. However, I don't think I liked it enough to see it again in March.
Overall, it felt more like a return to some of what Cirque was with some new twists. I liked the show but it didn't move to the top tier in the way that Varekai and Corteo vaulted over Dralion.
Some of the special effects like the costume changes at the very beginning of the show were wonderful. There was a poignant quality to this show similar to Corteo or Quidam which was very nice to see. The flow of the story I found to be less strong.
Acts
I loved the tumbling group that kept coming back in various costumes. They did some of the set changes but they also did some really nice tumbling and pyramid work. The mind bending part for me was when they were doing the teeter-tooter work and flipped a guy in stilts with him landing successfully (though it did take two tries).
The Wheel of Death was truly amazing to watch, the strength, balance & timing of the two guys (and the characterizations they did as they came in & out was fabulous. This may have been my favorite 'big' act in the show.
The contortionists rival them for sheer coolness. The flow of the 3 of them from one pose into another so that they compliment each others skills was beautiful. The one who ran circles around herself with her chest on the ground was slightly disturbing but really neat.
The juggler was very good and fairly entertaining, the putting rings various places on his body and then retrieving them was nice. The assistant didn't overly impress me. The Unicycle was pretty cool with the picking up and putting down of the lady. I think I recognized a bunch of the lifts and spins from pairs skating (and maybe some icedancing). Though doing it on a single wheel does make a difference. The running remount was cool.
The highwire act was reasonable but they didn't wow me like some have in the past although riding two bikes across a highwire carrying a third person on a rail is pretty radical. The solo trapeze person did not impress me. Some of the tricks looked fairly impressive (and getting it swinging to horizontal definitely is impressive) but the tricks mostly looked alike and I didn't like her attitude.
The guy on the balancing chairs was very VERY good but I agree with Orkney that getting a mechanic about 2 chairs earlier would have been nice to see (it was wobbling a bit). I have seen other chair balancing acts that I liked better because the chair placement was more interesting.
The clowns were very VERY fun. I didn't get the 'robot' or the point of that. I was a bit disappointed with the wandering into crass that they did (pretending to film some borderline softcore at one point). However the characters were interesting and easy to keep track of. The 'king' was very good as was the pick-pocket. The use of audience was interesting as well (I'm glad I wasn't in the 'special' seat!).
All in all a good show, very fun, and I am very glad I went. However, I don't think I liked it enough to see it again in March.
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Date: 2008-11-15 06:35 pm (UTC)As for the special seat: don't know if you caught this. We were sitting in the next row, right behind it.