Uupdate: 12.29 See End Ringers ***
You Tube Review
Journey to the Rainbow
Roncali Theater-Circus and Big Apple Circus
At Lincoln Center through mid-January
Tickets: $19.95 – $89.95 ringside, plus $4.95 fee. VIP packages available, from $130, plus $7.95 fee
BE FOREWARNED: I could not clearly see a couple of acts behind a tent tower, blame it on the guy taking the film illegally, who put himself and thus me, too, behind it. So, this must be considered a rough first draft of what might have been a more valid review, had I been there in person to see it for myself. Nor do I find the names of the acts on the website, thus the few missing here. And any of my comments are subject to revision upon discovery of lifelines being used. Okay, so here we go — on with another stab at another kind of variation on circus!
REVIEWING THE COMPLETE two hour program, excluding intermission, what struck me the most, given all the gush about it from fans and the adoring New York Times critic is how ineptly staged and paced it is. Then again, how do you direct such a scattered hodgepodge? In its favor, the lineup now and then sparkles with some noteworthy turns, then slogs along through sluggish prop changes, fashion show walkarounds, prolonged bows and milked encores, and extensive dancing sequences in-between, as to make it feel as if the circus is sharing the ring with an out-of-work dance troupe. Nor will the moderately amusing old-school European clowning, too much of it staged in the seats, thrill everybody straining to see it. Terrible sight lines!
Not any old hoofers. They're the "Broadway Dancers"
SHOW HAS A LIVELY BAND (even Ringling no longer has one) hearkening back in style to older fashioned, and rises on occasion to ride the drama inherent in certain of the acts — reminding us of the primal force of unencumbered circus.
CHASING BUBBLES: At the outset, the program proposes to take us on a journey to the rainbow, which, I assume, means the dazzling multitude of colorful lighting effects that splash in and out --- not all the other extraneous fluff, together consuming a good half hour more than need be.
THE CIRCUS IN THIS MORASS impressively offers a number of winning entries that manage to break through the fru fru and give us what we came for. They include ---- envelopes, please! — Geoffrey Berhault a fellow working on two cris crossing low wires, executing both backward and forward somersaults and showing a flair I would like to have seen more of — after spending almost as much time before the act, setting it up himself; vaulting acrobatics; a captivating juggler named Geoffrey Berhault who wows the crowd; and, top of the heap, a single trap flyer who ranks an A rating on my sheet. Here, the band gives him the kind of dramatic scoring that such an act deserves. The show’s high point, and smartly placed near the end. Curiously, I can't find a photo of this singular performer.
FOR NOVELTY the enormous floating "basket”, as they are calling this newer number, with a bike rider inside it circling above, again tickled my fancy, as it did at Zoppe. This particular basket seemed to tip a little more ominously from side to side, hinting at a tension payoff that I did not get from Zoppe. And such an utterly pleasant prop. Watch it rise in the extremes and take off in circus rings around the word.
RONCALLI'S STATED MISSION in Journey, "to embody a new kind of circus that is less death-defying and more artistic," is perfectly in sync with menagerie-free trends. Then why oh why, the most unexpected feature in the form of three polar bears on all fours lumbering into the ring, to dabble on and around teeter-boards? Talk about in-your-face bizarre. HELLO000? Sorry, those animals are no longer allowed in here! No, they are not real animals, but costumed performers, which, what, makes them perfectly acceptable to a woke world that sickened to the point of knee jerk intolerance over the slightest media reports of alleged circus animal cruelty? Such a fitting insertion to a jumbled parade that can’t make up its mind what it really wants to be I’d say old time variety stage revue.
GO FOR THE BEST MOMENTS and be patient. It’s the most we can hope for in these war torn days under our rattled big tops. In my book, Big Apple Circus won’t fully rebound until it can put on a show successful enough at the ticket windows to spread its wares like all commercial circuses do. Since when did a successful property that opened in New York not, in making it there, make it anywhere --- as the song goes? BAC once did, all the way up to Boston. I remember seeing them in May at Cunningham Park, the idyllic setting. They have become slaves to the allure of Lincoln Center and Broadway.
END RINGERS: Who directs what? There are so many CEOs and director titles between the two companies, is ANYBODY really in charge? There’s Marty LaSalle, former BAC juggler, listed as BAC CEO. There's Patrick Philadelphia, Roncalli Company Group CEO, given credit for directing. But then there’s Geoffrey Berhault, who also gets directing credit in another write up. No wonder the fractured result ... Any circus is far better seen in person than on video, which is why I am holding back and watching the complete Ringling show on You Tube, but will wait for it to come this way ... I suppose we can thank these interlopers with cameras making the movies, and consider that You Tube allows them through some sort of consent by the circuses themselves ... So .... what next, You Tube? Oh, I know what next. I saw a complete Russian Circus from 2018, at the Old Circus arena in Moscow. Talk about a stunning rebuke to the prevailing makeup of U.S. and UK shows. You wouldn't believe. Oh,you already saw it!? Hot tip: Speak "Russian circus 2018 on You Tube" into your Comcast mike
*** If you watch the Russian video, beware: Show starts off with a ponderous and overly long cage act and early on, wire walking performers strapped to life lines galore. But from there on out, it takes of.
No comments:
Post a Comment