More Wheel of Death

I mined YouTube and this is the best act I could find that describes what we saw. Our show only had the dual pod wheel. Crazy people.

Cirque Du Soleil - Kooza

We went back to see Cirque Du Soleil again this past weekend. That's 3 times for us in as many years. This time Kooza was in town, last time (blogged) it was Quidam. I have to tell you, there is something in this show that made my heart stop about 10 times. I could feel my little girl's grip on my knee tightening and you could hear people gasping every few seconds. What do they call this act? The Wheel Of Death. Does anyone know the Jon Lovitz reference here? It's hilarious but another story entirely... Normally I'm impressed enough with the show on exit, but this time we talked about two of the acts the entire way home. I also didn't shell out $300 for tickets and parking this time around. I got an email about an extended week and went online to buy the tix 30 seconds after receiving it. I got the best seats possible in the tier II tickets so 3 seats were only $140 and parking was $20. Of course getting all you can eat sushi for lunch drives the cost up a bit, but again, I think days like this are important for bunky pants....getting some culture in her otherwise scheduled life. The one act that was superb (and included a fall) was a high wire act. I remember when people used to just walk the damn things. These guys were doing incredible things. The fall occurred when one stopped in the middle and another of the troupe came running from his pedestal and tried to leapfrog the stationary guy. He made it over but missed the landing. With the crowd in his corner....he returned to try it again and made it. The place went bananas. For their finale, they brought out 2 bikes and a bar with shoulder harnesses. The bikes with no tires were ridden by two guys wearing the harnessed bar. A third guy got on the harnessed bar. Like that wasn't crazy enough, they then balanced a chair on the bar and the guy stood on the chair while they rode across the bar. Crazy. The act that brought the house down, though was The Wheel of Death. As trance-like music played, two big dudes looking like evil court jesters stalked the stage. As you can see in the picture, they got this thing moving around fast enough to create a breeze in the tent. What's crazy is as their "pod" cleared the apex, they would jump, and not land until the pod was at about 3:00 o'clock. That was sick enough. What came next shocked me. One dude left his pod and I thought it was over. Uh-Uh. He grabbed the outside of the empty pod the next time it came around and was now clinging to it. Mind you, there's no net. He falls and he's broccoli. So, hanging on isn't enough, he now stands up and starts to run in order to always be in the right place as it rotates. Words can't do it justice. Next, he whips out a jump rope and starts jumping rope as he goes around faster and faster....all while being on the OUTSIDE of one of the pods you see pictured here. He stumbled once while jumping and I thought he was toast. The next pass around, he skipped about 10 times on one foot while never missing a jump. Ok, he threw the rope away - now they're done. No they aren't. This is where a woman behind me screamed and I got a little nervous for his safety, as his pod reached high noon, he would leap and do karate kicks, and wouldn't land until the pod was at 3:00 or 4:00 o'clock. He did it on 10-15 passes in succession each time free falling longer and longer before landing back on top of the pod. It's the first time I can ever remember in my life being so "Oh My Gawd!" about a performance like this. When everyone came out by act at the end of the show for curtain calls, the crowd was twice as loud for these two guys. It was sick. It was crazy sick. When the trapeze artist and high wire acts went to the really dangerous stuff, a net was added to the set. These guys had no net. When you think about it, other entertainers make millions of dollars per year...golfers face no danger...you get my drift...what do these guys get paid? I hope a lot. My only criticism of the show is the ordering of the acts. They followed the Wheel of Death with inferior acts instead of ending with it. A juggler came out and was terrific, but after seeing what we saw - unless he juggled a sword, a flaming cannonball and a grizzly bear......a hungry grizzly bear.....you couldn't reproduce the fear and excitement from the other two acts. This show even included a short double bass drum solo as after one act with a percussive backdrop, they rolled out the drummer on a platform and let him kick it for 2-3 minutes. He was tight. I have to say, the show was worth every penny. Mad, mad props to the crazy court jester dudes.

Cirque du Soleil - Quidam

We went to see Quidam on Saturday. What a lovely way to spend over $300. I'm always very impressed by the acts and the music. The clowns for this show were fantastic and the two crowd participation acts they did were hilarious. The air conditioners failed to some degree yesterday and it made it very humid and uncomfortable in the tent. If I have one critique of Cirque, it's that I don't understand the bit characters that stand around and watch the action striking a different pose with every punctuation of music. Had I not read the paragraph describing the show on their website before we went, I would have had no idea what was going on! I may have made an educated guess after viewing the show, but in reality, it's a bunch of really cool acts with tremendous performers with weird transitions and even weirder (more weird?) characters. I get the giggles sometimes because as I'm watching a brilliant balancing act, out of the corner of my eye I catch a dude that looks like Uncle Fester (wearing boxing gloves?) doing Madonna's Vogue. I would be just as happy if an emcee introduced each act and the music stopped, but I guess this is far more artistic. I would assume a lot of the audience is there because of the supposed artistic value of the shows. I can assure you, however, that I am there to simply witness the athleticism and competence of the performers themselves. The artistic value is fourth in line for me after the performances, comedy and music. Maybe fifth if you count some of the skimpy outfits.