The truly enchanting, magical “Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities ” marks the 35th production of Cirque du Soleil. They first came to our fair city of the angels in 1984 when Los Angeles hosted the Olympics. Since then the company has crafted countless touring shows as well as long running stationary shows in Las Vegas like “O,” “Mystere” and “Love,” a tribute to the Beatles.
The truly enchanting, magical “Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities ” marks the 35th production of Cirque du Soleil. They first came to our fair city of the angels in 1984 when Los Angeles hosted the Olympics. Since then the company has crafted countless touring shows as well as long running stationary shows in Las Vegas like “O,” “Mystere” and “Love,” a tribute to the Beatles.
In “Kurios” 46 artists from 15 countries bring a dazzling Victorian era-themed extravaganza to life under the company’s famous blue and yellow big top now at Dodger Stadium. And while the acts are in the Cirque tradition of high-flying trapeze artists, acrobats and contortionists who seem to have no bones in their bodies, this whimsical confection seems altogether new and re-imagined.
It opens as a train steams in through the center of the stage. At this point all sorts of performers, dressed in amazing costumes like that of Karl L. Ecuyer (Mr. Microcosmos) and the very teeny-tiny Mini Lili (Antanina Satura) step out and begin to dance, creating a festive mood that prepares us for all the amazing acts to follow. The opening alone is worth the price of admission.
Michel Laprise, writer/director, and the Cirque staff of designers and costumers have created a world of surprises as curios in the onstage cabinet of curiosities come to life. In Rola Bola, a balancing act that defies belief, a man dressed as an aviator perches atop all sorts of rolling, moving objects without falling off. He then does it in the air above the stage on a suspended platform.
The chair-balancing act takes on a new twist when the balancing act below is also performed in the air upside down creating a mirror image of what is happening below.
In one segment, two performers leap and balance between two poles with romantic grace. Later a young girl rides in on a bicycle before being lifted into the air where she performs using her bike as support.
And for laughs there is a delightful clown who serves as master of ceremonies. He also performs several skits. In one he introduces us to the most wonderful circus we will never see. He calls it “The Invisible Circus” and thanks to visuals showing the effects of his movements, an unseen performer climbs up a ladder and leaps off a diving board. Next comes the lion you don’t see, but you do hear. The end result is not only clever, it is truly funny.
The whole show is a visual treat featuring more than one hundred costumes and 426 props, more props than in any other Cirque show to date. And of course there is the imaginative music that accompanies all of the acts.
“Kurios,” at Dodger Stadium, 1000 Elysian Park Ave. in Los Angeles. For tickets and information go to cirquedusoleil.com/kurios or call 877-924-7783. Runs through the month of January.
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Calling all Woody Allen fans. From Jan. 5 -24, the fun filled musical “Bullets Over Broadway” will be at the Hollwood Pantages. For tickets and information go to HollywoodPantages.com or call 1-800-982-2787.
