Cirque du Soleil’s Zarkana at Radio City
Radio City Music Hall will not only be known for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes as Cirque du Soleil has found a new home. The magic of Zarkana begins as soon as you enter the gorgeous lobby at Radio City Music Hall. As soon as you enter the lobby with the crowd there’s a white-faced muscular man almost floating above you, singing a mysteriously alluring song and then there’s a woman that reminds you of a ballerina in a feathered tutu or an ostrich.
Once you’re inside and the show begins, it’s non-stop entertainment for your eyes and mind with staggering acrobatic acts, stunning 3D projections (designed by Raymond St-Jean) that seem like full-bodied holograms, and other-worldly costumes (designed by Alan Hranitelj). The stark, dramatic lighting (by Alain Lortie) throws huge shadows on the walls, so that watching the acrobats’ shadows is almost as compelling as watching the acrobats themselves.
It’s hard to pay attention to Zark’s (French-Canadian Pop Star Garou) lyrics that tells you the story because you spend most of the time fearing for the aerialists, contortionists and other daredevils’ lives with their phenomenal wares onstage. How can they concentrate with the beautiful but loud music? The suspense is what keeps everyone at the edge of their seats throughout the show at the new extravaganza from this French-Canadian entertainment behemoth.
Zarkana is an acrobatic rock opera that blends circus arts with the surreal to create a world where physical virtuosity rubs shoulders with the strange. The story follows Zark, a magician who has lost his powers – and the love of his life, Lia (Cassiopee) – in an abandoned theatre populated by a motley collection of off-the-wall characters and incomparable acrobats. He runs into the Mutants, four sirens as sinister as they are fabulous, who are determined to divert him from his quest.
Carole Demers’ jumps and flips on the Russian Bar make Olympic gymnasts seem amateur. Maria Choodu’s juggling is impressive and also beautiful while the trapeze artists utilize four platforms instead of two to allow frighteningly intricate flips and catches. If you think Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark on Broadway is impressive you will love the clown that is shot out of a cannon in simulated slow motion above the audience and the trapeze act with the spider woman (Cassiopee) along with the spider web visual and live victims. Erika Chen’s sand painting is soothing beautiful artwork that changes the intensity of the acrobatics along with the whimsical and hilarious clowns. Ray Navas Velez and Rudy Navas Velez make you believe that the Wheel of Death is well-named—especially when one of them jumps rope in midair for 10 seconds or so and Anatoly Zalevskiy uses every one of his perfect muscles in his hand-balancing act, which combines the athleticism of a sport with the beauty of a ballet. A pair of thrilling tightrope walkers carry, by their shoulders, a third who’s walking his own tightrope and mutants spin in Cyr wheels and captivate the audience.
Zarkana is a indeed a visual vortex set in a slightly twisted musical and acrobatic fantasy universe where, little by little, chaos and craziness give way to festivity and love regained. This Montreal-based troupe knows how to impress the audience. There is something for all ages.
Venue: Radio City Music Hall, New York (Through Oct. 8)
Director-writer: Francois Girard
Artistic guides: Guy Laliberte, Gilles Ste-Croix
Cast: Garou, Cassiopee, Maria Choodu, Anastasia Dvoretskaya, Victoria Dvoretskaya, Dmitry Dvoretskiy, Di Wu, Jun Guo, Frederico Pisapia, Giuseppe Schiavo, Vincenzo Schiavo, Marco Senatore, Carole Demers, Johnny Gasser, Yuri Kreer, Ray Navas Velez, Rony Navas Velez, Roberto Navas Yovany, Erika Chen, Anatoly Zalevskiy
Direction of creation: Line Tremblay
Set and props designer: Stephane Roy
Costume designer: Alan Hranitelj
Lighting designer: Alain Lortie
Music: Nick Littlemore
Choreographers: Debra Brown, Jean-Jacques Pillet
Image content designer: Raymond St-Jean
Acrobatic performance designer: Florence Pot
Presented by iShares
-
margaritavillesworld posted this
