Corteo (Cirque du soleil)
Natalya Voroshilova (N.B. that's my maiden name), contributor to Moscow News
To Dec. 12 at Luzhniki, 24 Luzhnetskaya Nab., m. Vorobyevi Gori. For full information visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/ru/shows/corteo/tickets/moscow.aspx
Premiered at their Montreal HQ in 2005, Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo (Cortège) has finally brought its beguiling spectacle to Moscow. Its romantic and theatrical atmosphere evokes the old-style circus of our childhood dreams, but the action in the big top is very contemporary.
The world’s biggest touring circus has spread itself in Luzhniki complex. Based on Chartres Cathedral, the Big Top represents a mixture of different cultures and styles that creates a special atmosphere of mystery and romanticism to breathe life into the vision of the show’s creator Danielle Finzi Pasca.
From the moment the audience arrives every effort is made to make you feel special, and on the brink of a memorable evening out.
There’s a story underneath all the showpieces, reflecting on the deathbed memories of a clown, but that’s secondary to the spectacle.
And with a mesmerizing display of airborne acrobats on gigantic chandeliers to rocket the performers 40 feet in the air (without a safety net) there are plenty of surprises from the opening moments.
Live music accompanies a tightrope walker as she hula-hoops her way across the void before a midget clown on helium balloons enchants the crowd as she bounces tenderly from hand to hand around the awestruck audience.
When two rival clans compete on a see-saw, showing off their height and gymnastic skills, it’s not important to understand the cause of their conflict – just sit back and enjoy their agile physicality.
Others scenes bring together well-built Adonises swinging, throwing and catching their petite Aphrodites up in Paradise, while back down to earth Romeo embraces his Juliet before their sensual pleasures are disturbed by charming chaos in the Teatro Intimo.
The music veers from tender and fragile to merry and playful underlining the fragile and poetic nature of the human spirit, embodying the spirit of the clown at the centre of the story.
But the rest should remain a secret, leaving you with the desire to explore what more this Cortège of poetic and comic clowns, singers, gymnasts, jugglers and the Giant has to offer to astound you to the maximum.
Each scene is complete and has its own individuality, but as a whole they recreate a kaleidoscopic world of magic, romanticism and drama where everything is possible. Vivid and expressive, they amuse you at every turn, leaving you greatly moved and bemused long after the final curtain.
Published in 2010