Cirque du Soleil’s Delirium

Here’s a link to the page from Cirque du Soleil in case you want to learn more about this show and to get tickets.

Aviva and I braved the cold (its just now getting above freezing here) to see the show last night. It was similar but different from the other shows we’ve seen.

This is touted as a multimedia event, and it is – it reminds me of what I’ve read and been told about (and experienced in later incarnations) for a multimedia event might be like in the 60’s, without the drugs (in our case at least). There was no tent this time (good thing since we had at least 8 inches of snow), the performance was held inside the United Center. There were large screens flanking the main stage, which cut the center in half – seating was only on one half, divided long-ways, of the Center.

We had our noses bleeding up in section 317 – we could see everything but it was small and way way up there! It was like sitting at an American football game high up in the stands – it was disorienting for Aviva and I because we don’t usually walk up and sit at such an incline.

The music was interesting, but at least two slow numbers sounded like bad French ballads; the uptempo rythmic tunes were very interesting and snappy. There were acrobats, but I would guess 4 – 5 performances, and they weren’t over the top or scary; these were mostly acts that had performed in other shows (or did the same act at least).

We were both glad we saw the show – I told Aviva I thought it was a Cirque du Soleil live music video!

As usual, here’s the ticket stub (we did ours on-line this time – worked great, no lines at will-call).

Went to see the new Cirque du Soleil show last night!

Aviva and I try to make the new Cirque du Soleil shows when they come to Chicago; we got hooked over six years
ago.

Corteo was a bit different – the acrobatics were a little less over the top, there was more dancing, the usual helping of
comedy (but perhaps a little less going out into the audience), and more music and show. There was a modern dance segment that had just enough physicality to fit in, and there was a playing of a Mozart piece on mouth whistle, violin and glass orchestra – the glass orchestra consisted of large glass bowls that could be struck or made to sing with wood mallets run around the rim, and a fellow that played crystal glasses filled with water, the water level setting the pitch (this reminded me of my youth – my father and I would occasionally test the crystal at a restaurant by wetting our fingers and running them lightly around the rim of the glass, the friction making the glass “sing” much like a violin
bow causes the string to vibrate – my mother hated when we did that!). The second half opened with a trampoline /
net that crossed the stage and people bouncing / walking across it – very neat.  That led into my favorite scene – above the stage, people were tossed between platforms as if it was a trapeze act, without the trapeze – very cool!

I’m glad we went – it was lots of fun as all their shows are. You can click here to go to the official web site for
Corteo.