Cirque du Soleil: Delirium
Last night, I had the most wonderful, magical, transporting experience. Part of my birthday present from icajoleu was tickets for us to see Delirium, an extravaganza concert performance of music from the Cirque du Soleil shows. I've only ever seen Cirque du Soleil on television, and I've always loved the circus-like concept of their shows that employs the use of human acrobatics, beautiful costumes, music and vast imagination. But to be honest, I'd never really thought about going to see a live performance. I'm grateful to my friend for having the imagination to think this was something we should do.
Words will fail me as I try to share this experience with you. It really has to be experienced first-hand, in a theater, in order to comprehend the magnitude of the multi-media performance that is Delirium. You know how in Moulin Rouge they put on a show called Spectacular Spectacular? Well the Delirium show really IS SPECTACULAR SPECTACULAR. There aren't enough superlatives to fully describe how much I loved it. Even now, as memory fades in the morning, the impressions of color, sounds, fantasy, dance and athleticism are still so very strong.
I know I can't force you to do it, but I highly encourage you to explore the Delirium website - look through the photo gallery (which doesn't hold a candle to the real thing) and read about the show.
The opening act was a lovely young woman called Nitza. From her website:Nitza is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual singer and songwriter. Her art reflects her cultural upbringing that blends elements of eastern and western traditions. Fusing her love of traditional instruments such as the oud, tamboura, bouzouki, ney, and shaku-hachi with western sensibilities, her music crystallizes her own life’s experiences. The singer interprets in a number of languages and her performances have taken her all around the world from Moscow to Las Vegas and Tokyo to Athens. She performed a magical evening beside the ancient ruins at the International Festival of Carthage, Tunisia. On January 26th 2006, in her hometown of Montreal, Nitza opens for Cirque du Soleil’s new North American arena tour called “Delirium” where she will be performing her own original material from her upcoming album release.
She performed for about twenty minutes, and I was already enraptured by this point. Her music was wonderful - a blend of different internationally-flavored influences, and she had terrific musicians with whom she shared a fabulous performance rapport. The concert would have been a successful evening if I had only seen her show. How many times does one get to say that about an opening act?
There was a twenty minute break between the two shows, and I really had no idea what to expect. Let me describe the stage set up. We were at the First Mariner Arena in Baltimore, which is not an over-large venue, and I was grateful for the intimacy this afforded us. The stage was a long, somewhat narrow stage that ran the length of the arena, and the seating was designed to face it on both sides. There was a complex rig over the stage for all the suspension gear that elevated both people and objects for the various parts of the show, both in terms of set elements and acrobatics, as well as suspended singers and musicians. You can read more about the set and stage design here.
Rather than a straight-ahead concert, this was truly an extravaganza, in true Cirque du Soleil fashion. Everything was perfectly choreographed and perfectly designed to provide an overwhelming experience.
I'm sorry, I'm getting to the point where words really fail me. Delirium was a fantastical odyssey of the mind - a dreamscape populated with strange people, in elaborate and sometimes minimal costumes, gorgeous music, the most incredible acrobatics both aerial and earthbound, and vibrant, exciting dancing. There was a vague storyline that followed the main character, a man who spends a lot of the show suspended from a giant balloon-like thing and floats around over the dreamscape below.
The cast was an international mix of singers, dancers, acrobats and musicians. The musicans were incorporated into the performance in the most wonderful way! The drum kit, keyboard rig and ethnic drums would literally glide out on the far ends of either side of the stage, as though slowly moved by an invisible force (although it was usually the musicians or stage-hands who propelled them). I can't describe effectively how cool it looked. The guitarists and other musicians like violinists and drummers carrying tribal drums would often come out into the main part of the stage and became part of the dance performance in the center. At one point musicians were suspended from giant hoops that floated out of the stage. Since this was meant to be a concert of the music, I was so thrilled at how the musicians were involved in the whole performance.
Singers were often suspended to float over the stage, but also strode about and became part of the choreography as well. There were "drum-offs" with teams of ethnic drummers (this was so exciting!) and also "sing-offs" between a couple of the singers. There was incredible dancing whose choreography took a lot of inspiration from tribal dances. There was a character on impossibly high stilts. There was an incredible tattooed character who had one half of head shaved and tattooed, while the other still sported longish black hair; his costume was one half bare with tattooed arm and leg and chest, while the other arm and leg sported a trailing dress-like costume. Like I said before, all very fantastical.
There were so many different kinds of acrobatics performed! There were several acrobats who worked with ropes and swung in heart-stopping fashion and engaged in all kinds of rapid body-twisting stunts while flying through the air. There were also several who did earthbound contortions and suspensions that were amazing. One group of four bald and muscle-bound men engaged in amazing feats of strength and athleticism as they propped and suspended each other in complex formations. One of these stunts involved one man balancing on another simply by a palm on top of his head!
Beyond the stage performance itself, there was a complicated use of media projections both on screens on either side of the stage as well as on a thin transparent curtain that occasionally glided out to cover both sides of the stage. The projections were also quite surreal, and sometimes quite magical with images both of real life and fantasy. In the beginning there was an entire sequence of projections that involved what looked like a stage back door being opened and a multitude of different people of all different colors, shapes and ages would peer out at us, the audience. Other times, what looked like red blood cells floated over the screens, or flowers and butterflies (which the stilt-guy tried to capture with an enormous net!).
As I hope you can tell from my poor description, this was total immersion - a visual landscape as well as a beautiful aural landscape of immense proportions.
It was weird, it was bizarre, it was crack - and one of the most imaginative things I've ever seen. My friend described it as Mirrormask: The Musical, and I agreed with him - the strangeness and otherworldiness of everything took you away from your body sitting in a dark arena watching a show, and transported you into their fantasy dreamscape.
I'd never seen anything like it before, and I absolutely recommend it, if you ever have the chance. Believe me, it's worth it. My brain is still dazzled and all I want to do is rave about its coolness to every person I meet. :)