Wednesday, April 09, 2014

The New York Times Damns Cirque du Soleil's Amaluna With Faint Praise, Smart Reservations

Cirque's latest touring show, a pretentiously decorated and directed drag high on allusions to some great theme, did not fool me. It did not fool the San Francisco critics.

And neither has it fooled the New York Times.

About the strongest positive from critic Claudia La Roco, there is this:

"But the display of female strength (as in biceps and triceps and quads, oh my) is nonetheless a lovely thing. There are no damsels in distress here, despite the aforementioned pesky lizard man.

Her not-so-hot assertions:

"It’s possible, then, that you won’t connect emotionally to “Amaluna,” the latest Cirque du Soleil extravaganza to roll into New York."

"Beyond this feminist gloss, is there anything to be said about “Amaluna” that you couldn’t guess? Not really. It may be a new production, but it’s an old formula, a giant machine of a spectacle with (unfortunately tedious) clowning thrown in, and lots of sound and light and quick set changes to keep things moving in a blur."

As I wrote last year, in my own review,  having now seen two Cirque duds in a row -- Totem and then Amaluna, next time they call, I'm waiting to see what the S.F. critics write before I decide to go or not to go.

The thrill is gone. 




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