THEATER REVIEW
Cirque Dreams offers quality acts in odd framework
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
It’s not so much that Stefka Iordanova dangles above the stage from a harness, spinning, with no net below her. It’s not so much that the harness is connected only to her long black hair.
It’s that she smiles the whole time she does it. Now that’s some grace under pressure.
Carol Rosegg
‘Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy’ tells the story of a young adventurer who is taken on a journey through a jungle by Mother Nature.
"Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy." Grade: B-
8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. $15-$63. (Tickets available through Ticketmaster.) Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway. 770-916-2800; www.cirqueproductions.com
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Iordanova, billed as “one of the few left in the world today still performing the Bulgarian art of hair spinning,” is one of several reasons to like “Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy,” the touring musical circus/what-have-you playing at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre through Sunday.
Take heed, cirquesters: Cirque Dreams is completely different from Cirque du Soleil, which coincidentally opens a new show, “Kooza,” at Atlantic Station on Friday. It’s much less sophisticated and polished, a good bit cheaper and more kid-friendly, but the quality of the actual circus acts is fairly comparable.
Like most shows that use the word “cirque” (just French for circus), “Jungle Fantasy” features a bunch of beautiful people performing impossible stunts: contortionists, balancing acts, jugglers, strong men standing on one another, graceful swingers on long swaths of fabric. However — and this particular however is a doozy — the theatrical package that these performers come with is, as the French might have it, tres bizarre.
The story involves a young adventurer (Marcello Balestracci) who is taken on a journey through a jungle by Mother Nature (Amanda Restivo) and shown all manner of Bulgarian hair-spinners and juggling frogs.
The costumes are sometimes sleek but more often cheesy, like some of the goofy, big-headed concoctions of 1970s fromage-mongers Sid and Marty Croft, only with more glitter. The songs between the acts, all sung by Mother Nature, sound like they were written by a middle school class trying to compose inspirational greeting cards, with lyrics like “Just keep breathing / You’re achieving.”
“Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy” is a show that likely will enthrall children, with an ideal range of maybe 5 to 12 years old. Most people older than that sweet spot likely will enjoy the circus acts but roll their eyes at the theatrical part.
Strangely, on opening night, there weren’t that many kids in the audience. But maybe if word gets out that this is very much a family-friendly spectacle, the crowd will start getting younger.
