Cirque du Soleil’s TOTEM is graceful, dangerous fun

The genius of Peter Sellers playing Inspector Clouseau was that the actor was indeed quite intelligent; but the character was an inept, bumbling police officer.  My wife summed up what was so amazing about TOTEM, the current Cirque show, in a way that complimented the clowns and made me think of Sellers.

Since their beginnings in 1984 Cirque du Soleil has energized and reshaped live entertainment and what people think of when they hear ‘circus’.  Of course, Cirque is not a circus.  At the intersection of parkour, high wire acts and Broadway is Cirque, entertainment so unique and creative you know what it is just by its first name.

TOTEM is about the order of the species.  The show takes place on a riverbed with all manner of costumed characters jumping and flying about doing things that you think are impossible.  When you see someone on stage and you’re thinking that it would be impossible if they….and then they do it.  Then they do it again, then they do it backwards, then they do a flip and take the previously impossible act 40 feet up a pole that’s being balanced on someone’s forehead on the ground.

What I found surprising about TOTEM is how intimate the performance was.  According to the press release the Grand Chapiteau can accommodate 2,600 people.  It was relatively full on the night that we went and it felt like we were right up against the performing area.  The show in TOTEM is so big that it makes every seat feel like a front row seat.

Having seen a couple of Cirque shows I thought I knew what to expect.  Some guy wearing tight pants will come out, while another skinny guy will come out and bend/juggle/spin around on something up in the air.  To an extent that was true with TOTEM, it had familiar elements, but it’s what they did with those familiar elements that made the show excel.

How exciting can a man with three sticks or a dancing Indian with five hoops be?  On paper not too exciting for either man unfortunately.  That’s the beauty and utter enjoyment of TOTEM, they took simple things that- on the surface are quite ordinary and made them magical.  How can two women spinning square rugs possibly be entertaining?  It is-and just when you think the act is getting difficult they would make it impossible.

Each act is better than the next one; until you think about it then you realize that the previous act was your favorite.  Unicycles and Bowls was one that we both loved and is probably our favorite act of TOTEM.  It’s five women on unicycles that are 7 feet high, kicking bowls onto each other’s heads. Just re-read that sentence and think about what it actually looks like live and moving.

Russian Bars, the act where six men are carrying 3 bars that 2 women gymnasts proceed to jump around on was another one that we watched with dread.  Dread because there is no way that people should be able to do these things safely, but they did and without any errors.

The costumes are as amazing and help the theatrics of the show.  There is a mirrored man who helps segue between acts, his body suit has over 4,500 mirrors on it.  The rest of the costumes and makeup follow suit with each one having more detail than the previous one.

My wife enjoyed the show as much as I did and pointed out that the clowns were actually funny.  We’ve gotten used to clowns not being funny or just downright being lame.  They were funny, engaging, safe, athletic and acted as a bridge for parts of the story or were the story themselves.  Much like Inspector Clouseau, that is part of the genius of being a Cirque du Solei clown.   Act foolish, without being a fool.

Tickets to TOTEM are surprisingly affordable and start out at $43.  The show runs through December 30, 2012.

 

We were provided with a pair of complimentary passes to TOTEM.  All thoughts are our own.