Cirque du Soleil, Wintuk Review

By: Elisa DeAngelis, Guest Blogger & Co-Director A2D2 Inc

Fun or Feeble? A fine line I tow when telling others about my WINTUK experience.

Cirque du Soleil has found a new home for the winter in the heart of New York City’s Madison Square Garden. While the atmosphere and vibe of the big apple is perfect for high-energy shows, such as cirque’s, Wintuk was disappointing to die-hard CDS fans such as myself.

A huge part of the “magic” Cirque creates can be attributed to not only the incredible talents of their acrobats and performers but to the costuming, the music, the props and the stage construction. I am going to touch on each of these to give you insight into what you can expect when watching this show. Let’s start with the positive components of the production, shall we?

Costuming: FUN!

Colourful, dynamic, bold and perfect for children! Wintuk is geared towards ‘young audiences’ and families alike. The costuming is very, shall I dare say, “cirque-esque” and therefore perfect for the show.

While all acrobats were outfitted in dynamic costumes I did find that the selection of dogs as reoccurring characters to be a really poor choice. The costume designers outfitted ‘dogs’ as best they could however I just couldn’t get over the fact that Cirque picked such a non-majestic animal to headline this show. For a magical production company I found this truly odd and disappointing.

Acts: FEEBLE and FUN

This is always the hardest section for me to critique as I am a performer myself. I do not like to ever say that an act is ‘bad’ or ‘good’ however I do like to comment on which acts are chosen for each show, if the acts compliment each other, if they compliment the theme of the show, and the audience reactions of course.

FIRST HALF:

The first half opens with a contemporary, non-traditional floor act incorporating skateboards, bikes, and street moves. I could see how Cirque was trying to give an “urban feel”  to this routine however I felt that the stage was too shallow and hilly for any great tricks to emerge. It was a lot of back and forth with more fluff and filler  then I tend to like. The audience didn’t react to a single trick. No ‘oooing’ or ‘awwwing’…. A weak start I thought for a cirque show.

Following acts included juggling, rola-bola, slack wire, inner tube and rag doll.

As you can see there really is no variation from aerial to ground work in this portion of the show. The acts were not the strongest choices and therefore lacked-luster.  Rag doll was by far the one and only highlight of this half.  I will focus on the charm of this performance.

Rag doll incorporated a fun, furry costumed doll that would flop all over the stage and get passed around from character to character. At the end of the act a girl pops out of the costume. The enchanting part of this act is that the acrobat was obviously a contortionist and so ‘floppy’ that only keen eyes or seasoned showmen would know that it was not just a prop being tossed around but in fact a real person. A really cute act I thought with amazing costuming!

SECOND HALF:

The second half of the show I felt was redeeming act-wise. Opening with Cyr Wheel I finally felt that I was at a cirque show. Immediately to follow were enchanting bird characters (finally something other then the dogs), along with contortion hula-hoops, aerial straps, Russian bar and tumble track. Although MUCH better than the first half there are still a few details I would like to draw attention too.

Contortion Hoop- a fabulously whimsical and enchanting cirque act. From the costuming to the choreography… this act is wonderful however (there is always a however isn’t there? ) I couldn’t help but notice that this wasn’t a “similar act” to one I have seen before but the exact replica. Deep sigh…..

I understand the “use what works” psychology on stage, really. But when you are an hour and a half into a show that has been pretty mediocre an exact replicated act from a previous cirque show is just not impressive to me. The blue costume, the choreography, and the tricks… all the same. A perfect duplicate to Allegria’s contortion hula-hoop performance.

Aerial Straps- Another visually beautiful act. It was nice to finally see something aerial! The ceilings were not really high enough to perform any ‘tricks’ however the choreography was really quite lovely and captivating.

The second act felt as though it was a total disconnect from the first act for me. We went from a music theatre feel to the typical Cirque du Soleil feel where acts don’t need to really link together because they are just pure magic to watch. I was a little confused by the character development in this second act and Wintuk seemed to just disappear from the story. New characters would appear without any explanation. I just felt like there was no real link and that the show was stuck somewhere in between styles.

Music: FEEBLE

Being a musician’s daughter I have to make comment on the music and the musical arrangements. I was really shocked that there were so many songs written in a minor key, especially for a kids show. I found the arrangements slightly dreary and melancholy… not what I had expected. I think the music was also not to my taste because of the expectations I had. Usually cirque songs are written in gibberish and, again, have a majestically uplifting sound to them. All lyrics were in English and very elementary.

Characters: FEEBLE

A mixture of poor choices on Cirque’s part. First problem were the dogs. As I mentioned before I just found them to be so ordinary and not cirque’s usual ‘extraordinary’. Wintuk and the main female character were presented with terrible script so I can’t even begin to critic them fairly. Their tone of voice was unconvincing and incomparable to the usual ‘Broadway caliber’ you find in every other theatre in NYC.

Staging and Setting: FUN!

This was probably the best part of the show. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? If you are a kid maybe a good thing…Lots to look at, colourful and cheery. If you are over the age of eight a little more substance is needed sadly.

Set on stage were four moving lamp posts. They stood approx. 14 feet high and dangled over the acrobats. Their eyes lashes batted and they ‘came to life’ every now and then. I found them really charming and dazzling to look at!

In conclusion to this review, I was disappointed with the show’s creative treatment. After seeing so many fabulous Cirque du Soleil productions I had extremely high expectations. It seemed as though cirque was trying something “new” with the scripted dialogue, ordinary, every day life characters, and music theatre feel. I still prefer the magic I see in cirque’s older shows and the mystery each show presents with its open concepts and interpretive acts.

Elisa is Co-Director of A2D2 Inc ~a Cirque-Dance Fusion Company based out of Toronto, Canada. Her specialties span a wide range of disciplines from dance to aerial arts. Watch for more guest blog posts by Elisa on Circus Blog to come!

WINTUK Trailer

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