Too much Shpeel, not enough Banana!
For my birthday this year I received tickets to Banana Shpeel. I saw it last night at the Chicago Theater in downtown Chicago, making this the fifth Cirque du Soleil show I have seen. My list thus far includes:
Cirque is billing Banana Shpeel as “A theatrical mix of comedy and dance” and “A new twist on vaudeville.” It is most definitely not like the rest of the Cirque shows I have seen.
Things I liked:
- Cirque du Soleil shows always exceed my expectations and imagination when it comes to production quality. The stage, the costumes, the lights, the music – all top notch. It reminds me of my time as a stage manager, ensuring that the inner workings of concerts flowed as smoothly as possible, hiding the chaos of backstage from the audience, and only showing them the final, polished product. I’d love to peek behind the scenes at one of these shows.
- The solo acts were fantastic and inspiring. They were what I’ve come to expect from Cirque (talented, mind-blowing and high quality) and although I’ve seen some of them before either on stage or on TV, they are still thrilling to watch again. The acts included a hat juggler, a foot juggler (she juggled umbrellas, not feet), a tap-dancing duo and one of the most buff and graceful pole-dancing/balancing contortionists I’ve ever seen.
- There were a number of group dances throughout the evening, the most fun of which was the black light number. I couldn’t help but think, though, how any of these dancers could just as well be backing up Britney Spears. So was it Cirque-tacular? Not really. Fun to watch? Definitely.
Things I did not like:
- The “Shpeel” was apparently the vaudeville aspect of the show and I feel it missed the mark a little bit. The bits seemed to drag on too long at times, and there wasn’t really a compelling story line to tie the whole show together. I also expect more character development from the comedy relief, and each time I thought there would be a new revelation or climax to one of the characters it would turn out to be more of the same. I would break the show down as 60% Shpeel, 20% solo acts, and 20% group dances. I would have preferred more from the latter two categories.
- The parrots behind me. There was a woman and her boy/friend that repeated nearly every punch line that was said on stage. It was quite a distracting and unnecessary quirk for someone to exhibit in a theater audience.
I do recommend seeing Banana Shpeel, but with the warning that you will not receive the full Cirque du Soleil show experience by doing so. It seems like Cirque might be feeling the effects of the relaxed economy and decided to produce a light-budget show that will still sell well simply because of the reputation behind the brand. Even then, the theater was not sold out, but nicely populated nonetheless.
November 21st, 2009 | Category: Blog | 7 Comments »