June 2010 Theatre Review by Lawrence Bommer
Cirque Shanghai Cloud Nine
In Chinese folklore the sky has nine levels and, if you’re lucky enough to reach it, the top one carries the most celestial wonder. Well, it’s all down to earth and also up in the air in the latest 70-minute spectacle from Cirque Shanghai, now playing Navy Pier’s Skyline Stage into September. This summer’s exhilarating import contains few traditional trappings like dragon dancers or Confucian tableaux, just a backdrop of Chinese lanterns and gorgeous costumes straight out of the Beijing opera. What matters, of course, is the acrobatic achievement. No photoshopped trickery here or virtual reality—the triumphs are in our faces and non-negotiably amazing.
As
always, the young ensemble double up in daring feats as they testify
to the awesome skills they’ve practiced since they were old
enough to do their first flip. Combining Las Vegas glitz with
Cirque du Soleil showbiz savvy, the eighteen acts nonetheless seem
especially Chinese--in their reliance on balance above all (as if
attempting to find the right level of chi and the correct tension
between yin and yang). You see it in the marvelous, seemingly
effortless, bravura performances of foot juggling, choreographed
contortions, balancing on ladders and on the handlers’ heads, a
bicycle packed with stowaway riders, and strong men in tiger stripes
who are all over each other in every way. Occasionally a comely
audience member is brought on stage to juggle plates, sometimes with
surprisingly reassuring results.
There’s lovely lyricism amid the daunting stamina: You see it in the soaring flights on silken sashes, the shoulder-pole balancing buddies, the eight-chair stack that all but touches the proscenium and is held up for four pseudo-Ming vases, the smoother-than-silk hat juggling and hoop diving (well, the latter had a few problems on opening night to prove they’re human), and an adagio ballet that was classically correct and sweetly sensuous. You’ve never seen a pas de deux where the ballerina actually goes up on point on top of her partner’s shoulders and even his head!
But nothing can prepare you for the final act, a splendid stunt that’s long been a top attraction at Ringling Brothers’ center ring. “Imperial Thunder” consists of as many as three motorcycles roaring up and down and all around a seemingly too-small steel globe. You wonder how they could ever have worked up to these velocities without incurring enough injuries to stop the act before it began. If you’re not on Cloud 9 by the end, you don’t deserve the other 8.
Cirque Shanghai performs daily Wednesday through Sunday, through Sept. 6, 2010 rain or shine at the Navy Pier Pepsi Skyline Stage. Daring spectacle, breathtaking artistry and the sheer joy of its dazzling young cast make “Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9” a brand new theatrical experience for audiences of all ages, with acrobats careening from sway poles suspending high above the stage, gravity-defying ladder balances, a unicyclist riding atop a spinning umbrella, the fun and skill of “hat juggling,” and featuring “Imperial Thunder,” China’s finest daredevil motorcycle troupe riding precariously in steel globe center stage at Pepsi Skyline Stage. For tickets call 800-745-3000 or visit www.ticketmaster.com/shanghai. For more information visit www.cirqueshanghai.com.
For more information on this show, please visit the Theatre In Chicago Cirque Shanghai Cloud 9 page.
About Lawrence Bommer
A
native Chicagoan, Lawrence Bommer has been an active free-lance
writer and playwright since 1975. For twenty years he wrote a
weekly column, "Opening Nights" for the Friday section of
the Chicago Tribune, where he also regularly contributed theater
criticism and feature writing. His work has appeared in
Stagebill, the Pulitzer-Lerner newspapers and The Advocate.
Mr. Bommer was theater editor for the Windy City Times since its founding until 1999; from 1986 a theater critic for the Chicago Reader (where he has also written for the "Calendar" and "Our Town" sections); Chicago Free Press, where he was contributing editor until the paper’s demise in spring 2010; Chicago Footlights, where he has been a regular contributor; and Plays International, where he is the Chicago correspondent. He has also contributed to the Hollywood Reporter, PerformInk, Screen Magazine, CitySearch, the Chicago Illini, Inside Chicago, Illinois Entertainer, the International Theatre Festival of Chicago newsletter, Plays International, CitySearch, Playbill Online, TheatreMania, CurtainUp.com and Chicago Enterprise. Mr. Bommer is a three-time finalist for a Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism in the "arts criticism" category. In 1991 he became a regular theater and, dance critic and arts writer for the Chicago Tribune. His commentary has also aired on LesBiGay Radio, WGN and on Milwaukee Public Radio.
As a playwright, Mr. Bommer's work has been produced in Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Madison and, in Chicago, by the Organic Theater Company (Jonathan Wild [1979], Poe [1980]. Gulliver's Last Travels [1993] and by Lionheart Gay Theatre (Gunsel, The Tyrannicides, Killers and Comrades). Since 1976 Mr. Bommer has taught at the Francis W. Parker School and was a lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1969 to 1975 (where he received his Master's degree in English), as well as a guest lecturer at the College of DuPage, Roosevelt University, DePaul University and the University of Chicago. Mr. Bommer is a member of the American Theater Critics Association and has been a member of the National Writers Union and the Dramatists Guild.