OvoCirque du Soleil at Randall's Island Park
Reviewed by
Tom Penketh
April 15, 2010
"Ovo" (which means "egg" in Portuguese) has been written, directed, and choreographed by Deborah Colker, marking the first time in Cirque's history that a woman has helmed a production. Best known as a choreographer with the Berlin Ballet, Corker's fingerprints are clearly visible right from the outset: When the cast first appears on stage, it quickly embodies—through suggestive movement alone—morning on a forest floor full of teeming insect life. With greater emphasis on movement and fewer daredevil antics than last spring's "Kooza," the new show has a quieter, romantic soul. Marjorie Nantel, hanging from two aerial silks, imagines a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. With a 60-foot exotic flower hanging behind them, Inna Mayorova and Maxim Kozlov create an intimate pas de deux in midair as a pair of butterflies. Even the comic segments have a romantic feel. When a foreigner (François-Guillaume Leblanc) arrives carrying a gigantic egg, he immediately falls for the bright-eyed ladybug (Michelle Matlock). Egged on by Flipo (Joseph Collard), the pair's comic attempts at romance give the show a semblance of plot. But that doesn't mean the production doesn't include a few rousing crowd-pleasers. A flying act of scarabs features a dozen trapeze artists flipping among platforms suspended 40 feet in the air. In a nod to the director's Brazilian roots, there's a raucous dance number featuring Lee Brearley in a sluglike costume that seems to be made entirely of flexible industrial tubing and two dancers on stilts in stick-insect costumes. The show's highlight involves crickets, with a dozen performers using trampolines to bounce off a rock wall with jaw-dropping ease. The effect is overwhelming. "Ovo" features 54 performing artists from 16 different countries, all of whom are in peak form. Gringo Cardia's sets are impressive both for their scope and inventiveness, but the same can also be said for the production as a whole. Simply put, with "Ovo," Cirque du Soleil once again offers performers around the world a level of artistry for which to strive. Presented by Cirque du Soleil at the Blue and Yellow Grand Chapiteau, Randall's Island Park, Randall's Island, NYC. April 9–June 6. Tue.–Thu., 8 p.m.; Fri. and Sat., 4 and 8 p.m.; Sun., 1 and 5 p.m. (800) 450-1480, (866) 624-7783, or www.cirquedusoleil.com/ovo. |
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