KA's special effects rival the computer artistry of film, yet it's all presented, breathtakingly, on a live stage while maintaining enough circus elements to remain loyal to its Cirque du Soleil roots.
It's amazing that some of the criticism about this spectacular production is that a number of people cannot follow the storyline.
It's really very simple. Bad guys attack the good guys. The royal twins are separated in the melee and each embarks on their individual adventures while trying to make their way back to each other. The bad guys continue to bedevil them at every turn. Eventually, the bad guys are defeated, the good guys win and the twins reunited. That's it.
There's plenty to flesh out the story, but if a few emotional and character details are missed because some in the audience are enthralled with the incredible high-tech scenery, a 80,000-pound stage that moves in every-which-way, flaming arrows, high-and-low-and-vertical-flying acrobats, well, that's a small price to pay. A Cirque audience is looking for astonishing spectacle, not intricate plot. KA delivers jaw-dropping visual surprises at every turn.
After a fire-arrow battle, some of the remaining good guys sail off on a ship that hits bad weather and is tossed in every direction. The ship-stage disappears as the scene becomes aerially submerged: the drowning nursemaid and her rescuing twin are suspended 90-feet from above behind a projected sea-screen creating the ocean depths.
This twin and her nursemaid eventually land on a sand-covered beach where charming, fanciful creatures emerge. Clearing the stage of the ankle-deep sand is quick and easy and not hidden from view. The stage simply tilts forward and the sand pours into some form of container below.
The action continues through snowy mountains, a rainforest and villains' techno-fortress with the stage angling for whatever is necessary. When the stage is a mountain that needs scaling, pegs pop out of the stage's vertical surface for climbing, then disappear. The same technology is used to implant arrows and spears in other scenes.
Three to five units that look like hamster wheels are attached to a large mechanism that moves the twins around in windmill fashion. One is used for multiple cages for prisoners. The larger is the focus of perhaps the most startling, and certainly the most dangerous, performance of the show. Two acrobats run and jump in and out and atop the rotating wheels as the cages rotate on the larger base.
The captive male twin wins the bad chief's daughter's sympathy and she releases him from his rolling cage.
The female twin appears to win the affection of a protective Tarzan-like character while making her way through a jungle with firefly creatures reminiscent of the monkies of Wizard of Oz, but without the malice. There are plenty of adorable puppet-like creatures too.
The final battle is conducted completely on a vertical stage with warriors in harnesses and supported by cables. The effect of the jumping, charging and ducking looks like the horizontal scenes from the movie, Matrix.
The twins are reunited, there's a celebration and the good guys live happily ever after. KA uses a variety of pyrotechnics to deliver the ambivalent power of fire to create and destroy. Fire is at the start of the story, continues to create conflict and destruction as it gives life and spirit. The spectacular indoor fireworks deliver a stunning and appropriate finale.
For those who are curious, the show's title, KA (pronounced "caw"), is inspired by the Egyptian belief in the "ka," an invisible duplicate of the body that accompanies every human being throughout this life and into the next. There's plenty of duality: fire and water, light and dark, love and hate throughout the show.
It's apparent where much of the $165-million for the project was spent. The 1,900-seat theater is amazing. There are catwalks and aerial suspensions everywhere. Even many of the seats are equipped with speakers in the headrest but it's not intrusive in the least. Costumes and makeup are fantastic. The talent is amazing. The entire production is outstanding, and well worth the price of admission.