Cirque du Soleil: Amulana
Opening Night: April 2, 2014
Closing: May 18, 2014
Theater: The Grand Chapiteau
Amaluna invites the audience to a mysterious island governed by Goddesses and guided by the cycles of the moon. Their queen, Prospera, directs her daughter’s coming-of-age ceremony in a rite that honours femininity, renewal, rebirth and balance which marks the passing of these insights and values from one generation to the next. In the wake of a storm caused by Prospera, a group of young men lands on the island, triggering an epic, emotional story of love between Prospera’s daughter and a brave young suitor. But theirs is a love that will be put to the test. The couple must face numerous demanding trials and overcome daunting setbacks before they can achieve mutual trust, faith and harmony.
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March 28, 2014
Cirque du Soleil’s Amaluna is a mash-up of the Latin words “mother” and “moon.” But it’s really about girl power, a female-centric production loosely inspired by The Tempest with a touch of Romeo and Juliet. Of course, this being Cirque, it also boasts gorgeous visuals and dazzling circus acts — this time staged by Tony-winning director Diane Paulus. It’s set on a magical island ruled by the wizardly queen Prospera (Julie McInnes) that is beset during a storm by a group of shipwrecked sailors. This being a Cirque show, they’re naturally a hunky lot, and it isn’t long before the queen’s daughter, Miranda (Ikhertsetseg Bayarsaikhan), is panting for the well-muscled Romeo (Evgeny Kurkin). Ominously hovering over the proceedings is the half-man, half-lizard, Cali (Viktor Kee), sporting a long crocodile tail.
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March 31, 2014
Go to the Cirque Du Soleil website and you’ll see 20 shows circling the globe under the Cirque banner. It’s an impressive roster that attests to how thoroughly this theatrical endeavor has conquered the world with its particular, sophisticated, animal-free celebration of circus-like acrobatics, juggling and feats of physical derring do. Each show has its own personality and of course they vary in quality. The task for Amaluna and its director (Tony winner Diane Paulus) was to tell an actual story, giving the vague, often New Age-y vibe of this brand more of a structure. Paulus chose Shakespeare’s The Tempest and has wrapped the usual tumbling and diving and aerial wonders in and out of a very muted attempt to hint at the tale, with Caliban aka Cali (Viktor Kee), Prospero (here Prospera, since the magician is played by Julie McInnes) and two young beauties who fall in love the instant a ship-wrecked Romeo (a strapping Evgeny Kurkin) sees the fetching free spirit Miranda (Iuliia Mykhailova) on her lonely island.
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April 2, 2014
The Cirque du Soleil has returned with a new production, Amaluna, directed by none other than Broadway super-nova, Diane Paulus. She has applied her showbiz know-how in a vain attempt to tame the unruly, but extraordinarily entertaining Cirque to Soleil formula which involves an almost undetectable wisp of a plot onto which is added exciting, vigorous acrobatic acts to which is further added gorgeous costumes and lots of music of indeterminate period and place. Her version of this latest incarnation of Cirque du Soleil is, for all intents and circumstances, identical in almost every way, except for petty details, to all other Cirque spectacles. Amaluna’s plot is Tempest meets Romeo and JulietM, with character names glossing on Shakespeare’s, such as Prospera, Miranda, Cali, etc. Since no basic programs are provided, most of the audience members came away thinking that they were seeing an exotic Romeo and Juliet. Not a single person I spoke to caught The Tempest reference. But, you know, it doesn’t matter because people of all ages don’t come to see nebulous, undeveloped plotlines, but to ogle masterful feats of physical derring-do. No seeker of exciting entertainment came away disappointed.
READ THE REVIEWApril 2, 2014
Using the plot from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest as a starting point and adding some spectacular athletic elements to the mix, Cirque du Soleil’s production of Amaluna is nothing short of breathtaking. Taking place under a specially constructed big top in Citi Field, in Queens, New York, the show is a treat from start to finish and fun for audience members of all ages. The show takes place on the magical island of Amaluna. The island is ruled by Prospera (Julie McInnes), who presides over a tribe of Amazons in a land where giant peacocks roam about.
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April 3, 2014
Who among us, in a fit of desperation over losing his beloved to a giant lizard man, has not torn off his shirt and scaled a pole with the ease of a lemur — only to reach the top and find he has nowhere to go, but must hang there, devastated and batlike, to the moody vocalizing that surrounds him, as if in a dream? No? Anybody? It’s possible, then, that you won’t connect emotionally to Amaluna, the latest Cirque du Soleil extravaganza to roll into New York. This one, written and directed by the Tony Award-winning Diane Paulus (Pippin), has put down stakes in Citi Field, housed within its own sprawling encampment. Arriving by the No. 7 train, as I did on Tuesday evening, with a still-wintry sun descending into darkness, and walking across the expanse of concrete surrounding the large tent, is to feel as if you were entering another world — which is, of course, what Cirque du Soleil is all about. Who needs connection when you’ve got contortionists?
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