"It's awesome," said the girl into her cellphone during intermission for Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco, which opened last night at the Lakeland Center.
For once, that adjective didn't sound cliched. "Amazing" wouldn't have, either. When it comes to this show, superlatives that ordinarily seem like lazy word choices turn out to be the only logical reaction.
I mean, what else can you say about people who bend themselves into human parentheses in mid-air? About creatures who are part lizard, part human, part bird, who can clamber up poles, hurtle through space, slither across the stage and do all kinds of other things you didn't know humans could actually do? About mimes who are genuinely funny, even (or especially) when they're doing potty jokes? (Man-under-water is a fairly standard mime trope, but man-under-water-because-the-toilet's-overflowing? Not so much.)
For an interview with one of Saltimbanco’s amazing humans — Olivier Renaud, the human “engine” who powers the Russian Swing — listen to my ArtsSpeak interview. For more on the show, read on.
This article appears in Apr 29 – May 5, 2009.
