Theater Reviews

Dec 6, 2008 - Neil Goldberg's exotic "Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy" plays Reno's Pioneer Center

By Jack Neal

“Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy” is another circus without animals and it’s lush, exotic and awesome.

The show opened Friday night (12/5/08) at Reno’s Pioneer Center before an enthusiastic audience that liked what it saw. “Cirque Dreams” was created and directed by Neil Goldberg, who has an impressive list of credits other than Cirque Productions (which he founded in 1993).

Will success spoil Neil Goldberg? The owners of Cirque du Soleil hoped so. They took exception to his use of the word “cirque.” So Goldberg found himself on the defendant side of a lawsuit. Goldberg won, as he should have. What he has concocted is much more entertaining and accessible than the affectation at exorbitant prices nurtured by Cirque du Soleil presentations.

A revue rather than what one usually thinks of as a Broadway show, “Cirque Dreams” played two months on Broadway before continuing its tour. Nonetheless, it is impressive family entertainment. That is, once past the first ten minutes when two colorfully costumed young men do a pre-show warm-up by pressing people from the audience to do silly things on stage. “Tain’t funny McGee,” Molly McGee would have said (which seriously dates me). Nor does it entertain. But when the house lights go down and the magic begins (and once past those lost ten minutes), all’s well that ends well and “Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy” ends very well, indeed.

If the show’s superlative acts of contortionists, tumblers, balancers, jugglers, rolo-boloists, and acrobats weren’t so fantastic, the costumes, set and lighting would star. Most of the Lenora Taylor and Santiago Roja costumes suggest animals. But as colorful and gorgeous as animals are, these costumes out-glitz, out-spangle, out-neon, out-glow most anything jungles, or Las Vegas, has to offer. Jon Craine’s deep-in-the-rain-forest set is lush and attractive. Kate Johnston’s radiant lighting completes the illusion of shimmering beauty.

If one gets a bit tired of any particular act (some seem a bit long), there’s plenty to look at costume-wise and set-wise, not to mention body-wise (the cast is buffed, gorgeous and very appealing).

As the Adventurer the plot follows through “Jungle By Day” (Act I) and “Jungle By Night” (Act II), Marcello Balestracci is a grand centerpiece for the show. He’s nice looking, personable and sports the kind of washboard abs Soloflex promises even the most out of shape. As Mother Nature, Amanda Restivo sings the show’s upbeat, pleasant jungle jingles attributed mostly to Jill Winters (words and music), although six others are listed as contributors. There are twenty-four songs, so who wrote what is anyone’s guess.

As Soultree, Jared Burnett is a tall Jack-and-the-Beanstock type bodybuilder and six-string electronic violinist (a fiddling Schwarzenegger), who strolls scowlingly through the foliage. Who knows why the scowl? But at least his portion of the show, along with Restivo’s vocals, is live. Everything else in “Cirque Dreams’s” electronic-sounding score is recorded (and without credit). With a lovely merging of music, gymnastics and grace, Sergey Parshin and Naomi Sampson are the incandescent flying Butterflyers who leap from floor to sash as if flying on the wings of a song. What they do is very special.

From an opening jump-rope set piece, through a vast array of other astonishing feats of athleticism culminating with the Jungle Kings – a Russian acrobatic troupe dressed as half man, half lion – “Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy” is a 95-minute show-business extravaganza that captivates. At about one-third the ticket price of a Cirque du Soleil presentation, it’s a nice fit for families during this iffy economic time.

“Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy” can be seen at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts,100 South Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada, December 5 at 8 p.m. (the performance reviewed), December 6 at 2 and 8 p.m., December 7 (2008) at 2 and 7 p.m. With intermission the performance runs one hour and fifty-five minutes. For information call 775-686-6600 or go online at Pioneer Center.com.