THE BALLOON MAN

Humor at High Altitudes
Circus Oz’s ‘From the Ground Up’ at New Victory Theater

 

Christopher Gregory for The New York Times
Circus Oz Mason West, part of this Melbourne, Australia, troupe, strikes a balance in "From the Ground Up" at the New Victory Theater.
By RACHEL SALTZ
from:  nytimes.com
Published: December 9, 2012
There are no clowns and no lions (or any live animals for that matter). So unless you’re afraid of daring Australians who fly through the air — or men in tutus sprinkling fairy dust — you have no reason to fear Circus Oz. This Melbourne group’s fast and furious show “From the Ground Up” is the New Victory Theater’s holiday offering, and it’s a good one: a little naughty, a little nice, a little death defying.
Recommended for ages 5 and over, “From the Ground Up” has an appeal that owes something to vaudeville as well as the circus. Not that it stints on the physical thrills: there are plenty of acrobatics and ceiling-scraping, rope-swinging feats, which earn genuine gasps from the kids in the house. (It’s a pleasure to be part of an audience that doesn’t bother with polite laughter or applause.)
But just as important is Circus Oz’s sense of theater, evident from the start, when a hugely elongated piano, complete with pianist, descends from the sky-high rafters. Gasp!
read more:
http://theater.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/theater/reviews/circus-ozs-from-the-ground-up-at-new-victory-theater.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1355143579-MtaWPAKDLJTpl0ppNrgloA