THE BALLOON MAN

 

Review: 'Cirque Dreams Holidaze' thrills Clay Center audience
By Bill Lynch
December 9, 2012
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Christmas season is here. If there was any doubt, Sunday night the Clay Center doled out a heaping helping of holiday madness with "Cirque Dreams Holidaze," the latest show in the "Broadway in Charleston" series.

It was a fun show: fast paced and diverse. One minute, you're looking at a group of acrobats dressed as reindeer jumping rope, the next there's gaudy old Santa Elvis belting out a holiday rock song, and then you had flying angels or a juggler or penguins or something.

Cirque Dreams pulled a good crowd. There were a number of empty seats, but it was a good house and the crowd the cirque got was enthusiastic and appreciative of just about every odd thing thrown at them -- and there was plenty of odd.

Cirque shows are still kind of new in this part of the world. The Clay Center hosted "Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy" a few years ago and Cirque du Soleil's "Drallion" had a multi-day run earlier this year, but not everybody knew what to make of that one and it may have kept people away.

Cirque shows are based on the European (mostly French) circus tradition of using street performers, clowns and musicians to form their troupes rather than animals. You don't see elephants or lions at a cirque show, but you really don't miss them.

Without seeing both, it would be easy to confuse Cirque Dreams and Cirque du Soleil, but they're very different productions with very different styles
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