You know, at the end of my days, when I look back on my life it probably won’t include very much pantomime horse. That and a lot less acrobatics, jugglers and talking golf balls that populate the reverie of Mauro, The Dreamer Clown, star of Cirque du Soleil’s glorious production Corteo. Only they could make a clown’s funeral so entertaining!
Reviving a show that debuted in 2005 for a larger arena tour, Cirque switched out the big top to transform the Canadian Tire Centre into a classic Parisian opera house courtesy of a painted curtain by artist Jean Rabasse. On the surface, Corteo may seem like a circus show about death. The usual blaze of colour at a Cirque performance has been somewhat subdued, large spotlights have given way to dimmer emulations of candlelight and, at first, the subject matter doesn’t quite seem fitting of the troupes usual pomp and pizzazz. However, it doesn’t take long to realize that this is a celebration of life.
Though corteo is Italian for a solemn, funeral-like procession, after the mournful organ opener of the show, this parade becomes a joyous one. Despite the angels looking on from above, Mauro isn’t quite ready to be whisked away through the pearly gates just yet. First he wants to have a little fun, picturing his funeral as an old time carnival. This, of course, is the perfect setting to allow the talented troupe to showcase why they are the best in the world at. Send in the clowns, acrobats and, oh yes, the pantomime horses!
Jumping around through various Mauro memories, the spectacle begins with him drifting into the memory of four of his former loves. Seems like this clown has a thing from aerial acrobatics as all four of ‘em take to the sky! Of course, why set up a trapeze when three giant chandeliers are so readily dangling within reach? Spinning at dizzying heights above the clown’s bed, the performers make a beautiful death defying mobile, twisting and turning over, around and under the sparkling set pieces that have been decorated with nearly 4,000 jewels and garlands of reflective acrylic spheres.
This Fellini’esq romp continued with a bounding bed routine which left this reviewer wishing he’d had to foresight to ask his parents for a trampoline to sleep on instead of those bunk beds. (Are you kids wrestling in there? No! Are you bounding and flipping on your bed while frolicking with cherubs? Ummm mayyyybe!)
France’s Stephanie Ortega scoffed in the face of Newton with her exquisite suspended pole routine. Gravity seemingly meant nothing to her as she awed the audience by contorting herself into various positions while the pole took flight.
Of course, it wasn’t all up in the air for Corteo. The show’s more comedic moments came from interludes like Golf, where a sassy golf ball doesn’t want to be a hole in one and Teatro Intimo, where eight characters try to cram themselves into a tiny box for a zany version of Romeo and Juliet that’s right out of a Marx Brothers movie!
Perhaps the biggest laughs, however, were for the unplanned highlight of the night. While the Cirque professionals certainly time everything to the letter, even they could not predict where Valentina the Little Clowness would end up when she was tossed out to float over the crowd. Held up by a trio of enormous helium filled balloons, audience members tried to push her back towards the stage only to propel her even farther (and higher!) away.
“Sure, we can just wait here a whole hour,” quipped Mauro. Thankfully, Valentina made it back and isn’t drifting somewhere over Gatineau Park.
How about hoops? They got hoops! The Cyr Wheel performance saw five artists rolling about the stage in an act that just kept gaining momentum. Not to be outdone, Canada’s own Sante D’Amours armed and legged and torso’ed herself with multiple hula-hoops while twirling and standing on one foot.
The show continues the tradition of lavish productions Cirque Du Soleil have become known for. Along with the set and intricate rigging designs, Corteo has the cast flipping in and out of over 260 costumes! Designer Dominique Lemieux used more than a hundred different fabrics and trims with the angel outfits alone making up five football fields of material on stage for each performance. The soundtrack moved from the operatic to the day-dreamy, the ladder becoming most ethereal during a second act crystal glasses and Tibetan bowls concerto that was promptly busted up by a comedic battle between a whistler and a violinist.
Though the story of Mauro may get lost in all this circus shuffle (and flips and whirls), nobody seemed to mind. By the final number, the old circus clown is peddling his way to heaven smiling at the life he’s had and the wonderful memories he made.
He leaves you with one of your own to look back upon. Some call it the ultimate in circus mastery. You’ll just call it Corteo.
Corteo continues until July 1st.
Tickets are on sale now.