BWW Reviews: CIRQUE DREAMS ILLUMINATION is Impressive and Family-Friendly

Cirque Dreams Illumination is an impressive collection of Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatic routines, street entertainment and illusions that will boggle the minds of audiences of all ages.  With reasonably priced tickets starting from $24, the show is also a fantastic opportunity for families to experience the Hobby Center and live, stage performance.  

The talent displayed by the 27-member cast is truly astounding with one stunning performance after another.  One of the standout routines is delivered by Robert Muraine, who first gained attention for his popping skills on season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance.  He also represented the U.S. during NBC's Superstar's of Dance and has been hailed as one of the country's leading dance poppers.  His mind-boggling contortions and precision dance style provides a fresh performance against the rest of the more classical circus and acrobatic routines.

A vaudeville style routine of a movie director teaching his script to a cast of audience participants will certainly be an audience favorite.  Martin Lamberti plays a vagabond/clown who directs only with hilarious whistle blows.  His impressive improvisation skills carry this scene and will leave the audience roaring as he responds to the audience participants.   

My favorite routine consisted of four women performing acrobatics on a spinning, cube frame high above the stage and is the first "quadruple spinning cube act" in the world.  The acrobats interweave their bodies to create beautiful shapes and astounding feats including hanging onto the cube by only their necks.

The routines are connected together by the theme of a reporter covering the amazing feats she discovers within the cityscape, but she mostly provides distraction during the quick set changes.  An energetic, varied score accompanies the performances featuring vocal performance by the reporter and incredible saxophone solos by Marybeth Kern.  The music is often overly loud and many of the lyrics are not understandable, but they're nothing special anyway.

Throughout the entire show and during each individual routine, the other cast members fill the stage with subtle background movement that can be as unexpected as the circus acts themselves.  There might be a little comedic moment stage left, a romantic exchange between a couple stage right and then a walking fire hydrant or a headless suit casually strolling across the stage in back, but too often the background choreography is disappointingly simplistic.

Beforehand I thought the numerous circus acts might become mundane over the two-act show, however the uniqueness of each routine and the fast transitions between performances keeps the show feeling fresh and moving.  The more traditional circus acts are well balanced with comedy routines and illusions.  One of the early scenes is a fascinating play with black light where lines seemingly appear from nothing to form moving stick figures and shapes.  A fantastic magic act featuring a woman continuously changing clothes in a few seconds with also leave you scratching your head.

If you are considering spending an evening with this unique circus production you may want to wait until next week to see a special, additional routine featuring 14-year-old Kyle Cragle of Missouri City, Texas.  Cragle, a self-taught acrobat with National Gymnastics titles, won the "Run Away with Cirque Dreams" contest which auditioned local talent at the Houston Galleria Mall on February 6.  His contortion and acrobatic skills will be featured in a customized routine that he is rehearsing with the cast this week. 

A video montage of the show's routines is available on the Cirque Productions website (click here), but be warned this detailed sneak-peak may ruin the some of the show's awe by providing knowledge of what's to come. 

The Cirque Dreams series of shows are produced by Cirque Productions, the first American company to produce European circus-style entertainment.  The company was founded in 1993 by New Yorker, Neil Goldberg, who also directed Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy, the only show of its kind to ever perform on Broadway.  Jungle Fantasy opened at the Broadway Theatre June 26, 2008 and ran for 70 total performances.  Cirque Dreams Illumination is Cirque Production's 14^th show.

Cirque Dreams Illuminations runs at the Hobby Center through March 7.  Tickets are available at the Hobby Center Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations, by calling 800-982-ARTS (2787) or http://www.broadwayacrossamerica.com/. 

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