Corteo

Laurie and I went to see a new Cirque du Soliel show last night called "Corteo."

We had excellent seats, but I think just about every seat in the house would have been good. The stage was set completely in the round with entrance and exits set at direct opposite sides from each other. We were six rows back from the stage with completely unobstructed views.

Since I bought the flea circus I have been looking for resources to improve my performances and make them different from anyone else. What a surprise right? Not that I expect I could do anything with the flea circus that would be reminiscent of Cirque, but inspiration comes from lots of places and I watched the show with different eyes then I would have had before.

The show was really good, but there were a couple of things that didn't work for me. Laurie and I both felt that Act 2 wasn't as strong as Act 1. For me at least, the problem was part technical, part enthusiasm and part lost story.

The story of Corteo is basically the visions of one man, a clown, imagining or experiencing his death and the procession of his journey from this life to the next. Visions of his childhood, of his life as a clown and of those who care for him giving him the send off/celebration only a circus could provide. Very artistic in that respect, but this is what we've come to expect from Cirque and in that they do not fail.

The first act was filled with wonderful routines, but I think my favorite had to be the trampoline act. They took two trampolines and dressed them up as beds, complete with brass head and foot boards. Then all the acrobats involved, obviously dressed as children, proceeded to have a massive pillow fight. Obviously a memory of childhood, the acrobatics were exactly the kind of thing I wished I could have done as a child bouncing on my own bed.

The jugglers were excellent, firing stuff around the stage at least as fast as we've ever seen the Flying K's do it. And they added a certain amount of acrobatics as well, making the routine extremely dynamic.

And then there was the Ringmaster.

Wow.

That guy had all the power you would expect a top Ringmaster to have. His voice was stunningly powerful and when he cracked the whip he carried it sounded like a gun shot underscoring his commands. But more about him for the second act.

Also in the first act was a Chandelier dance. As Laurie and I sat waiting for the show to start we could see, through the scrim, three chandeliers and Laurie said to me "Someone is going to be swinging from those soon."
She wasn't wrong. Four women, representing the clowns passed loves, came out and proceeded to do a whole aerial ballet which was really amazing. One detail I caught, only because I happened to look at just the right moment, was one of the women nearly clobbering someone in the audience as she took a running leap off a far exit point, hanging onto the chandelier. Her kick reached out over the head of the person sitting in the exact corner seat there, who flinched mightily. In a way it was nice to see that these people are people and therefore not perfect.

The Cyr Wheels were also amazing, but I've always been found them. These are the big single hoops which an acrobat braces themselves into and then spins around in, doing continuous cartwheels and other stunts. Always wanted to try that.

And then there was the highwire act. This was good, but in my opinion probably the weakest part of the first act. Mainly because I think most people don't really realize just how hard it is, especially when the performer manages to make it look so effortless. She really was excellent, but managed to be so precise and controlled that she took some of the drama out as a result.

Her final bit was to actually walk up an inclined wire which is a real difficult feat to perform. Don't believe me? Try walking up a two inch wide inclined blank (45 degrees please) and then imagine how hard it is on a wire! The one thing that probably threw people off though is that the wire under her was moving in a continuous loop downwards. This gave her the appearance of "moon walking."

There were a couple of performers who were midgets. Mostly they were clowns, but they did have a couple of routines in the second act.

But the end of the first act involved the lady midget wearing a harness which attached her to a cluster of very large helium balloons. The size of the balloons combined with her small size basically turned her into a floating toy which got tossed into the audience where people could simply hold their palms up and launch her back to the stage. Very amusing, if slightly creepy. I would consider this to be the closest Cirque would come to doing a traditional "Side Show" act or stunt.

End Act 1.

The two scrims were lowered creating a corridor across the stage and as we watched we could see that they were setting up something for the next act. The Intermission was half an hour and it took them pretty much the entire time.

They set up the trapeze act.

This was the first, and only technical problem I had with the show, but I can't see how they could have solved it either. The Trapeze Act was strong. Probably the strongest thing in the entire second act, but because of the required setup there was no place they could put it except at the very beginning. As such, the rest of the act suffered by comparison.

But what a routine. A trapeze act with no trapeze! Everyone who went flying back and forth between the platforms did it completely on the strength of the catchers on each platform. No trapeze bars, just strong arms to catch and throw people. It was damn impressive.

And then back to the Ringmaster!

Once the trapeze act was over they lowered the lights so the stage crew could clear the setup, so you had to do something to distract the audience. For the next five minutes (it only took them FIVE MINUTES to strike the trapeze!) the Ringmaster performed out in the audience by whistling classical music! And I mean really whistling! He could hit those notes like you would not believe! I swear there must have been dogs across country who were perking their ears up and saying "What was that?"

Once the trapeze was struck, the Ringmaster and a few of the clowns and other performers ended up on stage to perform a complete musical number on Whistle, Water Goblets, Violin and Tibetan Bowls!

Again, very cool.

Then we got the aerial banner dance. I don't know what it's called, but that is the way I think of it. Basically it's the bit where the acrobat (usually a woman) suspends herself from long banners of cloth and wraps herself up and does various stunts while being swung around the stage.

I've lost my appreciation for this act unfortunately. The first time I saw it I liked it a lot. It impressed me. But I've seen it repeatedly since then and the act really doesn't seem to evolve any or, for that matter, connect all that well with the story. We started losing the story here and that made things a bit difficult to follow.

Yes, she did the routine well, but it just doesn't really do much for me anymore.

Next we had the weirdest moment of all. A juggling act involving balls, a hoop and one of those streamer toys. All good material. Except for the chickens. Just before this started the Ringmaster marched across stage yelling that he hates chickens. Then jugglers came on, doing some really impressive stuff that I want to try and figure out, but at the same time rubber chickens start falling from the sky.

Is this some kind of French thing or something? Neither of us got it at all. The act ended with the performers huddled under a large umbrella as a huge load of rubber chickens were dumped on them. They leave the stage and the Ringmaster, followed by four guys with brooms, comes back on the stage yelling about hating chickens.

I don't know. Strange. Not story related at all that we could figure.

Then the two midgets came back on stage and did one of those "strength" acts where they do balances and poses on a spinning platform. Interesting but again it didn't carry any of the story thread in it.

The next act didn't have any story thread in it either really, but it was so worth watching and really wish that Seamus could have been there to see it. It was a ladder walker and he was hilarious. His style was very frenetic but his balance was absolutely perfect. Most of the routine was done with a ladder that looked about seven feet tall to me, but after he finished that, one of the angels descended from the sky with a ladder that was at least twice that height. He only did one trick with it, but it was great. He got all the way to the top of that thing and stood, not on the highest rung, but two little platforms that topped the struts of the ladder. And was then rescued by the angel.

There was a comedic presentation of Romeo and Juliette done by the midgets in a stage they rolled out which I looked at and thought, "Wish I had a place to store something like that because it would make a great performing setup!"

Then there was the Teeterboard. Which was presented as some kind of "gang showdown." I liked this. It had a story again and was really impressive to watch the two rival heroes try and out do each other.

For the final routine they set up a series of horizontal bars for acrobatics. They actually had four set up in a square and two ends were flanked by another bar each. Then, on top of that they spun things in various directions, just to keep it interesting! So you had all these acrobats swinging around the horizontal bars, trading places and moving into and out of the basic "flight pattern" around the central square.

I know I keep saying this, but "VERY COOL!"

End Act 2.

Other moments to be remembered - well, with Cirque there is always various characters who are floating around the action, providing a certain amount of interaction or spectacle.
Because this was a vision of traveling to heaven, there were plenty of people who were dressed as angels running across the stage at various points, or floating down from the sky to watch and participate.

There were basically two images from these characters which stuck with me.

First was one of the angels. She floated down over the dwarf couple doing the "strength" act and dropped "snow" over them. Because of the music, the lighting and the general image this struck me as being very similar to the "Snowstorm" illusion I have performed on a few occasions, and even they they didn't do it as magic it was very magical to me.

Second, and I think much stronger then that, was one of the clowns walking across the highwire. Sounds simple enough yes? Sure it does. Until I tell you that he was walking on the UNDERSIDE OF THE WIRE!!!
That's all he did, but he was on the underside of the wire carrying a pair of candelabra whose flames were pointed down to the stage just as his head was. The illusion was absolutely brilliant.

That was a great moment.

It was a wonderful show. One of the better ones from Cirque I've seen in a while. Seeing it live certainly makes a difference and while I did feel that the second act wasn't as strong as the first, it was all still a really excellent show.

If you get a chance to see any Cirque show it's probably worth it, but I'd rate this one higher then most, probably because I like the story itself as much as anything else.

And come to think of it, there might just be one thing I can do to put a Cirque-like act into my flea circus...... hmmmm....

A Solution in Search of a Problem

Over the years I've noticed that there are many magic dealers at there who churn out garbage. Okay, not a brilliant insight I realize, but recently I came across something that really amazed me, and not in a good way.

One of those dealers out there is now selling a product called "The Devil's Bottle."

The effect is simply that you show a glass bottle that is empty, you whack it up against something, but not to hard, to show that it is indeed a solid glass bottle. Then you give it to someone to hold on to (making sure that they hold it over a trash can or something like that) and with the "power of your mind" you cause the bottle to shatter in their hands.

Sounds pretty cool really. On the surface.

Then you start looking into it.

The price tag for this miracle is $1000.00! That's right. $1000.00.

For this miracle you get the secret and 12 prepared bottles.

Prepared bottles? Yes, you get told how to prepare your own bottles as well, but apparently they are expecting to sell replacement bottles along the way. They say so, but they haven't yet stated the price tag on said replacement bottles.

And apparently, from what I now know regarding the secret (revealed to me by someone who saw their science teacher do this about 60 years ago), it's not worth $100.00, let alone $1000.00.

Now here is the thing I mean about "A Solution looking for a Problem."

About three years ago someone was selling an illusion prop where you put a glass on a tray, set the tray down on a table, walk away and the concentrate and the glass shatters. Price tag: $50 (as I recall). Also, that was a remake of an even older version of the same product.

And if you were even remotely inclined towards being a tool user you could probably have built the gimmick for even less then that.

That's what I mean about "A Solution looking for a Problem." They wanted to go further by making the effect involve even less objects and more interactive, both good things, but in the process they "solved the problem" by creating a nightmare.

How much more effective would a good presentation around the old method be compared to creating a new method that is 20 TIMES MORE COSTLY?? Not to mention the replacement bottles in case you are not able to manufacture them yourself!

Great solution. Was there a problem here? Were magicians really clamoring for a "better" way to break a bottle so loudly that they would be willing to spend this kind of money on an effect with limited application anyway?

Or were they just hoping that somehow magicians were just stupid enough that they would part with $1000.00+ on something that would likely only ever get used a few times and then sit on the shelf next to their Imp Bottles?

Hope for the Puppies

A glimmer of hope raised it's head the other day and I just had to share.

A new kid appeared on the forums I have been watching lately. He states flat out "I'm 15 years old and don't have much money" so we know where he is coming from. He then talks about what he's interested in and asks that dreaded questions: "What DVD's should I buy?"

Okay, why is this a "dreaded" question? Because DVD's and Videos do not teach new magicians to think. They teach them to repeat. Yes, I do indeed have a fair number of DVD's and Videos in my own library, but when I'm working out something new I always turn to my books first. Most often my Tartbell collection. And truth be told, I haven't purchased a new Instructional Magic DVD or Video in a long time.

But books! Ah, the books are there and every time I read them they are wonderful and I learn something new.

But I digress.

I responded to this young magician with the comment that if he was so short of cash he would be better served buying a couple of books (and I recommended a couple focusing on the areas he is interested in) and pointed out that for the same amount of money he could get five times as much useful material and be learning skills rather then repeating things that are being fed to him.

No real response from him.

But here is where the hope comes in.....

Other kids, the same age, jumped in and said "Yeah, what he said." There are kids out there, new magicians, who are starting off learning the value of books and basic skills. Who recognize that what they get from a book is ultimately better for their development as magicians then learning the "hot new tricks" being poured out of the magic marketing machine.

A bright bit of hope indeed.

Searching for Inspiration

Where do you find inspiration?

It's interesting to me that many magicians don't seem to find inspiration at all. I mean that they simply use the "patter" that comes with the trick they bought and that is all they do.

The nature of the artist is, in my opinion, the ability to push yourself beyond the usual boundries. And if you look at the range of most popular magicians out there, they are all defined by the fact that they are inspired by something outside of the magic that they do.

Inspiration comes from so many places, but I've begun to wonder if inspiration is a kind of infinite loop. If each art form takes some inspiration from some other art form. Ultimately I suppose all of these art forms take their inspiration from life. The often repeated phrase "art imitates life" certainly comes to mind.

And certainly we have seen many a person who tries to live a life which imitates art.

Is there really a circle of inspiration here?

Makes me wonder.

Magic Puppies Revisited

Not to long ago I was discussing Magic Puppies and how I found myself in the position of being more like one of "the old guys" then one of the young guys.

I had been considering it for some time now, but I decided to go ahead and ask about establishing a new forum on their list. They have forums for cards and coins and rope and videos and other such things.

They had no forum for "creativity."

Now they do. And I'm the moderator.

I guess that makes sense, since I suggested it and I offered, but now I'm committed, or at least I should be.

These really are kids. The other day I took a look at videos one of them posted of himself doing a couple of card tricks. I use the word trick deliberately here because they weren't good enough to be 'effects.' The videos were horrible. I was diplomatic but I really wanted to say "What the heck were you thinking?"

Well now there is a forum for discussing creativity and character development. Now I'm sheperding people online in discussions that will hopefully open their eyes to ways to be more then just the average finger flicker.

I hope.

New Year's Eve in Review

Well, that was cool!

This year for New Year's Eve I spent the evening at a friends house and using everyone who came as a test audience for "Professor Scratch's Flea Circus - Something Itchy This Way Comes!"

Everyone was great! The Circus went over beautifully and I had one heck of a time performing it.

I'm going to have to spend some time writing down all the jokes that people offered up to add to the act afterwards. There was some great stuff and of course I've already begun planning the additions to the Circus that I want.

Princess Tiffany certainly won over hearts. She's so cute that way. I'm starting to think that I might have to keep her and Katinka seperated though. They are starting to compete for peoples attention.

Guiseppe broke his high diving record and now he wants a medal for his bathing suit. Where the heck can you pin a medal on flea sized Speedo?

Kalishnakof is starting to yell. I think his hearing is going, but then that cannon is loud.

But it was definitely a great show and everyone had a good time!

What more could you want really?