Oh, the Zumanity!

So, a little while ago, I suggested that I would give my short review of one of the other Cirque du Soliel shows in Las Vegas, Zumanity. As I mentioned in my review of Love, I feel that all the Cirque shows I've seen do a good job of establishing very different tones, despite sharing some of the same kinds of material.

Well, Zumanity is arguably the most distinct of all the Cirque du Soleil productions. It offers up "the sensual side of Cirque du Soleil." In other words, it's all about sex. Not that all the other shows are squeaky clean, depending upon what you choose to read into some of the acts... but Zumanity plays that angle up full and makes it the star of the show. Every possible coupling and grouping is represented, and plenty more... shall we say "unconventional" kinds of sexual behavior is explored as well.

That's not the only way in which Zumanity differs from the norm, however. The auditorium is designed to seat at best maybe a third of the crowd that could be seated at the other Cirque shows in Vegas. It's designed to be "intimate" that way. The show is set up like a cabaret performance, complete with an emcee. And there's extensive dialogue -- in English!

But I felt the setting here didn't really work well. There's something about the whole Cirque du Soleil experience that is wildly over the top and larger than life. Even before the crazy stage effects of KÀ, or the sensory overload of Love, even shows like Mystère and some of the original Cirque productions before that seemed to just have a sense of "grandeur" to them. And that felt fitting. Zumanity tries to scale it down too far. If it were a conventional circus, it would be like trying to put "The Big Top" in a pup tent. It just doesn't fit there.

Make no mistake, some of the acts in Zumanity are just as incredible as those from the other shows. Some are plain unsettling, as I suppose they're meant to be in this case. (I won't soon forget "freaky dislocation man.") But the whole just somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. Perhaps the disappointment came in part from having seen the full-blown production that is KÀ just the night before, but either way, Zumanity felt like a bit of a let down.

It might be the cheapest of the Cirque tickets in Vegas, but in my opinion, it's worth the extra price to spring for one of the other shows. And if you're just looking for some kind of "sexy" show instead, I hear the Stratosphere has some kind of freaky gothic vampire stripper thing. There's gotta be a lot more people into that than will admit it publicly -- look at all the books Anne Rice has sold. (And it's not because she's a good writer.)