Kool

Tonight I went to go see Kooza, the touring Cirque du Soleil show that's currently here in Denver. Though I've seen nearly all the Cirque productions in permanent residence in Las Vegas (except for the recently opened and widely panned Believe), I've never seen one of the company's touring shows in person. I was eager to see how the experience compared.

First of all, there's an extra technical dimension to the touring productions, operating on a level similar to the crazy-cool stage of Ka. In this case, it's the simple fact that they pack up this thing and transport it all around the country. There really aren't any compromises in the show to make it any easier to move around; it has all the elaborate scenery and fantastic staging of its stationary cousins.

But at the same time, there was a way in which Kooza struck me as being specifically crafted for the touring environment. It seemed to me that sometimes they were picking and choosing set pieces in the style of different Cirque shows I've seen -- almost as though assuming most of the audience won't have seen any of the Vegas shows. There's a comic relief man in the style of Mystère. There's a contortionist act reminiscent of Zumanity. Back to Mystère for a teeter-totter acrobatic act. And so on.

Yet that's not to say that the show was a letdown. In fact, I found it quite the opposite. Oftentimes, I found the particulars of each given act superior to the other shows they reminded me of. And Kooza also brought in a few pieces that were definitely unique to this show, like an amazing balancing act that saw chairs stacked over thirty feet high, or a sort of "dancing" couple in which the man rode a unicycle.

The costumes were outstanding and the music engaging. It was a funnier show, overall, than any of the other Cirque shows I've seen, and that added another dimension to it. Interestingly, though, this was a two-act performance, where all the Vegas shows are built in the in-and-out-in-90-minutes mentality that governs all live performances in the city. And I'm not really sure that the show benefited much from the increased run time. The second act was definitely not as strong as the first, though it certainly did still have its share of impressive and entertaining moments.

I would definitely recommend the show. If Kooza ends up near your town, you might want to check them out. (Though you might not want to buy the seat just left of the center aisle in row J. There's a big surprise in store for you if you do.)