When you go to see Cirque du Soleil’s “Mystere,” now playing at Treasure Island, make sure to arrive at least fifteen minutes before curtain time. There is some fabulous pre-show buffoonery. I won’t give away the joke, but I assure you in this case it pays to be an early bird.
The show begins with a bang and you are immediately thrust into a different world. From all sides (and above) your senses are jostled to high alert. Drums you can feel in your bones, characters moving through the aisles, strange figures crawling down the walls, a fluid cascade of lights. Cirque du Soleil specializes in these kind of almost overwhelmingly gorgeous stage-pictures. And “Mystere” is no exception. The artistic elements – including lights, music, puppetry, fog, costumes, dance -- form a monstrously complex, multi-layered tapestry. It is a visually stunning experience.
Does “Mystere” have a story? Um. Kind of. The first image we’re presented with is two baby carriages. Soon we meet two different children. But they never meet each other. So, I think the show is meant to be the dream-like way these youngsters see the world. But, really, don’t strain yourself to keep up. Like catching a foreign film with no subtitles, but beautiful cinematography, just let the experience wash over you.
Amongst the grandeur there lurk some fine subtle performances. (Like finding a patch of wild violets in the gardens of Versailles.) I’m referring to those moments that make you gasp and say, “My God! I didn’t know the human body could do that!” Stupendous acrobatics can tap reserves of childhood wonder for me. And “Mystere” has some top notch acrobats. At one point, two men atop an enormous rotating globe perform an astounding hand balancing act. It’s like somehow they aren’t made of normal muscles and bones, that their flesh has been transformed into this fusion of steel and rubber. Not only do they need raw strength and perfect balance, but to enact this brilliant duet, they need to be totally synchronized.
Following this is a teeter-totter act. Again, the simplicity is the charm here. A board, a barrel and dozen guys with timing like a Swiss watch. Again and again these fellows would be shot up in the air. You never knew whether they were going to come right back down or spin off and be caught on the shoulders of their companions. I could have watched just this act for hours. It really gets your blood going.
In amongst the gymnastics is some hilarious clowning. At two points in the show, audience members are lured onstage. Ingeniously they are folded into the hypnotic, crazy world of “Mystere. “
Toward the end a quartet of performers fly overhead on bungey-cord-esque rigging. They swing and bounce in intricately choreographed moves. I couldn’t help but think of how fun that looked. The fun was infectious. I wanted to be up there.
A little note for film buffs: “Mystere” is the show the guys go see in the movie, “Knocked Up” while tripping there brains out. But this show needs no chemical enhancement.
-Scot Augustson
