Review: Cirque Dreams Puts On Feats Of Wonder In 'Pop Goes The Rock'
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
WABASH – The best way for me to describe Cirque Dreams’ “Pop Goes the Rock” show at the Honeywell Center in Wabash Tuesday night is “street performers’ circus.” There were clowns, acrobat, high-wire acts, singers, a band and lots of bright and whacky costumes. The near-capacity crowd seemed to enjoy it thoroughly, and the performers earned their standing ovation at the end. That’s not to say the show was flawless. The band was virtually a “bar band,” meaning the band played louder than the three singers could sing for most of the numbers. And some of the songs they covered were just not well done at all, particularly “Like A Prayer”. Many of the songs were extended and remixed, like “The Heat is On” which at one point didn’t seem like it was ever going to stop. But if you were at the show, the sub-par music didn’t stop you from enjoying all the acrobatic and amazing feats. During “The Heat Is On” two roller skaters got onto a round stage in the middle of the Ford Theatre and spun around – quicker and quicker. The woman would hang from the man’s hands or neck as they spun round and round. You almost were waiting for her to fly off, but she never did. For the song “King of the Road,” a male performer soared in the air by a rope, performing twists and turns. He went in big circles and spins, dazzling the audience. Later, a woman would do the same thing, and it was kind of “been there, seen that,” but still very impressive. The bar was raised when two aerial gymnasts took to the air together during “Up Where We Belong”, repeating the performance again for “Never Gonna Let You Go.” The muscles the aerial gymnasts showcased during their flight were impressive. There were two great juggling acts. During “In the Summertime”, “Rousty” juggled large vases on his head. Sometimes he would move and the vase wouldn’t move, other times he would slightly move his head and the vase would move. There were two different-sized vases. Later, during “Jump for my Love”, a guy was juggling cones. On a high wire, then on a unicycle on the high wire. He dropped an occasional cone, only for a woman to hand it back to him to continue. With the music and the audience, it’s amazing that he could even concentrate to balance the unicycle on the high wire while juggling. In one act, while “Beautiful” was being sung, “Kitty” magically changed clothes several times over. Did she put clothes on over other clothes? Did she have layers of clothes on? Where did they go? It was a very impressive illusion, but there was no sign of any clothes being on stage except for those she wore. One man got inside a giant hula hoop and spun around with it during “Let It Ride, You Spin Me Round”.At the end of Act I, during “I Want Candy”, a guy continually flipped a young boy using just his feet to spin the boy. The boy seemed like a rag doll, he flipped very easily around. Sometimes the boy would spin during a flip. The last bit of their act was for the guy to just flip the boy over and over and over and over. His legs had to be tired! Perhaps my personal favorite act of the entire two-hour show was the last one. On the top of a staircase on the stage, two guys balanced together on a board on a barrel. Then they added a table. Then another table. Then another table, until the two men were balancing on three tables on top of one another on a board on a barrel that rocked back and forth on the staircase on the stage. Whew! I was certain a couple of times that they were going to fall, but they held tight. Imagine what kind of balance, coordination and trust that took for those two guys to balance so high on such a little space, that moved! All in all, I was entertained by the performances in “Pop Goes the Rock.” The music could have been better, but it just provided some energy and noise to all the sights to behold. The Honeywell Center in Wabash certainly should bring this family friendly show back! My rating (out of four): 3.5.
