Like Greg and his wife, Jenn and I saw Cirque du Soleil: Delirium on Sunday night. Our seats weren’t quite as close and I didn’t take any camera phone shots, but I still enjoyed the show.

Initially, I thought it was going to follow the same formula as all the other Cirque du Soleil shows we’ve seen. You know: weary traveller/interloper stumbles into foreign world of magic and delight and learns he/she isn’t so different after all. Plus silly clowns. Minus animals.

Well, Delirium is different for two reasons:

  1. The Space

    2. An arena show is much diffferent than a big-top show. Cirque du Soleil decided to do a modified theatre-in-the-round (more like theatre-in-the-opposite-sides) to deal with the size of the venue.

    One big, thin stage and huge curtains. Bringing me to point 2:

  2. The Curtains

    3. Huge, gauzy, semi-transparent screens where video was projected. Amazing.

    The skill and engineering of these shows never ceases to amaze me. Jenn and I wondered how such disparate parts could be made whole. Imagine the schematics and diagrams needed to choreograph the performers and the multimedia experience. Stunning and stupifying.

  3. The Music

    4. Ok, three things. :-)

    This show was much less linear (I know. How is that possible) than other shows.

    About 1/3 of the way through, they dropped the standard interloper motif and went all-out for the music.

    In turn, this show featured much less acrobatics and feats of skill/strenght than you standard Cirque du Soleil show, but it was still a ton of fun.

Honorable mention: The Ticket Prices. Most. Expensive. Show. Ever.

There you go. Cirque du Soleil: Delirium