The Cyr Wheel - courtesy of Cirque du Soleil
As many of you know, I’m a huge Cirque du Soleil fan, hooked after taking my mom to see La Nouba in Orlando many years ago. I’ve seen all of their shows out in Vegas (Mystere, O, Zumanity, Ka, The Beatles Love) with the exception of the newest one with Criss Angel. I’ve also seen Varekai (one of the traveling shows that came to Miami two years ago) and last week I was lucky enough to see Corteo, Cirque’s latest masterpiece that’s currently set up at Bayfront Park in Miami.
As the Cirque folks explain, Corteo means “cortege” in Italian, and it’s “a joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown…the clown pictures his own funeral taking place in a carnival atmosphere, watched over by quietly caring angels. Juxtaposing the large with the small, the ridiculous with the tragic and the magic of perfection with the charm of imperfection, the show highlights the strength and fragility of the clown, as well as his wisdom and kindness, to illustrate the portion of humanity that is within each of us.”
And indeed, it was quite the festive parade! But let me start off by telling you about our own festivity that we experienced, being that I splurged on the Tapis Rouge VIP Experience this year as a birthday gift for both my husband and my father–for $100 more per person, you are treated to the following for Tapis Rouge members only:
- Preferred seating
- Reserved parking
- Access to the Tapis Rouge suite via an exclusive entrance one hour before the show and during intermission
- An array of mouth-watering hors d’oeuvres, fine wines* and refreshments followed by desserts during intermission
- Unique multimedia entertainment and original music in a stunning décor with a relaxed atmosphere
- A Tapis Rouge gift
- A souvenir program
- Priority purchasing of Cirque du Soleil merchandise in the Tapis Rouge boutique
- Private restrooms, terrace and coat check service
Well! We were quite excited about that. It started off nicely when we were ushered to preferred parking (which meant we were a tad closer than the rest of the folks out there–but disappointingly still in the grass). We then found the Tapis Rouge–which was surprisingly, not rouge (red) but yellow…and received our VIP cards that we had to wear around our necks like Press.
It was quite sexy and mysterious inside, with some beautiful lighting, comfy looking red velvet couches, and large canvas banners where abstract videos were projected. We were greeted with our choice of champagne, wine or a fruity looking Cosmopolitan. Graham and I opted for champagne, while my dad (who is 77) tried the Cosmo! Hilarious. He actually liked it.
Chandelier Act - courtesy of Cirque du Soleil
Then onward to the food! We were quite hungry at this point, not having had dinner, even though it was only 4:00 in the afternoon. There was a carving station where you could either have them cut you fresh roast beef and make your own tiny sandwich (on rolls), or you could select one of the premade sandwiches with Red Pepper Aoli or Horseradish sauce. We tried a few of those and they were quite good.
There was also a rotating table in the center that offered edamame, bruschetta, crudite and other goodies, but Whoa! You had to act fast because it was moving so quickly that it was honestly hard to snag any of the food! (I think it was a ploy to keep people from eating too much.) And funny enough, they didn’t have any plates or utensils anywhere…just napkins…methinks it’s another ploy to keep your tasting on the lighter side.
Across the way, I was able to stab some tortellini with a toothpick…ditto for some olives in a giant martini glass…and the strangest thing I’ve ever seen was Shrimp in a Spoon–and the spoons were stuck in a giant display board for us to pluck out (that was even more strange as something a friend had at her wedding–macaroni and cheese in a spoon–sorry, Tina!) I tasted one of those but it was a bit on the spicy side so I didn’t go back for more. Oh, and the best part was when one of the servers attempted to take away something she thought was a “napkin” –this was actually a lettuce wrap, cleverly disguised in a glass, and my dad was about to eat it.
After many glasses of champagne, and several attempted stabs of my toothpick, we stopped in the “private bathroom” for a quick break–this was actually a row of porto-potties–albeit clean porto-potties and they had actual working toilets, thank goodness–but not exactly what I anticipated. The “private” part was just that no other ticket holders except Tapis Rouge could use them. They were located on our “private terrace”–nothing fancy, just a few plastic chairs outside on the concrete.
Our seats ended up being phenomenal…directly in front of the stage and about 10 rows back. Not too close, not too far. We enjoyed the usual pre-show antics of the “clowns” running through the audience being silly–throwing popcorn, moving through the aisles and practically sitting on people–and oh! I had a flashback to Slava’s Snow Show when one of the performers ran by squirting water out of her ears! Now I get the resemblance–was SO glad I wasn’t in the line of fire for that!
The "horses" - courtesy of Cirque du Soleil
The show started with the main character dreaming of his funeral, with some gorgeous ladies hanging and spinning seductively from chandeliers…I honestly don’t know how they do it without a net! And of course they make it appear so easy. Onward to fantastic gymnasts jumping on beds and managing to land on a bedrail on one foot…to tightrope walkers walking upside down…to performers balancing precariously on a ladder…angels flying through the air…as well as the comic relief of the “horses” (two people in costume) doing a mating dance. One of my favorite parts was Valentyna , the tiny lady who came floating through the air on some ginormous balloons…and out into the audience where we had to keep her afloat by pushing up on her tiny feet! That was great fun.
I was also blown away by the Cyr wheels performers, where they are inside the wheel and spin round the stage, all propelled by their own weight…and the Aerial Strap duo, who spin and whirl and demonstrate the utmost in gymnastic ability all with the use of straps or hanging on each other. At one point, the man holds on to the woman’s hair and she spins him through the air. Ouch!!
Of course, this is all accompanied by beautiful singers and musicians with the utmost talent.
At intermission we returned to the Tapis Rouge to pick up our “gift”–which was a lovely print of a photo they’d taken of us with a Cirque Mannequin (unfortunately my dad had wandered off during the photo opp and it was just my husband and I), and to enjoy dessert. Again, the dessert spun quickly round the center turntable, and we had to grab one in passing! I don’t honestly know what my dessert was–it ended up being too sickly sweet for me, so I left it at the bar. But my husband and father seemed to enjoy it. And the hubby certainly drank his fair share of cocktails!
All in all, we had a wonderful time…though we wish the Preferred Parking would have also applied to Preferred Departing. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the traffic to clear before we could leave, but that’s Miami for you! Would I splurge on the Tapis Rouge experience again? Probably not. I don’t think it was quite worth the extra $300 I spent…but it was certainly worth doing one time, and I will definitely return to any show that Cirque brings back into town (in fact, I already have tickets to Saltimbanco for next year!).
And I do recommend the show to anyone who hasn’t seen a Cirque show yet–or who’s a diehard fan like me! The show will be in Miami until Dec 28, 2008 and I believe they’re offering discounted tickets these days.
If you go to see it, let me know what you think!
