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Big city lights
Cirque Dreams Illumination comes to the Palace Theater
By Sean Lehosit
The European cirque nouveau has baffled, amazed and thrilled theatergoers since its infancy. This style of the performance art, which mixes together juggling, trapeze, acting, and other forms, has grown from its underground roots to being a Broadway spectacle, which is now produced in venues all over the world. On September 29, 2009 the Palace Theatre and CAPA will now give the residents of Columbus, Ohio the chance to witness for their selves the cirque-style in a show, which has been labeled as simply "dazzling."
Between September 29 and October 4, the Palace Theatre will be hosting performances of Cirque Dreams Illumination. The 14th production by the Cirque Productions Company, which was founded in 1993, has several international cast members like Andrey Moraru who "does an amazing hand balancing act in the show," said Cirque Productions' Jenn Sierra-Grobbelaar.
"Audiences of all ages will marvel as city dwellers reinvent familiar objects, balance on wires, leap tall buildings and redefine the risks of flight in a story filled with astounding occurrences," states the press release.
The audience may also be familiar with cast member Robert Muraine, who grabbed the nation's attention with his appearances on the fourth season of "So You Think You Can Dance," NBC's "Superstars of Dance" and a national IKEA television commercial, "What Goes Where."
"This show is completely opposite of anything I've been part of," said Muraine. "Broadway style but with a twist, the European acrobatics are amazing."
This will be Muraine's theatrical debut and the experience for him has been great. Coming up from being a street performer doing five-minute demonstrations of his dance-style to a two-hour test of endurance has provided him with new experiences that he's happy to be part of, especially in such a huge production.
"It's always getting better, always a new challenge," says Muraine. "[It's] hard but fun ... definitely a show that brings fun to everyone."
In the past five years, more than 50 million theatre-lovers worldwide have come out to see Cirque Dreams. This is the latest project by Cirque Productions' founder Neil Goldberg, who previously created great hits for the company such as Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy, Cirque Dreams Pandemonia and Cirque Dreams Holidaze. The Company's usual use of fantastic costumes, dream-like sets, and theater reviewers across the nation have said that special effects have been "surpassed" in this latest production. This show will also mark a great experience for one lucky Columbus resident, Audrey Whitaker, who at the age of twelve will also be making her theatrical debut. Whitaker is a seventh grader at McCord Middle School and is a gymnast training under Anna Loescher at Integrity Gymnastics, which is owned by the Olympic medalist Blaine Wilson. She is also takes rhythmic gymnastics under Olympic gymnast Alaine Wilson.
Whitaker had two minutes during a citywide casting call to impress the creative team from Cirque Dreams this past August.
"Audrey's skills will enable us to create a very unique role for her in the show," said Goldberg in the press release. "Her performance at the Palace Theatre will captivate audiences as it did our creative team."
Whitaker has been training in artistic gymnastics since the age of two, and picked up rhythmic gymnastics when she was only eight. She attended the citywide auditions with her rhythmic gymnastic team and couldn't be happier about getting a spot in a cast for a production this grand.
"Turns out I made it and I'm so excited to have this opportunity," said Whitaker. "[It's] so fun to be able to know I'll be in the show and able to perform."
As Cirque Dreams Illumination continues its tour across the country, its visit to Columbus, Ohio is sure to be one that brings this marriage of the arts to both, those that have had the pleasure to view it upon previous engagements and those that have yet to experience the fathom of imagination demonstrated live on stage.
Tickets to Cirque Dreams Illumination are priced from $22.50 to $67.50 and can be purchased at the Broadway Across America-Columbus and Ohio Theatre box offices or at all Ticketmaster outlets. Palace Theatre will have eight performances; Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. For more information go to the Palace Theatre CAPA website www.CAPA.com
Originally Published: September 30, 2009
