Cirque Dreams Illuminates TPAC

The Tulsa Performing Arts Center/Celebrity Attractions has brought in a show that provides a little bit of everything in Cirque Dreams: Illumination. 

With a run that started Tuesday, May 11 and goes until Sunday, May 16th, you have several chances to catch the artistry, drama and humor of an amazing production. 

Cirque Dreams, the brain child of Neil Goldberg, is a phenomenal collective of dance, tumbling, song, comedy and physics defying contortion.  It is really hard to try and explain what all these artists can do.  It truly is a must see to believe.

The show starts with a reporter and film crew who are looking for a story in a quiet warehouse like neighborhood.  The scene does not stay quiet for long as the stage is soon filled with performers doing a variety of different things.  There is so much to take in during this time (and honestly my view was obstructed by the gentlemen in front of me who had a larger than normal head) that it is easy to miss all that is going on.  Possibly the standout of this segment was a couple who were dancing and from time to time the gentleman of the duo would take a large silver sheet and wrap it around his female partner and as quickly as he wrapped it, he unwrapped to reveal her in a different color dress right before our eyes.  This quick change happened at least 8 different times and ended with the male wrapping himself in a sheet and changing from a black tuxedo to a white just a quickly as the other changes had happened.  It was quite dazzling.

The entire evening was broken up into several segments, each highlighting a different artist discipline.  While some of these segments were kind of vanilla others stood out greatly. 

One such, was a bit of improv that had the comedic relief of the production, a character know in the program as the Vagabond put together a short play in which 4 people were taken from the audience, 1 lady and 4 men were selected each given a different role as the Lover, the Tramp, the Star and the Marker tech.  The lady selected to play the Tramp was quite reluctant to get into her role.  The rest of the ensemble were playful and hysterical playing against the Vagabond/Director, who didn't use a voice but instead, a la Harpo Marx, used a whistle to communicate direction. 

As stated before the show was filled with amazingly talented individuals that created incredible displays of gravity defying feats as well as bending there bodies in ways that left the crowd in attendance jaw-dropped and in awe.

From aerialist to jugglers to walking headless, bodiless figures it is a show that keeps you looking and guessing what will come next. 

If you have a couple of extra hours this week or this weekend you owe it to yourself to take a break from reality and be entertained beyond belief by Cirque Dreams: Illumination.