Theater review
“Totem”
Grade: B-
8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. 4 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. 1 and 5 p.m. Sundays. Through Dec. 30. $36.50-$400. Cirque du Soleil, Atlantic Station. (Look for the blue-and-yellow Big Top.) 1-800-450-1480; cirquedusoleil.com/totem.
Bottom line: Reliable Cirque.
Sometimes, Cirque du Soleil delivers dazzling feats of artistry and athleticism that knock it out of the Grand Chapiteau.
At other times, the inventive Montreal-based circus repeats itself, recycling material and costumes that totter on the edge of the ridiculous.
“Totem,” the just-opened show at Atlantic Station, falls somewhere in between.
Describing the Earth’s evolution as a fish-to-fowl cycle in which creatures of the deep rise from their murky lagoons to soar toward the heavens, “Totem” is most successful when it pushes the human body into positions that are both unspeakably difficult and remarkably graceful.
Written and directed by Robert Lepage, “Totem” may not capture the giddy buzz of the insect-world exploration that played Atlanta in 2010 (“Ovo”) or the painterly opulence of its Renaissance tribute (“Corteo,” 2006). But after the low-brow clowning and hairy-ape shtick, it finds moments of beauty and passion in its coquettish aerial lovers, delicate unicyclists and gravity-defying roller skaters.
If you don’t believe me, just watch the sequence in which a fur-clad Indian maiden (Denise Garcia-Sorta) glides into view in a canoe, then engages in an erotic pas de deux with her fringed-and-beaded male counterpart (Massimiliano Medini). Before it’s over, the woman’s entire body is swiveling from a necklace-like device draped around her partner’s head. Oh, and did we mention they are on roller skates?
Or what about the five wispy Asian lovelies who juggle, toss and catch bowls and teapots on their heads? Dressed in outfits so tight they look like tattoos, the women do all this while pedaling on — wait for it — unicycles.
Carl Fillion’s sets and props are especially effective with aquatic themes, beginning with a gymnastic romp for a company of human tadpoles who cavort on a structure resembling a giant carapace. The show ends with a lovely flourish in which performers seem to swim behind a flickering screen, then emerge full-form from the water.
But there are clunky contraptions, too: Characters land in a spaceship-like vehicle that would be more at home in “Star Wars.” Apes screech and fight while a team of white-clad laboratory techies wheel in chemistry sets with beakers and test tubes full of bright liquids. In the end, a mad-scientist type does a juggling act in a smoke-filled glass funnel. (But why?)
Other contemporary flourishes — such as the beach dudes and the buffoon in a speedboat — don’t always work. (Pippo Crotti’s toothpick-thin Italian Elvis is uniformly hilarious, however.) Kym Barrett’s wonderfully detailed costumes reference everything from Asian prints to Native American beading. But then she’ll throw in a flamenco dancer out of nowhere. Sometimes, a pair of yellow matador’s britches are all you need, as in the sexy “fixed duo trapeze” act starring Guilhem Cauchois and Sarah Tessier.
Alternating between magic and mayhem, “Totem” swims a happy middle stream — frequently good but rarely stellar.
About the Author
