Back 10 or 12 years ago, when I bought my very first DVD player, included was a "bonus" to order several (5, I think) DVDs free. I knew only vaguely what Cirque du Soleil was, and nothing about their show called "Quidam", but it was available and I ordered it. I watched most of it way back then, not really understanding what I was seeing, and put it away. And almost forgot about it.
Fast forward to 2013, two special 20-something friends gave us tickets to see the live performance of "Quidam" in Houston, just last week, at the arena where professional basketball is played. It was a small enough venue that all the seats were good, and ours were about half-way up, on what would have been the left-field seats of a baseball game.
It is all in French, and mostly sung, so it helps to know the story. A young girl, Zoe, is bored and neglected by her parents, so through her vivid imagination a Quidam (a tall man without a head but carrying an umbrella) shows up, a when she puts on the blue bowler hat the circus acts come alive on stage. It includes a live band and singer. The aerial acts are suspended from the five metal arches over the rotating stage, and they are suspended in such a way that they move from the back of the stage to a spot over the stage.
I would imagine many of the performers are Chinese and European-trained acrobats, and they exhibit feats of great strength and flexibility. Zoe's story isn't particularly important, it just provides a reason for the circus acts.
A few days after the live performance I re-watched the "Quidam" DVD and this time knew what I was looking at. No question, as nice as the DVD presentation is, and includes appropriate close-ups, seeing it live is a whole different experience. Plus, while the main of the story and the various acts are mostly the same as 1999, there also are some significant differences.
Fast forward to 2013, two special 20-something friends gave us tickets to see the live performance of "Quidam" in Houston, just last week, at the arena where professional basketball is played. It was a small enough venue that all the seats were good, and ours were about half-way up, on what would have been the left-field seats of a baseball game.
It is all in French, and mostly sung, so it helps to know the story. A young girl, Zoe, is bored and neglected by her parents, so through her vivid imagination a Quidam (a tall man without a head but carrying an umbrella) shows up, a when she puts on the blue bowler hat the circus acts come alive on stage. It includes a live band and singer. The aerial acts are suspended from the five metal arches over the rotating stage, and they are suspended in such a way that they move from the back of the stage to a spot over the stage.
I would imagine many of the performers are Chinese and European-trained acrobats, and they exhibit feats of great strength and flexibility. Zoe's story isn't particularly important, it just provides a reason for the circus acts.
A few days after the live performance I re-watched the "Quidam" DVD and this time knew what I was looking at. No question, as nice as the DVD presentation is, and includes appropriate close-ups, seeing it live is a whole different experience. Plus, while the main of the story and the various acts are mostly the same as 1999, there also are some significant differences.