It’s an incredible feat to witness a circus act in one of Chicago’s oldest theaters. I remember as a child seeing The Ringling Bros. known as The Greatest Show on Earth, but it was in a tent. However, the first public circus performance in Chicago occurred in 1834, three years before Chicago was considered a city. Staged by Mr. Bowers, who eat “fire-balls, burning sealing wax, live coals of fire and melted lead.” Then, in 1837, the first local theater company, the Chicago Theater, was established. In 1871, Chicago featured the Circus by the Lake. People flock to the lakefront to see Old Emperor the elephant, Billy the trained seal, comical monkeys, sea lions, camels, trained ponies, and educated dogs performed for fifty-cent tickets. Finally, Chicago, known for the iconic Bozo Circus, the longest-running franchise that started in the ’60s, opened as The Greatest Show On Earth, making Chicago the mecca for the traveling Circus.
Once again, the Chicago Theater brings the Circus on stage with Cirque du Soleil – ‘Twas The Night Before… A reimagining of the classic 1823 Christmas poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, commonly known as “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore. Using the classic Christmas story with a Cirque du Soleil twist, we learn of a young girl named Isabella who has lost the joy of Christmas. Cirque du Soleil, “Circus of the Sun,” in English, is centered around a bike Isabella’s father gave her as a Christmas gift. When she doesn’t seem excited over the present, he is saddened; but that is when Isabella’s journey begins. With the help of dancing elves, she’s transformed into a magical world where a poem comes to life, and colorful characters help her remember the wonderful joys of Christmas. And all of this happened before Santa appeared.
Cirque du Soleil – ‘Twas The Night Before, has a lot of delightful performances throughout the show. We see tumblers jumping around in brightly colored outfits, which will bring excitement to young kids, and entertaining high wired aerial acrobatic acts that will thrill the young soul who has never seen a circus show. But, unfortunately, the show lacks that magical Christmas excitement from previous performance of Cirque Du Soleil –Volta.
The storyline in Cirque du Soleil, ‘Twas The Night Before, where a young girl gets jaded by the craze surrounding Christmas, never seen to develop, and gets lost in all of the confusing performances.
Although we eventually see her display joy over receiving the gift, the overall performances were, as Ecclesiastics would say, “Nothing new under the sun.” The acts performed were the typical routine seen for decades, and during the night we were there, the reindeer tumblers missed jumping through the rings several times. The hair hang is an aerial circus act, which originated from China has been around for centuries has recently been performed in Volta and Bazaar. Even the dancing elves weren’t original. The one performance that we enjoyed where the yoyo act, but most of the performances were mediocre.
We were also surprised that The Chicago Theater didn’t check for vaccination nor made any announcements regarding the audience wearing their mask during the performance. With another strand of Covid hitting the US, this should be mandatory for all theaters.
Let’s Play Somewhat Recommends this 90-minute performance at the Chicago Theater.
The Chicago Theater
Cirque du Soleil-T’was The Night Before
Writer and Director James Hadley
November 26 – December 5, 2021
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