Theater: Cirque du Soleil opens new show

Cirque du Soleil's current touring production, "Varekai," begins with a fall from the heavens and ends in a wedding. In between these two events, dozens of extravagantly talented performers challenge the Target Center's laws of gravity as they display circus arts taken to unimaginable levels.

The story line of a Cirque du Soleil show is mostly just a vehicle for truly wonderful displays of athleticism, and "Varekai" is no exception. In this case, Icarus of Greek mythology provides the narrative spark. After flying too close to the sun and falling back to earth, he doesn't meet the expected death. Instead, he lands in an otherworldly landscape inhabited by fantastical creatures. As he heals from his wounds and pursues a romance with a spiny creature played by Alona Zhuravel, he has a front-row seat for a series of marvelous interludes.

The choice of the tale of Icarus is a clever one in this context, emphasizing the tension between flight and stasis. That juxtaposition is first seen after the Icarus character, played by Fernando Miro, falls to earth and is raised up above the stage. He performs a breathtakingly elegant aerial dance while tangled in a net, creating a visual sense of both his previous ability to fly and his current broken and earthbound condition.

As the show progresses, the simulations of actual flight become more daring. Kerren McKeeman offers up a sizzling performance on single-point trapeze in the first act, launching herself up in the air and back to the ground with startling speed. Oleksii Kozakov and Oleksandr Romashyn provide the standout moment of the second act as they appear to literally float out over the audience, dangling from aerial straps. At the end of the show, Miro and Zhuravel meld in the air to celebrate their wedding.

In addition to these aerial interludes, "Varekai" boasts astonishingly deft performances a little closer to the ground. A wonderfully fast-paced display of Georgian dance, complete with clashing swords, is provided by Lasha Sakhokia, Tornike Zabakhidze and Levan Torchinava. In another high point, Valery Aleshin, Yulia Kulikova, Alexander Likin and Philipp Kuznetsov deliver the Icarian Games, a gravity-defying routine in which two performers use their feet to juggle the other two in the air like balls.

Given the sheer derring-do of the circus acts, it's perhaps not surprising that the pace of "Varekai" droops a tad when the focus shifts to the clowns. While Dymtro Liubashenko and Rodrigue Proteau have some humorous moments, their material is no match for the gasp-inspiring acts that sandwich their physical comedy sketches. That's a minor quibble, however, with a show that offers more than its share of razzle-dazzle.

Lisa Brock is a Minneapolis writer.