It’s like a circus, only Frenchier

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I may be a newcomer to Vegas, but I knew before I attended my first Cirque performance that it wouldn’t be anything like the three-ring affairs PT Barnum & Co. hauled across the country before the advent of radio. This was driven home before the house lights dimmed, when a companion returned from concession with champagne in a plastic cup. The musk of sawdust and patched canvas is noticeably absent from Mystere, Cirque du Soliel’s flagship production at Treasure Island, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary. Instead it’s all assigned seating, mood lighting and climate control.

This circus is for adults. Upscale adults who don’t mind paying Strip prices to enhance their circus experience with liquor in minibottles and who don’t want to maneuver through peanut shells to sit on bleacher seats. All the circus elements are there, from acrobats to clowns and giant animals (this one’s a stretch, and only works if you put elephants and giant dopey snails in the same taxonomic category).

There’s plenty of spectacle, and some stellar moving scenery and lighting design that had this former theater technician admiring the skills of the follow spot operators. Trappings aside, the thing about the show is that it really revolves around bodies, but not in the usual indulging-the-male-gaze kind of way. Mystere is more like a talent show for Olympians, all wrapped up in a gauzy neotribalist narrative.

And it’s good. Amazing even to see what those bodies can do. So I’ll take Cirque du Soliel over flea-bitten lions and nightmare clowns any day, even if I wouldn’t mind a little more grit.

It could have used fewer interludes of broad, audience-interactive humor. But, hey, that’s probably what the champagne is for. Even without any booze in my system, I found myself laughing at some of the pratfalls and fat baby man antics. Next time I’ll be sure to get properly sauced — the better to enjoy the Cirque.

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