CrossCurrents

“Alegria” is one of Cirque du Soleil’s earliest productions. It helped to set the tone for the Montreal-based company’s  success back in 1993 and it appears that it is providing a new direction in these tough economic times.

“Alegria” arrived at the Petersen Events Center on the University of Pittsburgh campus on Wednesday sans Big Top — yes, that colorful and charming environment that envelops the viewer like a surreal womb during the performance. This production might bear more than a passing resemblance to “Delirium,” which played the Mellon Arena. But then, “Delirium” was designed for that kind of space.

There was only one question: Would “Alegria” be able to overcome the mishmash of steel girders in a sports arena to transport the audience into its own mythical kingdom? There were standards here, established by a pair of Cirque-taculars, “Quidam” (2002) and “Varekai” (2006) in Pittsburgh and the full Monty of productions that I was able to see in Las Vegas, where entire rooms were built to house the productions in various hotels.

The bottom line answer was “yes,” although it took a little longer. The stage was like a geometric tongue of a thrust stage, bordered on three-sides by onlookers. The floor seating around the stage was placed in clumps (although later it became apparent that the spaces in between were needed to work the rigging for the explosive high bar finale). These performers didn’t have the usually advantage of the intimacy of the Big Top. Nor did they have the benefit of giant revolving plates, swimming pools and the like for the larger Vegas shows.

So they worked a little harder and it paid off.

In a way, it was good to see “Alegria” later in the scheme of things, in order to appreciate Cirque’s evolution and go back to its roots. There were themes of kings and fools, old and young and working together for change (a familiar thought of late in the United States). But the focus was on the traditional circus acts with costume upgrades (loved the spurting white wigs on the musicians and the White Singer’s contrasting tutu and sensible boots) and a smattering of choreographed movement for transitions.

With Rene Dupere’s popular, tuneful score, “Alegria” revolved around the acts and they were gee-whiz, drop-dead terrific. Ah, the afore-mentioned high bar act, where seven men combined two trapeze catchers with a whirlwind of multiple swings on the high bars. I still don’t know how they coordinated four men at once, barely missing each other. But then, the Flying Man, rebounding on a bungee cord high above the audience, gave them a run for those stick-in-the-throat gasps.

There was sculptural beauty to behold in the Mongolian contortionists, who slowly revolved on anelevated platform and muscular lyricism in two male solos, one a Ukrainian handbalancing act and the other revolving inside a large silver metal circle called the Cyr wheel. The hottest act was, of course, a pair of fire twirlers — Cirque always has diversity in mind.

An “X” marked the spot for a rebounding troupe of trampoline artists. Then another group rebounded off long white poles called Russian Bars, where it was fascinating to watch how the catchers, here called porters, adjusted while the flyers were tumbling in mid-air to allow them to land on the narrow pole.

Which brings us to the clowns. This group had to be my favorites of all the Cirque shows. I particularly loved the brotherly duo, who teased each other and competed in games of one up manship.  But then we could discern “just give me a hug” and “I love you” among the conversational gibberish.

1. Best of all, they appeared as a mini-Greek chorus, commenting on previous acts, like a hilarious flexible pole exchange between the two of them. When it all ended, they were a big factor into turning us all into kids as we left the arena, enthralled and thrilled at the same time.

If this is the Cirque wave of the future, turning some of the shows into leaner, meaner traveling machines, I’m for it. I don’t want the organization to give up on those magical one-of-a-kind tents, but if this format allows Cirque shows to pop in and out of town quickly on a more regular basis, bring it on.

Cirque du Soleil’s “Alegria” runs through Sunday at Petersen Events Center. Visit Ticketmaster for more information. All photos by © Martha Rial. Martha is a Pittsburgh-based photographer who specializes in documentary, editorial, travel and portrait photography. A former staff member of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography on the lives of refugees in Rwanda and Burunda, and the St. Petersburg Times, she has won the Scripps Howard Foundation Award, a National Headliner Award and has been named Pennsylvania News Photographer of the Year. Martha frequently lectures and exhibits nationally and is available for domestic and international assignments. Contact: mrial@aol.com.