Having had the pleasure of watching four lithely sensuous females twirling, twisting, contorting above me in sinuous entwine from the chandeliers, I can die a happy clown.  But, for the protagonist of Cirque du Soleil's production of Corteo, this mesmerizing spectacle is just the start of an astonishing series of visions recalled as his circus life flashes before his eyes.  (Though, seriously, guys, do not miss the opening.)

"Corteo" is Italian for cortege, a funeral procession.  And if this theme strikes you as a touch macabre for a circus, I suggest you've watched one too many of the sanitized, adrenalized, over-loud, politically corrected pageants Barnum & Bailey has been trotting around lately. 

It's true, Americans don't much like their major emotion groups touching - like the starch, vegetables and meat in separate compartments on our plates.  But like Halloween before the expression "Have a safe Halloween" was ever uttered, a visit to the circus can be as disturbing as it is amusing.  Grease-painted clowns - at once ghastly and comedic, snarling, caged beasts, Nature's freaks, acrobats embued with the power to defy, if only briefly, the ineffable pull of gravity.  ...Ah, that.

With Corteo, the troubled, yearning soul of the circus has returned.... albeit without the beasts.  And please, please, please parents, DO bring your kids to see it.  While tinged with melancholy and eroticism, it is never dark or scary or inappropriate (like the stuff they stare at all day).  Corteo is ultimately a celebration, a grand entertainment and, like all great art, enjoyed on many different levels.

Marking the 20th anniversary of its Los Angeles premiere, Cirque du Soleil has the marriage of circus and theatre down to an art... and a brand.  So, yes, there's the danger of Cirque overload, but if you haven't been lately or can't get enough, this incarnation is well worth a trip.  Innovatively presented, the audience is seated in two half circles with the stage in between.  And, as with all Cirque du Soleil performances, there's always something to watch... stage right, stage left, above and below... always something you've never seen before.

A cortege is a procession.  But what the production so vividly demonstrates is that life and death are not so straightforward.  The dying clown's visions play out in a dazzling variety of directions - gymnasts spin inside giant rings and swoop over high bars, acrobats fly through the air and do flips off a seesaw, a clown tightropes upside down, the stage revolves, a performer climbs a ladder to nowhere, angels descend and a midget floats just above our heads. 

Two minor quibbles:  First, having the ringmaster thank the sponsors was unsettling (Thankfully, no product placement... yet).  Second, all the other acrobats performed untethered above a net.  I'm assuming the tightrope walker could too.  And if she can't, then she's just another pretty girl tied to a cable.  (She could gut a tuna on a tightrope; if she's being held up by a tether, it's far less impressive.)

When all is said and done, though, the audience leaves with a rare sense of wonder.  Honestly, when is the last time you left a show or movie or sporting event amazed by what you had seen, or feeling that you should have stuck with juggling? 

An astonishing blend of grace, athleticism and choreography, the performance and the theme merge and the execution becomes the idea:  Life's procession draws us all inexorably forward.  Our one recourse is to defy the inevitable and steal off in our own direction - upside-down instead of onward, sommersaulting on the bed instead of sleeping, levity instead of gravity. 

Cirque du Soleil's Corteo is performing under the Grand Chapiteau (that's Canadian for Big Tent) at the Forum (yes, it's still there) through October 14th and then at the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center from November 8 through December 23.  For tickets to Los Angeles' Cirque du Soleil Corteo performance and/or more information please visit the website!

By Toby Muller