IRIS review and Analysis

[Hamilton22]

Posted: 8/28/15 at 4:00pm

Since we all have shows we love so much  (Hamilton, Hedwig)  I would like to discuss my love for Cirque's LA production of Iris.

 

In Honor of Paramour coming to Broadway.

 

IRIS was a highly ambitious production. I lived in LA during that time and was able to see the original production twice (before they cut it to 90 minutes).  It's probably cirque's most artistically creative show to date and certainly put cirque on a whole new level.

 

 

The show opens with our lovesick hero 'Buster'. He's sweeping his broom on a large and lonely stage where a Piano sits next to him. He plays the piano and suddenly we our ushered in with jazz musical dancers, gamblers, long legged women, Cyr wheel and German wheel Artists and a company of artists giving us a sample of the roaring twenties. 

 

It is during this opening number where  Buster sees Scarlett for the first time. Scarlett is an actress who longs to be a Movie star. The 2 star-crossed lovers then are hurled on a journey through reality and the world of cinema.

 

As Buster goes on this journey through the world of Cinema to find his love, 2 Aerial twins ascend into the  air  in an aerial ballet. The Atherton twins's straps act was thrilling.  It really put the energy in the room for the rest of Act 1

 

After the Atherton twins leave the stage, we are met with a silhouette of a beautiful woman. It is Scarlett. As she motions with her hands for someone to come find her, she disappears and the stage is now flooded with African rhythmic style dancers as a  tableau of a second group of dancers swarm the stage and dance around  a wide platform that looks  to be a film canister. 

It's here where 4 contortionists jerk and twist there bodies in a rapid fire performance as the screen in back of them makes a kaleidoscope of their movements that scientifically symbolize the conversion and transfiguration of light and sound that goes  into making films. 

Admittedly, I'v never had much interest for contortion acts, but this one was by far the best I have ever seen. The contortionists are so precise and the movements are so fast. The 4 girls combined with the movement dancers on the floor act as a machine and it's a thrilling combination. I'm certainly a fan of this contortion piece. 

 

As the smallest contortionist finishes her final skill and is met with a huge applause, the show takes a different turn and is met with comedy by 3 film producers (the clowns) and their assistant. The clown act sets up the hurdle that Scarlett will have to overcome if she wants to be a real star. Their banter goes on for about 4 minutes and then we are rushed back into the world of Cinema with a duo hand to hand act.

 

2 males and 2 females do an athletic and intricate  Hand to Hand number  that turns into the 2 women being flipped and thrown to each man as stop motion projections follow the performer's every move. 

 

 

After the final move of the hand to hand artists, the stage goes dark until we see a giant circled machine decorated with lights on it,  rising up from the stage.  Attached is a giant  film strip with actual performers inside.

 

It's here where Buster continues to find his beloved Scarlett. Performers in look-a-like scarlet and buster costumes, appear and waltz in the air as 7 women and 7 men enter the human film strip and perform a choreographed dance  trying to find one another ( the theme of Buster and Scarlett). Each couple does the same dance but at different counts to capture the illusion of continuous movement. This scene was met with a huge applause when the couples started dancing in the strip. 

 

The film strip sequence was the highlight of the first act for me. It was Definitely one of the most innovative and surreal creations  ever put on a cirque stage. 

After the couples leave the film strip, the clown producers come back and perform more banter and then we our graced  with the act one finale: A group of 12 Icarian acrobats flipping  each other on their feet and are doing  the most complicated Icarian act I have ever seen. 

While I did understand that the Icarian costumes were inspired by Georges Méliès films, I think that particular fact was lost on the audience and therefore, they didn't understand the significance of the act. 

 

Right before the act is done, Scarlett enters the stage and the producer has news that she will be in the new film and her dreams of becoming a Movie star will become a reality.  Buster watches her excitement from across the stage. Scarlett notices Buster and the 2 meet in the middle of the stage ( in Tony and Maria dance at the gym fashion). They are about to kiss until the producer cuts them off and barks at Scarlett to come with him so they can talk about the film. Scarlett obeys and  Buster leaves the stage dejected. 

 

 

Act 2 opens and the stage has been transformed into a huge movie set. A giant video feed is in the middle of the stage and shows Scarlett backstage in all her glitz and glammer making her way up to the stage to film her movie. The video feed shows newspaper after newspaper of Scarlett's face. She's a star.

 

As she makes it up to the movie set, her producer tells her he wanted to get her the best screenwriter in the business. They perform different scenes ( a car chase, an alien space voyage) until the director calls action and the entire company comes onto the stage and  they all do a variety of disciplines in classic film set chaos. Artists on Russian bar jump in the air as teeterboard artists flip through the air while aerial rope artists are swinging in the air. Most ( if not the entire cast) is onstage and performs a big company dance. Buster has joined in also but scarlett runs off before he has a chance to talk to her. 

 

The Movie chaos scene was a stunning combination of the best of cirque and the best of Broadway. A perfect marriage that I hope we see again in Paramour. 

 

The company disperses as Buster and 5 men with brooms ascend the stage cleaning everything up. From Above, a woman on a solo trapeze sits. While Buster sweeps he makes contact with the beauty on the solo trapeze. It is Scarlett! Or at least he thinks it is. Buster's dream takes full effect as the woman he thinks is scarlett does a beautiful solo trapeze number as Buster dances with his broom below her. This dream ballet was very emotional proved itself to be the very definition of theatrical poetry. 

 

 

The performers disappear as another clown act starts. The clown act is a parody of the academy awards. The act is somewhat funny but goes on a bit too long. It was around 11 minutes when i saw it.

 

After the clown act is over, a beautiful scene called "Noir" takes place as we see a sequence from the black and white film era with silhouettes of people in windows.

 

 

The black and white sequence is followed by a rooftop gangster fight. As gamblers jump on trampolines and fight the other gang while flipping off  platforms and landing on trampolines. There's about 10 trampolinists in this number. Buster appears in this act, most likely searching for Scarlett. 

Think of watching West Side Story on a good amount of drugs.

The scene dissolves after about 8 minutes and Buster calls out for Scarlett. Scarlett appears. The two embrace and hug but suddenly Buster has fallen to the ground, possibly shot. Scarlett does a beautiful hand balancing number symbolizing her love for him. The 2 embrace again and commit to one another and run off with each other. Buster has found his love.

The show ends in celebration as bungee acrobats flip above the audiences as the company comes back and does a final ballet-like dance.

 

I think the reason I  keep coming back to this show, is because it was so different from what Cirque has ever done before. It was a beautiful combination of classic cirque mixed with the the  theatricality of Broadway with a splash of technical achievement that would rival shows like "O". It was an almost perfect marriage. 

 

I'd also like to commend the smartness of this production. It didn't pander to the Hollywood common denominator (Which ironically, might be why it closed). It wasn't a show about Hollywood films. It was a show  about the technological science that made films possible, and the artistry of storytelling that have made films in general so needed in our world.

 

While Iris wasn't completely perfect, you can't help but admire the bras ambitiousness of it.  The cast of 75 put cirque on a whole new level of theatricality that utilized science, Theatre, Circus,art and blended it in a harmonious fashion that will remain in out hearts. 

Updated On: 8/28/15 at 04:00 PM