Cirque du Soleil's 'Bazzar' captures the company's original concept with new feats
'Bazzar' runs through Jan. 14 at the corner of U.S. 29 and Bruton Smith Boulevard, across from Charlotte Motor Speedway.
This review by longtime Charlotte arts critic Lawrence Toppman was published by The Charlotte Ledger on December 17, 2023. You can find out more about The Charlotte Ledger’s commitment to smart local news and information and sign up for our newsletter for free here.
Review: With dance-vibey ‘Bazzar,’ Cirque brings its stunt-filled, big-top thrill; A few tips to know before you go.
Awe-inspiring stunts are the hallmarks of Cirque du Soleil shows, like these two men who climb and cling to a thick wooden pole. (Photo courtesy of Cirque de Soleil)
by Lawrence Toppman
I first encountered Cirque du Soleil 36 years ago in the shadow of Santa Monica Pier. The company was making its first American appearances in Los Angeles after breaking ground in its native Canada, and the utterly charming show consisted of one ring filled with intimate, traditional circus acts.
I’ve seen Cirque many times since, including the spectacular water-themed “O” in Las Vegas. Yet not until Saturday night, when the striped big top opened in a parking lot across from Charlotte Motor Speedway, did I feel the same thrill. “Bazzar” (a play on “bazaar”) revamps the original concept: Acrobats and contortionists and balancing acts and fire juggling, all of it close-up and engaging. It’s like watching a magic show where every performer makes a card disappear instead of an elephant.
There’s a master of ceremonies, as always, in this case a talkative guy who uses up a lot of the 105-minute running time in banter and audience participation. There’s a thread of connecting plot tissue: People wrangle for control of a magical hat that keeps getting lost or broken.
There’s a pulsating three-piece band, fronted by a guy who plays (if I saw correctly) anything from flute to guitar to baritone sax. A tireless vocalist sings through most of the show, often in wordless descants, both in Enya’s dreamworld mode and Nancy Wilson’s belt-from-the-gut style for Heart. The whole show has a dance vibe I don't usually associate with Cirque.
Yet the athletes, unnamed in the program as usual, shine brightest when the silliness stops and we watch three women pretzel themselves into impossible positions, or a roller-skating couple whirl around a tiny circular platform at super-speed. (That’s the closest the show comes to danger, which is fine; I never take to Cirque feats that look like they’ll break bodies if they go awry.)
Many of the performances unfold slowly, especially the aerial work on a rope, an elastic cord and a single trapeze occupied by a playful couple. One routine consists of two guys climbing and clinging to a thick wooden pole in odd attitudes, which sounds snoozy but isn’t: It ends with them both upside-down, in the painful-seeming position of The Hanged Man from a tarot deck.
We usually have time to appreciate not only the beauty of the endeavors but the effort required to bring them off. The roller-skating guy spinning his partner with her head a foot above the ground wore a stare of ferocious concentration such as I’ve seldom seen. She, meanwhile, smiled in that circus-y “look what fun this is” way.
There were a couple of flubs Saturday … or were there? I hope so, as that humanizes the performers. A guy juggling silver clubs dropped one when he got to five; his reward was a sixth brought out from the wings, and he handled six flawlessly. One high-bouncing guy on the teeterboard landed and rolled backwards with, I thought, a surprised look on his face. Comic effect? Maybe. If not, it reminds us how tremendous the successful feats really are.
Three practical things to think about, if you go. First, you may be a long time getting in and out of the parking lot; leave time to avoid traffic headed to the speedway’s Christmas display or Concord Mills Mall nearby. Second, food and drink are grotesquely expensive: I paid $15 for a bottle of water plus a room-temperature “hot” pretzel made from bread so stale I wouldn’t feed it to ducks at Freedom Park.
Third, and most crucial, you may need your jacket inside the Big Top, which is heated but not all that warm. You will certainly want it at intermission if you go to the portable toilets outside in the parking lot, which are the only restrooms. You have almost half an hour, so wait until the lines don’t look like pre-holiday screening queues at the airport.
➡️If You’re Going: “Bazzar” runs through Jan. 14 at the corner of U.S. 29 and Bruton Smith Boulevard, across from Charlotte Motor Speedway. Enter the parking lot off Smith Boulevard at ZMax Dragway. Tickets cost $36 to $106, with discounts for kids, and you can upgrade your seats at intermission.
Lawrence Toppman covered the arts for 40 years at The Charlotte Observer before retiring in 2020. Now, he’s back in the critic’s chair for the Charlotte Ledger — look for his reviews about two times each month in the Ledger.
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