Sometimes, if something playing live is too intriguing to ignore, I have to depart from the screen to the stage. This week’s column is a case in point.
When Cirque du Soleil began their groundbreaking reimagining of circus in the 80’s and their popularity spread, the Canadian brainchild of Guy Laliberte and Giles Ste-Croix was hailed as the contemporary circus that it remains known as today. I have seen many a Cirque show, each one singular, big, intricately thought out, impressive, magical, and flashy. But sometimes, to my mind, the scale of the production, the effects, the sheer magnitude of people in both attendance and on stage, obliterate the intimacy that is possible between an audience and a smaller number of performers.
Enter Les 7 doigts de la main (The 7 fingers of the hand), and their dreamlike mélange of choreography, music, circus, and food, and you have Cuisine and Confessions. Formed as an offshoot of Cirque du Soleil, they are a circus company built on a human scale. But no small potatoes either as they have produced a dozen shows with over 4200 performances to date, including the musical Pippin on Broadway, the long-running hits Traces, and the off-Broadway cabaret Queen of the Night.
Of course there is nothing like food to bring people together. And in Cuisine and Confessions, Les 7 doigts de la main bring their signature blend of incredibly acrobatic, madcap choreography, music, circus skills and aesthetics to celebrate and pay homage to the performers first person memories of their lives through food. In fact as I understand it, you leave the theater with a serving of freshly baked banana bread in hand.
In the teaser below you can see firsthand why Cuisine and Confessions is hailed as thrilling and dreamlike, with “the touch of hands in batter, the smell of cookies baking, the taste of roasted oregano, leading us through a span of times and countries, (with) all the while a kitchen as our common meeting point.” Les 7 doigts de la main’s Cuisine and Confessions has only 4 performances (February 16-18) currently playing in Los Angeles at the wonderfully ample yet intimate Broad Stage.
You can find tickets and further info at http://bit.ly/2aR77Io
And remember to save room for dessert.