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Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy offers spectacle of color, lights, coordination at Fabulous Fox

By Stephen Russell
Special to TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com

Over the years, musical theater has provided a landscape for experimentation and adventure.  If it were not so, we’d still be watching nothing except Busby Berkley or Rodgers and Hammerstein.

But Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy, which has been hailed as a groundbreaking Broadway ‘first’ might illustrate a trend for the future, a future in which pure spectacle is combined with story line and music to provide a new entertainment venue. 

Even the promotions for the show point out that the production combines circus, Las Vegas and Broadway.

The result:  A spectacle of color, lights, coordination which offers a visual treat, albeit perhaps at the expense of the traditional ‘Broadway’ approach. 

There can be no denying that it is the color and the tremendous appeal of the circus acts, particularly some acts that will literally take your breath away. 

These performers are the true stars of the show, almost a reminder of what it was that made one remember why they wanted to run away to join a circus when they were younger. 

As noted, this is not a typical musical.  Perhaps a tip-off might be the reference to the blending of Las Vegas into the mix.  Does anyone really believe that Las Vegas shows are meant to be anything more than triumphs of pure entertainment and escapism? 

And, it is in this sense the Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy is most successful.

At the same time, there is a fantasy world  filled with some improbable characters prove to provide enjoyable stretches of imagination. 

This is a show that should also attract families, a fact that The Fabulous Fox undoubtedly recognized when it chose Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy to showcase its ‘Kids on Broadway’ (click here for details).