La Nouba has an astonishing
set and a wonderful
fasttrack routine using a
chorus of ex-
Olympians that closes the show. (Fasttrack is a long, slender
trampoline, in this case in an
X shape, on which
acrobats run, jump, and
tumble. Unfortunately, La Nouba is
Cirque du Soleil at its worst--overblown,
pretentious, and
trite. The
theme (yet again) is "ordinary person's life is transformed by the
circus," and there are way too many
characters running around and posing on the stage without contributing to the show in a meaningful way. The
solo and
duo acts are generally weak, with the exception of the
chair-balancer from
Nouvelle Experience. Perhaps the strong final act and the excellent
chorus choreography throughout is an indication of a potential new direction for Cirque--rather than trying to create solo/duo acts with
choreographers and replaceable
performers, why not go back to hiring existing
circus performers and surround them with a top-notch chorus?