Cirque du Soleil, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, has placed the angel wings of “Corteo” at the Accor Arena in Paris Bercy (12th arrondissement) until Sunday. The show, imagined nineteen years ago, has attracted 10 million spectators around the world since its creation. It was designed for Arena. A successful curiosity, the placement of the stage in the middle of the room allows the audience, seated on either side, to be quite close to the artists. Too close even for the first rows in gold square. It is better to avoid the most expensive category, where it is difficult to see if you are seated behind a tall spectator.
From the stands, it’s majestic. The show weaves the story of a clown who imagines his funeral in a joyful carnival. Artists with white wings fly in the sky. A bed too. That of this clown with an Italian accent, who draws the common thread of his life. The greatest feats are seen in the air. Trapeze artists swing from chandeliers made of tassels and pearls. On the ground, acrobats leap onto beds with trampoline bases. They cross each other in their bounces, balancing on the headboards. It’s fresh and dynamic.
The multitude of artists – 53 in “Corteo” – gives an impression of joyful abundance. They sing, dance, cheer here for the clown, there for the gymnasts who twirl in a magnificent number on high bars, at the end of the show. The musicians, placed at the four corners of the stage, are dressed as the clown Auguste. They play the accordion, percussion, brass, and go on stage too. We remain suspended with the dwarf Grégory, who flies above the golden square thanks to four enormous transparent balloons. When his feet descend on the heads, hands rise to gently push him higher, further. The little man makes you smile with his reflections, his excuse of “traffic” when he arrives late.
No “wow” effect
But the moments of laughter are rare. However, laughter is part of the DNA of Cirque du Soleil, this Quebec company that has become the 2nd entertainment company in the world behind Disney, which cultivates the art of titillating our emotions, of making us dream through an enchanted, crazy world. . And that’s missing from this show. The Italian theater parenthesis, which attempts a caricature of “Romeo and Juliet”, does not work. It drags on and is very confusing, the artists speak at the same time, intersect in a strange confusion.
The whistler Gerardus Chatrou, who also plays Monsieur Loyal, excels and the musical accompaniment which consists of making glasses of water and salad bowls “sing” is quite successful. Just like swinging from hand to hand, on high boards. Five women throw their bodies like spinners, clinging to the hands of porters standing on planks. The crossovers are impeccable, 10 m high. The whole thing is beautifully crafted, but it lacks the great emotion, the “wow” of the sublime “Kurios”, which visited Paris a year ago.
“Corteo”, at the Accor Arena (XIIe), until Sunday, tickets from 52 euros.
