To cirque or not to cirque?
January 14, 2006 4:25 PM   Subscribe

I am going to Miami / Disney World in February with my lovely wife and parents, their treat. M.L.W. and I are thinking of getting tickets to Cirque du Soleil's "La Nouba" show as a way of saying thank you. Has anybody seen the show? Did it turn your life around? Was it worth the entry price? Is there some other, much more awesome show/comparable-activity in the Orlando (or even Miami) area we shoud take in instead?
posted by signal to Grab Bag (13 answers total)
 
( I don't know about La Nouba, but the revisited Peter Pan ride at Disney World was a complete stinker — looked like a high school theatre class did the set design! And Philharmajic was a GREAT ride! )
posted by silusGROK at 4:41 PM on January 14, 2006


I know this doesn't answer your question too much, but 2 things (1 somewhat related):

1) While all cirque shows are different, I saw Mystere in Vegas this past december and it was really, really cool. I can't imagine any of their shows being bad. I did hear, however, that Zumanity is kind of "adult themed" ... perhaps google for reviews of it? I think you pretty much can't go wrong with a cirque show though.. they're pretty damn nifty...

2) A totally unrelated but awesome thing I did last time I was in Miami was to go to the monkey jungle.. This probably is not a suggestion for a gift for your parents, but just an "oh, you're going to miami? check this out!" sort of thing. It was so much fun... If you like monkeys at all, you must go. It's reasonably cheap.
posted by twiggy at 4:42 PM on January 14, 2006


I saw "Cirque du Soliel: Veraki" in CT when the show was making stops at various cities and while it was "great", it wasn't "wow" and I felt like something was going to happen and it never did. A lot of people doing flips thru the air with really creative costumes.

I know nothing about Orlando really but we went to Islands of Adventure and had a blast. The 3D Spiderman ride was awesome and the Hulk roller coaster was also awesomely vomit-inducing, but in a good way.
posted by Makebusy7 at 5:20 PM on January 14, 2006


Yes, La Nouba is cool and worth the ticket price. I've never heard anyone come back from any Cirque du Soleil show disappointed. Also, to quote Patton Oswalt, "Cirque du Soleil is like catnip for old people." The parents will love it.

Orlando has some fancy restaurants and theme parks, but not much else.
posted by gaelenh at 5:48 PM on January 14, 2006


I saw La Nouba before it settled down in Orlando. Not the best Cirque show I've seen, but thoroughly, thoroughly entertaining - a really fun night of theatrical circus.
posted by Marquis at 6:24 PM on January 14, 2006


I've saw La Nouba in Orlando in 2002, and have seen 3 or 4 other Cirque shows since. The tickets are totally worth the price; I also don't know anyone who has been disappointed with that (or any other Cirque) show.
posted by istewart at 6:48 PM on January 14, 2006


La Nouba is great. You can purchase the tickets without hesitation.
However, Verakai, one of their travelling shows will be in Miami from Jan. 20 through Feb. 19.

My wife and I saw Verakai and it was awesome. Maybe a bit more exciting than La Nouba, though La Nouba has more of a story to it.

Basically, you can't go wrong with Cirque. I'm certain you'll all enjoy either one.
posted by oddman at 7:04 PM on January 14, 2006


Before I saw La Nouba, I heard two things: one, that Quidam on TV is as about as good as La Nouba live, and two, that people either love or hate Cirque - there is no inbetween.

So wrong.

Quidam on TV was better (to me) than La Nouba (and I'm easy to please with that kind of thing), and I was completely "eh" with the show. I didn't hate it, but I never need to have that experience again.

What I enjoyed about La Nouba was the first ten or so times a performer did something - something almost always breathtaking and magical. What I didn't like about La Nouba was the following eighty billion times the performer did the same thing, pausing forever between each execution to pose with Mary Lou Retton-arms and soak up the applause.

The pacing just felt terribly off, and I began to dread whatever cool thing was coming next, knowing I'd be seeing it again (pause, applause) and again (pause, applause) and again (pause, applause) and again (pause, applause) and againagainagainagaininfinity.

That said, I'm glad I tried it, and the odds are in your favour that your parents will have a great time.

(Be sure to try the Smart Watermelon soft drink at the Coca Cola place at Epcot!)
posted by Liffey at 8:03 PM on January 14, 2006


Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers, the final total is 4 "yeahs!" and 1 "meh", so we're probably going.
ANy further comments are welcome, of course.
posted by signal at 6:16 AM on January 15, 2006


I'll add one more "yeah!". I went last month with my family and everyone from my four-year-old daughter to my 60-year-old mother loved it.
posted by beautifulstuff at 7:12 AM on January 15, 2006


I saw La Nouba a few years back (almost exactly two, in fact) and enjoyed it, though I cannot tell you if it was worth the money - I was on a trade organization's dime. The trick bicycle work was pretty neat. The layout of the arena pretty good, sufficiently so that I don't know that there would be any BAD seats, which might help you fight off the sticker shock.

Personally I have now been to enough Cirque shows in my life I don't think I would open my wallet to the tune of almost a hundred bucks. But part of that is that I have a hard time bringing myself to spend $90 for an hour's entertainment. Your threshold for pain might be different. If you don't begrudge the amount in general I think you'll find it worth it.
posted by phearlez at 7:46 PM on January 15, 2006


Cirque shows have become something of a tradition for me and a friend - three shows in Boston and a four-night trip for the four residence shows in Las Vegas - and I have only once left feeling "meh" at the experience. If you're ever going to pay this kind of money for entertainment, this is the time.

Also, keep in mind that the difference in price between the "cheap" seats and the "expensive" ones is not worth quibbling about - it is definitely worth the premium to be sitting right under the performers to see how things work. Sitting anywhere in the audience is great, though - even "limited view" seats have been fine in my experience...
posted by whatzit at 2:58 PM on February 13, 2006


Response by poster: UPDATE: went, saw it, we all loved it, one of the highlights of the trip, even from the cheapest seats in the house. Highly recomended.
posted by signal at 8:42 AM on March 18, 2006


« Older I want to go to grad school   |   I don't pretend to be a unix or any kind of expert Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.