Cirque du Soleil has become somewhat of a holiday tradition. Some people do the nutcracker, but for my friend, Michela, and me, heading over to the pacbell park parking lot is the ticket. This year’s visiting production, “Corteo” was definitely not a disappointment. Despite the subject matter being the death of a clown, the music and tone was anything but somber.

There were some interesting musical highlights to this performance. One scene featured musical water glasses as part of the arrangement. When amplified through the tent the water glass tones created this fantastic ambient texture. The other impressive performance was a whistling virtuoso whose range rivaled a soprano playing the role of Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte. It was quite amazing to see someone whistle at such a high pitch with such control over dynamics.

This kind of performance is about spectacle, but it would be trite without the interesting musical compositions. I’m not one of those people who will go on raving about the music, playing the CD all of the time, but in the context of performance, it really is fantastic. As a gift at the end of the show, we were given copies of the “Delirium” Dance Remix CD which features cirque compositions remixed by the greats like Lil Louie Vega, Roger S, Sasha & Tiësto! It’s quite good.

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