On This Magical Island, Women Rule ‘Amaluna,’ a Cirque du Soleil Extravaganza
Claudia la RoccoApril 3, 2014: Who among us, in a fit of desperation over losing his beloved to a giant lizard man, has not torn off his shirt and scaled a pole with the ease of a lemur — only to reach the top and find he has nowhere to go, but must hang there, devastated and batlike, to the moody vocalizing that surrounds him, as if in a dream? No? Anybody? It’s possible, then, that you won’t connect emotionally to Amaluna, the latest Cirque du Soleil extravaganza to roll into New York. This one, written and directed by the Tony Award-winning Diane Paulus (Pippin), has put down stakes in Citi Field, housed within its own sprawling encampment. Arriving by the No. 7 train, as I did on Tuesday evening, with a still-wintry sun descending into darkness, and walking across the expanse of concrete surrounding the large tent, is to feel as if you were entering another world — which is, of course, what Cirque du Soleil is all about. Who needs connection when you’ve got contortionists?
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