Cirque du Soleil: Crystal

Crystal is currently playing at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore for just a few shows through Sunday, July 8, 2018. Buy tickets here.

It should come as no surprise that we’re huge fans of Cirque du Soleil here at Roarbots HQ. The number of different shows we’ve seen is somewhere around 15, and we had the privilege of touring the international headquarters in Montreal. (Check out our reviews of Varekai, Paramour, Toruk: The First Flight, La Nouba, and Dralion + backstage tour!)

With every new show, we inevitably go into it thinking, “How different could it possibly be?” We should know better by now. Though many shows (especially the traveling shows) have significant similarities, each is wholly unique and incomparable.

As the company’s first show performed entirely on ice, Crystal is certainly no exception.

Some shows are all about the artistry of jaw-dropping acrobats, some are pure theatrical spectacle, and some focus on music with only a relative dash of acrobatics.

Crystal, ironically, is a bit of all of them. It defies easy classification within the existing Cirque du Soleil brand. It boasts its fair share of stunning acrobatics, yet it’s also highly theatrical with plenty of elements that are pure spectacle. And the musical accompaniment is a stark departure from all previous shows.

Cirque du Soleil built its name by being unique. Equal parts imaginative and experimental, audiences go to their shows expecting the unexpected. In recent years, however, the company hasn’t been shy about branching out and experimenting with entirely new forms of storytelling and performance methods. Most notably (and most recently), they’ve built a show around a single movie (Toruk) and they’ve taken Broadway by storm with an entirely new kind of musical (Paramour).

Crystal takes the show on ice – a theatrical venue previously reserved for more gimmicky, low-tech productions such as Disney on Ice. Whereas shows like Disney on Ice or figure skating performances use the ice as a primary storytelling tool (it’s the reason for those shows’ very existence), Crystal uses the ice as a mere starting point.

It’s not a gimmick, and it’s never used for cheap tricks. The ice is part of the scenery that the performers interact with and take advantage of. It’s an obstacle to overcome, and it becomes part of the show only when it needs to be.

For much of the show, you might even forget that it’s taking place on ice. Such is the magic of Cirque du Soleil: you completely buy into the idea that the performers can be nearly free of the constraints of friction.

Crystal incorporates narration to tell the story of the titular protagonist. We follow Crystal (the girl) as she grows from a misunderstood, bullied loner into an empowered individual with the power to create entire worlds from her imagination.

Feeling out of place in her everyday life, she ventures out to the middle of a frozen pond. After falling through the ice, she finds a distorted mirror version of herself and her life. It’s not until she finds the creative power within herself to wield words (via a pen and typewriter) that she gains the courage to fight her way back above the ice and face reality.

Storywise, imagine a mashup of Alice and Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz written by Franz Kafka, and you’re close.

Since the show is set on a sheet of ice, many of the standard Cirque du Soleil acts would be impossible. The challenge of Crystal was finding new and inventive ways to stay true to the brand’s style, despite that.

That being said, many of the acts highlight the amazing artistry of the skating performers. Crystal has moments of spectacle and acrobatics (particularly the acts that incorporate the trapeze and aerial straps), but this is primarily a show about art, artistry, and finesse.

Musically, the show is also a huge departure. Whereas most Cirque du Soleil shows (both resident and traveling) have a live band playing the music, Crystal primarily uses a prerecorded soundtrack (though there is a klezmer quartet that occasionally accentuates the soundtrack).

Even more of a departure is the inclusion of covers and remixes of familiar pop songs. The songs were redone (or covered) in a way so they match the traditional Cirque du Soleil house style, and for the most part, they work. But their familiarity does take you out of the show a bit. Songs include remixes of Sia’s “Chandelier” and Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman,” and covers of Beyonce’s “Halo” and U2’s “Beautiful Day.”

This isn’t entirely out of character for Cirque du Soleil since both Michael Jackson One and The Beatles LOVE, obviously, use familiar songs. But this is the first time well-known pop songs were specifically recorded and remixed with Cirque du Soleil’s signature-style music.

Crystal is a fresh new direction for the company, and it’s thrilling to see that, even 30-some years on, they’re still finding new and inventive ways to surprise us.

Crystal is in Baltimore through this weekend and then moves south to Florida and the Carolinas before traveling across the country for the rest of the year. Check here for cities, dates, and tickets.