Cirque du Soleil's ‘Volta’ at Hard Rock Stadium will flip you out
No matter what Cirque du Soleil show I see, it’s always the same: I am blown away by the acrobatics, dazzled by the visuals and only peripherally aware of the story being told.
That is the case with “Volta,” now in an eightweek run at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. This show mixes extreme sports such as BMX riding, bungee jumping and parkour into the usual milieu of work with trapeze, juggling, contortion, tumbling and Swiss rings.
It’s admirable that the creative team at Cirque du Soleil try to weave a tale into their human-circus shows, giving the entire franchise (22 shows currently up and running) a design theme and a signature theatrical topspin. They could just show up all shiny and glistening, with their bendy-stretchy bodies flying through the air and backflipping around the stage, and it would probably still be one hell of a performance.
Still, you might need to know going in that the production is centered on a character named Waz, a game-show host on the wildly popular “Quid Pro Quo” TV program. Off air and in private, Waz is haunted by his childhood, when he was taunted for having blue feathers instead of hair. The population of this fantasy world is divided into three classes. The Greys are the everyman, walking in formation and engrossed in their smartphones. The Greys live for Waz’s show, hoping for instant celebrity if they can win the talent contest. Those who triumph on the show are elevated to Elite class, and get to wear metallic, neo-Baroque costumes. On the fringes are the Free Spirits, a group of open-minded, life-loving travelers who give Waz the confidence to be his true self and to rock those turquoise tresses.
That’s on a lofty level. Here’s what really happened.
8:09 p.m. The television pre-show starts, where it is decided who will appear on tonight’s episode. A few Greys appeal to different sections of the audience to root for them as they compete doing a few flips and handstands. One poor contestant’s less-than-steller act gets a withering comment from the emcee, “It didn’t blow my mind, but it certainly blew.” The 6- and 5-year-olds sitting in front of me and my husband, Gary, seem to think this is the funniest line — ever! They are still giggling long after everyone else has moved on.
8:15-8:17 p.m. Waz is having a flashback, which is shown to us through video, of him cutting his blue feathers off his head as a child. The kids in front of us aren’t laughing anymore. Trauma trumps everything.
8:18 p.m “Quid Pro Quo” starts its broadcast with some choreography straight out of “Solid Gold.” I say as much to Gary, who replies, “No one here is old enough to remember ‘Solid Gold.’ ” He’s right. I no longer feel so bad about the translation of trauma a minute ago.
8:27-8:30 p.m. The Greys execute some precision walking choreography and a woman comes out roller skating. A bald dude starts singing and sounds a lot like Sting (maybe from the “Brand New Day” period). A guy comes wheeling out on a unicycle. I’ve lost the story. I’m just trying to keep up at this point.
8:30-8:35 p.m. The unicycle man is balancing a woman on his head as he whirls around the circular stage. She is doing all kinds of splits and contortion moves in the air. Gary says, “You can really see the athleticism because everyone is so close to the stage.” He glances at my notepad, which is his way of saying, “Write that down. I’m giving you gold here about the intimacy of the performance space that seats 2,500 in the round.”
8:41 p.m. The stage begins to break apart as three hydraulic lifts raise up parts of the stage floor. The Free Spirits bound onstage and begin doing some free-running/parkour moves, crisscrossing one another in midair flips and jumps. Then, there’s a guy bouncing around on a high wire 30 feet above us with no safety net. Every time one of the Free Spirits lands a gymnastic trick, they thrust their chests out, splay their hands out from their hips “Gladiator” style, as if to say, “Are you not entertained?” Gary says, to no one in particular, “No body fat.”
8:54 p.m. Enya is back, and this time she has a violin, so you know whatever is about to happen is going to be melancholy as all hell. We’re back in Waz’s dressing room, which I’m beginning to think is his apartment, because he starts watching 8 mm movies (who has a home-video projector in their dressing room, aside from Matt Lauer?).
8:56 p.m. The Free Spirits are back. I don’t know how they do it. They must be exhausted from so much “free spiriting,” which is always a hyper gymnastic thing when it comes to Cirque. This time, they twist, swivel and sway on Swiss rings. Out of nowhere, two of them drop from the catwalk high above cords and begin bouncing around between the men on the Swiss rings. “You can really see the abs,” Gary says. Somehow, I know he isn’t talking about me. 9:10 p.m. Intermission. 9:40 p.m. The show resumes. Waz wonders around. Two articulated ladders appear (the scene transitions in “Volta” are seamless), and two of the performers climb up and begin executing acrobatic figures, showing incredible strength. I begin to wonder how these athletes discovered they could do these feats when the Free Spirits begin stacking octagonal hoops and jumping through them — sometimes headfirst, sometimes feet first — and tumbling around the stage.
9:59 p.m. OK, this is the part where I felt like I was in a Fellini film. Shood Kood Wood returns to do a comedy bit where he’s in a jungle and comes upon a tropical plant. So, of course, he eats the plant and begins to — and mind you, he is acting this all out in mime — trip balls, rubbing his body in ecstasy.
10:06 p.m. A woman sits cross-legged on a cushion. Her hair is attached to a cord stretching to the top of the tent. Gary leans over and whispers, “Talk about a topknot.” She is then levitated by the chord and begins swinging above us suspended by what appears to be her hair. The crowd goes bonkers.
10:24 p.m. It’s the big BMX finale. Ramps are quickly assembled onstage (the transitions are truly impressive), and five riders begin executing bike tricks.
10:30 p.m. The crowd loses it. The cast and their abs take well-deserved bows.
Cirque du Soleil’s “Volta” runs through Feb. 4 at Hard Rock Stadium (in a big top across the street), 347 Don Shula Drive, in Miami Gardens. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; 4:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays; and 1:30 p.m. matinees Sundays. On Saturday, Dec. 30, there is only a 1 p.m. matinee. Tickets cost $40-$295 (a behind-the-scenes package on Dec. 22 and Dec. 29 costs $495). To order, call 877-924-7783 or go to CirqueDuSoleil.com/Volta.