Corteo @ SBC Park (San Francisco) 11/13/05

"Corteo, which means cortege in Italian, is a joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown"

This new Cirque du Soleil show rolled into San Francisco this Friday. It is as per usual a mix of acrobatics and antics largely inspired from circus numbers. It was performed in semi-Italian (mostly jibberish) with supporting music as outlandish as ever. I think you either love or hate it. I wish I took some pics of the acts but it was so thrilling (really) I could hardly take my eyes off the stage (also you're not supposed to take pictures)

They've been on tour in their native Canada but we definitely saw some misteps (hopefully they get the routine down cuz accidents are scary). Some cool tricks, some weak ones. I was disappointed with the finale although it was neat how the stage rotated. In fact the setup with a walkway dividing the audience on each side around the circular stage was very innovative. The little people were all kinds of freaky (David Lynch style)

Favorites: chandelier chicks at the beginning, guys on huge rings, one girl hanging off two long pieces of fabric, little woman on balloon, ribbons and rings (what was up with the chicken?), thowing swinging people

Lame: guys jumping on see saw, theater skit, juggling


I'm not sure it was worth the $92 but it's cool to check out something different. This was the closest I ever sat at one of these shows (5th row). My favorite shows to date remain Dralion (my first) and O (and I had crappy seats)

Local tour dates
San Francisco - Nov. 11 to Jan. 8
San Jose - Jan. 19 to Mar. 5
Tickets range from $45 to $85 (+ about $10 service charge), $200 if you wanna do it VIP

Nice shots from mjemirzian (Toronto show)