The New York Times: Cirque du Soleil’s first Broadway venture, “Paramour,” is off to an unusually strong start at the box office, drawing large crowds to see this musical-theater-meets-acrobatics spectacle at the cavernous Lyric Theater.
The show, about a love triangle set in Hollywood’s golden age, grossed just over $1 million for six performances last week, as it begins a long period of previews building toward a scheduled opening on May 25.
2 comments:
This new venture by Cirque du Soleil is very unique and atypical, factors that I would imagine are working strongly in its favor. The novelty of the concept carries with it many opportunities for unusual approaches to musical theater. I am interested to hear if the performance remains truer to Cirque du Soleil's roots of acrobatics and feats of physical technicality, or if there is a substantial amount of emphasis placed on song and theatricality in a more classic sense. It will also be interesting to hear if this initial burst of success carries through, or if it is simply the shock value produced by the combination of the Cirque du Soleil name and Broadway that has yielded such successful preview numbers. For the most part, it seems that Cirque du Soleil has the formula for a successful show down. The challenges, however, of catering to a Broadway audience should prove an interesting set of obstacles for the company.
Paramour looks like a really awesome show. I am excited to see what Cirque du Soleil’s unique storytelling strategies can bring to the table. Especially in a Broadway environment that has played the same kind of plays for so long now. Hamilton being an exception and Paramour as well could hopefully signal that audiences are ready for diversity in their theatre going experience rather than going back again and again for a new spin on last year’s musical. Who knows really but even if that doesn’t happen it seems like we’ll still be seeing Hamilton and Paramour for a long time to come. Something I am excited about and both shows that I can’t wait to see in person. I just hope I get to them before the original cast abandons the show for something new. Unless of course that show is actually something new and we can create a whole other genre of Broadway shows.
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