Another Step in the Fall

I have long held the belief that Cirque du Soleil is not Circus. They are fabulous performances, and I have never thought otherwise. Some of the shows are spectacular, if disconcerting. But they are not Circus, and I have always bristled when they try to describe themselves as such.

Now comes word that Laliberte and his "troupe of performers" will be producing a Michael Jackson-themed show. I find this distasteful on many levels, not the least of which is that Michael Jackson the man was not exactly an upstanding citizen. There were too many concerns about his emotional stability, his pedophilic interaction with children, and finally his death of a (possibly illegal) drug overdose. Not exactly someone I want to aspire to, and certainly not someone whose strange ways should continue to be idolized with "entertainment."

I think in the early days, Cirque was amazing. The history I've read shows an organization with a dream to provide intense, visually spectacular performances that took Circus a step further and showed the limits of the human body. Now, it just looks like they will do whatever makes a buck. No doubt millions of MJ fans will be buying very expensive tickets to these new Cirque productions (one is to be a traveling performance, the other on permanent location in Las Vegas).

I'll pass, thank you. Give me regular old Circus any day. I'm amazed enough by that.