Blog du Wren

Subtleties of the Show

I watch a lot of vaudeville/circus acts in a given year–Cirque du Soleil, Vaudevillingham, etc. In most cases, they are new to me, if not in content, at least in arrangement. Traveling with the circus, I get to see more than a few shows. While the content varies some from show to show, there are also a lot of repeated acts.

Don't get me wrong, seeing repeat acts isn't a bad thing. In fact, it lends a new light on the whole performance process. Seeing the subtle difference in timing on jokes, order of tricks, combined with other variables (weather (for outdoor shows), sound set-ups, etc.) make for each show being different enough that it stays interesting.

Yep, I saw the Flying Karamazov perform in at least 7 shows, and from each one I saw something new, understood a joke in a new way, or learned which jokes are improvised, etc. Not only did I not get burned out, I would welcome watching them, or any of our other performers, do their act 10 more times. Knowing that no two performances is quite the same makes me that much more excited to go out and see some more. Who knows, maybe I'll even get out on the stage myself someday.

Monday July 5 2010

File under: circus

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on Wed 21st Jul, 2010 01:41 pm PDT Nancy said:
Nice comments, Wren. Since 1978 I cannot count how many hundreds of times I've seen the Karamazovs, (nor how many different configurations of Karamazov Brothers, official and not), and they never fail to amaze and amuse me. When no two performances are ever the same, it's a great education to observe all the finer points.
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