Cirque du Soleil unwraps a happy new holiday gift for family audiences with its ‘Twas the Night Before …, a cheerful high-performance show inspired by the venerable “A Visit From St. Nicholas” Christmas poem by Clement Clarke Moore.
Don’t expect to see any quaint “mama in her kerchief and I in my cap” kind of Victorian fantasy here at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater, however. ‘Twas the Night Before … is a modern-day Cirque event that expertly delivers an 80-minute barrage of acrobatic and aerial sequences staged in visually stylish circumstances.
The opening situation involves a dad trying to read the vintage poem to his tween daughter Isabella, who’s absorbed more by her iPad. Then an intervening snowstorm wafts Isabella off into a winter wonderland where she witnesses a dozen or so various, well, Cirque acts. These sequences are loosely drawn from excerpts of the poem, but there’s no need to know the source material to enjoy the show.
Although the stage’s proscenium frame proves somewhat limiting, aerial performances tend to predominate. Most notable among them: An incredibly lithe Katharine Arnold furiously whirls around and upside down within a spinning luggage cart suspended in midair. As Isabella’s moody dad, Alexis Vigneault coils the wire of a hanging light fixture around himself and rapidly spirals upwards into a poetic demonstration of high-flying physicality.
Impressive as well is the sharp precision of a neat diablo act—those yoyo-like thingies thrown around on string/stick implements—performed by Ming-En Chen, Tsung-Ying Lin, Ting-Chung Wang, and Chia-Hao Yu who even venture out into the audience to hurl their glowing orbs at each other from awesome distances.
Mischievous mirth arises during the two appearances by a six-member troupe of acrobats. First, dressed in fanciful striped onesies—James Lavoie designed the show’s glittery costumes—they ably tumble through some tabletop shenanigans. Later, sporting reindeer drag, they hurl themselves into a dandy hoop diving routine. So take a bow, fellas, you deserve it: Quentin Greco, Jacob Grégoire, Chauncey Kroner, Timothé Vincent, Jinge Wange, and Evan Tomlinson Weintraub.
A roller-blade duo, a juggling act, and a hula hoop performance are among other diversions, and the little kids sitting near me got very giggly when Francis Gadbois, an easygoing clown, imitated a kitty doing his business in an invisible litter box.
Directed by James Hadley, the production moves along quickly and fluently across Genevieve Lizotte’s setting of sparkling feather boas that is periodically drenched in vivid colors by Nicolas Brion’s lighting. The prerecorded orchestral music accompanying the acts involves dramatic variations on Christmas carols and holiday songs as handsomely crafted by Jean-Phi Goncalves.
All of these top-notch production elements serve very well to package and deliver the show as a dandy entertainment. And while it’s always nice to see a white Christmas, let’s further note that ‘Twas the Night Before … happens to be populated by a multicultural company of artists. So this lively attraction truly represents an inclusive holiday show for the family crowd.
‘Twas the Night Before… opened December 12, 2019, at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden and runs through December 29. Tickets and information: cirquedusoleil.com
