Cirque du SoDamn That Was Expensive

It is a classic American scene where a family leaves the circus. The dad is carrying an exhausted child to the car. The child hugs his father gently letting his father know how much he loved the show and how much he loved his Dad for making the magical night possible.

I’m a sucker for a good show of almost any kind.  TV, Movie, Play, Musical, Concert or Lecture it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s entertaining.  Like most 40-somethings with teen and pre-teen kids we don’t get to go to as many events as we would like.  It is getting a little better as the kids get older.  But going out to a show is still an undertaking.  It’s partly due to money.  I mean dang.  Shows are expensive.  We went to see Cirque du Soleil the other night and the show including a modest dinner came in just under $400 for the family.  That seems like a lot of scratch.  My car payment isn’t even $400 bucks.  I wonder if I go to see Cirque 60 times they would give me a car, probably not.  Good thing we didn’t pay $30 for a crappy t-shirt or we may have had to walk home.

More than money the bigger obstacle to going out is a simple lack of time.  Case in point, Saturday before we went to the show we had already attended, alone or in tandem, 1-Rowing Practice, 1-Soccer Game and a 3 hour long baseball game (I’ll rant about that some other time).  In between I hauled my mower to a repair shop and picked up my wife’s van after returning a truck I had borrowed from across town and my wife treated herself to a mani-pedi and hit the grocery store.  For us to even make it to the Cirque show took some friggin effort.  Lesser beings would have just said screw it and crawled into bed.  But my wife and I are not lesser humans.  We are Over-Scheduled Poet Warriors fighting in an epic struggle to squeeze every single ounce of peace and tranquility out of this temporary saga we call parental life and just in case you were wondering We Are Crushing It!   

Shelli and I have always wanted to see Cirque du Soleil.  We aren’t regularly in Vegas and by regularly I mean ever so when we saw their Michael Jackson Tribute show was coming to the local coliseum we decided to go and take the kiddos. Because, seriously, nothing screams family night like watching a singing and dancing tribute to the music of an infamous pedophile.  The irony of this had evaded me until the opening number of the show. 

Note to show producers – I am as socially tone deaf as the next man.  Hell, I’ve been known to ask women when they are due whether or not I know they are pregnant.  But even I know that opening the show with a voiceover of Michael Jackson talking about his love of children was just plain inappropriate and cosmically creepy to say the least.  WTH?  I mean good Lord.  What is Cirque working on next?

* Hebrew Tribute to Hitler

* Chappaquiddick – A Water Ballet in ¾ Time

* Keanu Reeves – An Actor’s Actor

See, these are all ridiculous.  Not quite as ridiculous as spending $400 on what is essentially a Circus and not even get a bag of $14 cotton candy. 

A few other observations from the show:

• A helluva lot more people were drunk at Cirque du Soleil than I would have expected.
• It was just too loud and no I’m not old.  My kids even thought so.
• If you get a chance to go sit center stage.  Side view made it tough to see. IMO
• Apparently Michael Jackson recorded a couple of albums after BAD.  Who knew?
• Technically the show was unbelievable.  They melded recorded vocals with live instruments and back-up vocals flawlessly. 
• The simplicity of a 10 year old MJ singing “I’ll Be There” was easily the most impressive musical moment in the show.  It is easy to forget before he got all freaked out that he was as awesome a child singer as there ever was.
• Regardless of what you may or may not think of MJ his musical body of work is at the very least impressive.
• The dedication and talent of the cast to their respective crafts is impressive.  The level of performances was undeniable. Dancers, Acrobats, Robots, One-Legged Break Dancers and Monkey Impersonators alike were awesome.

As we headed to the car I thought of that quintessential family I mentioned in the opening paragraph. Then there was my family leaving the Cirque du Soleil Michael Jackson Tribute. My 11 year old danced frenetically all the way to the car stopping occasionally to spin around, grab his crotch and scream.  Then he passed out in the van and drooled all the way home. Hey for memories like that $400 is a bargain.  College isn't that expensive anyway.