I’d always heard of Cirque Du Soleil (“Circus of the Sun”), and I’d seen snippets of their work through the years, but I’d never seen one of their shows up close and personal. So I was delighted to gain free access to a local performance, compliments of VetTix, especially since the production, Songblazers, was built around country music. Sure enough, they supplied fantabulous staging and acrobats to cover such hits as

All My Ex’s Live in Texas

As I Go Down to the River to Pray

Will the Circle Be Unbroken?

Achy Breaky Heart

Red Solo Cup

Hello Walls

I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

Man! I Feel Like a Woman (Alas, they felt the need to stage this one PG-13.)

I’d not seen anything like it, except maybe a Ringling Brothers performance we took in back in the 1970s in the old International Amphitheater (demolished in 1999) on Chicago’s South Side. This particular act involved Italians who, one at a time went airborne (thanks to a launch from a big teeter-totter) and landed, standing, on the shoulders of the previous launchee. I think they stacked five-high, with the poor guy on the ground shuffling his feet to keep the wobbly tower of humanity upright. Unbelievable.

And there were unbelievables in this Cirque production, most notably the young lady who rocketed off a narrow bouncy beam planted on the shoulders of two guys. I think she did her flips as much as twenty feet up in the air before landing on that flexy rail below. And kudos go to the guy who juggled a dozen plastic cups and the crew who did crazy jump rope stuff (including jump-ropings within jump-ropings).

The ever-changing set was an engineering and costuming tour de force (Yes, I’m picking up on the French, which you see in the title, tied to the company’s Montreal roots.) In this shot, you can make out the barn outline familiar on the Grand Ole Opry set; a train front with a guitar player on the cow-catcher (cf. Roy Acuff’s “Wabash Cannonball,” Josh Turner’s “Long Black Train,” Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” [“I hear that train a-comin’, it’s rolling ‘round the bend . . . .”], etc. etc.); and a big longhorn walking across the stage. (Well, not a real one, but an amazing rig, operated by two black-clad figures, whose legs you can see underneath.)

The whole thing ran about two hours, and, as I said in my grateful feedback to Vettix, it was “dazzling.”

That being said, there was something a little disconcerting about the enterprise—the juxtaposition of European-feel theatrics and good-ole-boy country music. Maybe something like putting chocolate ice cream on apple pie. But, hey, a little fusion can be arresting.

During the intermission, I talked to the crew at the control booth at the back of the hall. I’d assumed that the singing and instrumental work was pre-recorded and that the performers were pantomiming and simulating. But no, it was live, with some good help from Nashville musicians. Yep, they were all mic’d up, gittin ‘er done right before our eyes and ears. And not a few of the musicians were quite athletic, choreographed as befitted the circus. Wow!

I see from the back of T-shirts on sale that, from its premier in Nashville, it’s schedule for a run through Texas (Sugar Land, San Antonio, and Dallas) and then on to New Orleans, Birmingham, St. Louis, Tulsa, and Fayetteville (AR).