Cirque du Soleil – TOTEM
Performing Arts
FUKUOKA BIG TOP
Fukuoka-shi, 愛知県 〒812-0054
Japan
We walked to TOTEM.
We took an express bus from downtown Los Angeles, which we were dropped off at Harbor & 1st Street in San Pedro, thinking this was at the Port of Los Angeles nearby. TOTEM is not at the Port of Los Angeles, as indicted on Yelp. In fact, the Port of Los Angeles security guard at the front had a lot of confused Yelpers stopping by before we even came to the front.
She asked: “You seeing TOTEM? Go right on Harbor. Berth 46.”
Sounds easy enough, but for those not driving: it was 20 further blocks past this! Actually, it was even further than that, all the way down a long road past 23rd street to the circus tents located at the end of this man-made festoon of land.
Aaaaaahhh h h h h walking, walking, walking. There was no way we would have been able to know where we were going without our GPS map. We found someone’s chewed-up electronic cigarette dangling on an electric box along the dark road past 23rd street. After a 3 mile/20 minute walk, we got there just on time for the actual show after the funny boat gig that begins the Cirque Du Soleil shows.
The show was really good. The lighting and effects were as impressive as the dancers and acrobats. It began with evolution, monkey-to-caveman-to-caveman-to-caveman-to-businessman-to-acrobat. Our favorite was the hat throwers on the unicycles. The actual missing of some of the hats by some of the dancers that performers in tribal garb who were positioned on all four sides of the stage to retrieve made the spectacle very successful in the enjoyment of wondering whether the hats will actually be caught. They mostly were, pooh!
Intermission! We go outside to pee and drink. We peed but did not drink so fast: The water rule is lame. They have huge and full water dispensers that nobody with a $5 water bottle or Cirque Du Soleil cup can use. Almost all of the bartenders told us that they were not allowed to give us water cups. My partner, who is poor and parched, refused to spend $5 for water and drank water from the outdoor sinks next to the porta-potties, which apparently was as good as regular drinking water.
The second half of the show, I thought, was good but not as great as pre-intermission. It featured a Darwinesque scientist of the late 19th/early 20th century that was well-played with glowing balls of atoms. But where were the monkeys and cavemen? The future, as depicted by glowing yet somewhat anachronistic ritual dances, came too fast.
The show is over! As we walked to the closest bus stop, we encountered the chewed-up electronic cigarette again still dangling on the electric box along the dark road. It became apparent that besides one unhappy smoker, very few people walked to this event. The chewed-up electronic cigarette was still on and shining blue.
Useful: 1 Funny: 4 Cool: 0
10/15/2013