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Who wakes up one morning and decides they are going to learn to juggle seven balls or figure out a way to spin from a metal ring by only a harness tucked under their chin? Or goes to school to learn how to become a contortionist? Well, whoever they are, they have found a home in Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy, now at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on stage through Sunday.
Cirque Dreams is part of the Neil Goldberg entertainment Cirque companies. If this doesn’t mean much, well, it does when you consider its roots. Goldberg, whose background was in event planning, started Cirque Productions in a small business park in Hollywood, Fla., with five employees in 1993. In 1996, Cirque Dreams made its first ever public appearance in Ft. Lauderdale at the Parker Playhouse to sold-out performances. "From that moment on, there was no looking back," says Goldberg. Today, the Pompano Beach based business has ten entertainment companies with over 200 employees that produce entertainment for cruise lines, casinos, theme parks, destination resorts, touring productions, corporate America, and Broadway. Yes, Broadway.
In fact, Goldberg mentions the fact frequently in conversation that Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy debuted at the Broadway Theater in New York City in 2008, and, to date, is the first and only show of its kind to ever perform on Broadway. He plans on taking it back to the Great White Way in 2016. However, Goldberg says the next stop for this show is Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, a small island country situated near the western shores of the Persian Gulf.
Don’t look for any complicated plot in this musical fantasy — there isn’t much of one. Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy is all about spectacle. The Cirque has the flavor of one of those old "carnie" shows where performers and stage hands would open up their suitcases, put on the greasepaint, build a circus under a tent, put on a show, then move on to entertain folks in the next town.
The company of performers in Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy is diverse indeed; an international cast from four corners of the globe — Puerto Rico, Belarus, Latvia, Mongolia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ethiopia, Moldova, Russia and the Ukraine. There are soaring aerialists, spine-bending contortionists, acrobats, jugglers, performance artists and musicians.
The costumes in this jungle are ornate, too, from an Adonis-looking "tree man" who plays so beautifully an electric violin to spectacular elephants, giraffes, and grasshoppers. The newest cast member is Grasshopper, 11-year-old Kellie Kessling of Davie, who is on stage for a lot of the show. She was chosen from kids participating in the recent Cirque Dreams Kidstime Camp.
Definitely her moves prove she’s the next generation contortionist, trained by the best of Cirque Dreams, Mongolian sisters Buyankhishig and Erdenesuvd Ganbaatar who are also stars of the show. Goldberg says he discovered them years ago at the Mongolian School of Contortion (yes, there are schools for that).
Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy is the perfect summer show — friendly family fare that will keep the kids psyched for gymnastics camp.
Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy will play Tuesday, July 22 through Sunday, July 27 at Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Fort Lauderdale. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m.; and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $34.50 - $74.50. Visit www.browardcenter.org or call 954-462-0222.
