Why aren't there Olympic competitions in circus skills? The athletes are every bit as disciplined. They've gone through the same years of training and perfection of their talents. If we're seeking strength, agility and timing, all we need to do is look at a catcher in a trapeze act. No Olympians have to catch another human in full flight while suspended upside down on a swinging bar.
Gold medals for hand-balancing, juggling, rolla bolla and silk flying? It will never happen, but if audiences are up for more feats after Beijing, they can find them in "Aphelion," the new show at the Eldorado. In fact, there is a finale involving gymnastics bars occupied by multiple gymnasts at the same time.
"Aphelion" comes to us from the producers of the Eldorado's two earlier cirque-style shows, "Taganai" and "Balagan." Unfortunately, it comes in a different economic climate and so is noticeably cut down in production value and cast from those shows. It offers its share of pleasures, but they all lie in the individual acts. The production itself is relatively bland.
The show is described as "the extra- terrestrial world of the imagination conflicting with Planet Earth." But the extraterrestrial here is of the grade-B thrillers of the 1950s. The strange beings that usually populate the background of these productions have been reduced to an occasional crawling creature and what look like moving, draped cocktail tables. The dancers first appear holding white masks, seemingly diverted directly from the hockey rink. It's Ed Wood meets Jason.
Those dancers emerge from three doors and go to a sofa center stage, its back to the audience ... and then, well, don't do much. The dance is merely a bridge between the acts. The doors and sofa add to a dull and colorless opening that, instead of getting the audience excited, puts it into lethargy.
One dance sequence, though, does end with a pleasant surprise. The quick change was introduced to the country in a big way on "America's Got Talent." It has become practically a staple in shows of this sort. The performer is briefly obscured and – voilà – appears in an entirely different costume. It's a variation on an old illusion but one that delights.
This show is essentially a mini-circus. If you don't like the jugglers, stick around for the balancers. As it is, these are all pretty good performers, even if they are doing standard versions of their crafts. The hand-balancers act like living statues and slowly lift each other until one is, for instance, perched one-handed on another's head.
Less standard are the male-female silk fliers, wrapping themselves in fabric and soaring over the stage. It's about time these usually solo acts became duets, adagios in air, and this is a beautiful variation.
The jugglers here are fast-paced, three men and a woman, presenting some nice twists in the action. The rolla-bolla artist likes rock 'n' roll, Chuck Berry and Elvis, to accompany him as he remains upright on anything that rolls, stacked up on anything else that rolls.
The best for last, those final gymnasts, six of them swinging at once on those bars, is a pretty dazzling display of motion, preceded by individual performances. These guys are great.
A bothersome sign of the times came at the end of the show. When the cast took the stage for the final bows, they remained there, clearly waiting for further applause and what has become nearly inevitable lately, the standing ovation.
It didn't come. What was disturbing was that it was expected. What they got was what they deserved to get, pleasant sustained applause for some yeoman effort in a show that rarely goes beyond mild diversion.
APHELION
WHERE: Eldorado, Reno
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sundays and Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturdays (indefinite engagement)
TICKETS: $24.95, $29.95, $34.95, $39.95
WHERE TO EAT: Special dinner-and-show packages are available at the Eldorado restaurants: $37.95 at the buffet ($40.75 Fridays and Saturdays); $44.95 at Golden Fortune, Prime Rib Grill, and La Strada; $49.50 at Bistro Roxy.
INFORMATION: (800) 648-5966 or www.eldoradoreno.com
