“Varekai” is billed as Cirque du Soleil’s “newest arena show,” but it actually was created back in 2002, for the big top. While the acts are as tight as we expect from Cirque, this isn’t one of the Canadian company’s strongest offerings, and transferring it to the corporate, impersonal world of basketball hangars doesn’t help. Trying to evoke an otherworldly atmosphere at Barclays Center is close to impossible.
Apparently “Varekai” means “wherever” in Romany, which pretty much describes the environment here: a bamboo forest, touches of tropical forest, allusions to the Caribbean, people running around in blindingly bright costumes.
As for the story, such as it is, the word that comes to mind is “whatever.” The interstitial business — i.e. the filler — between the acts feels interminable, stuffed with nonsensical baby talk and noodly fusion jazz from the live band. A character called “the Patriarch” looks like a cross between Galileo and a giant eggplant. At least “America’s Got Talent” doesn’t try to have a plot.
The numbers themselves don’t stray too far from the staples, though they offer technically impeccable variations. Even the comic relief, so often quaint, is actually very funny, courtesy of characters called Mooky and Claudio. They first appear as a hapless lounge-magic act, then Claudio sings Jacques Brel’s “Ne Me Quitte Pas” while trying to remain in an errant spotlight. It’s a simple idea but a very effective one.
The most breathtaking feats involve balance and strength. The finale is the best in that regard, as well as among the finest Cirque numbers, ever. An army of acrobats does incredible somersaults off a pair of Russian swings — an apparatus in which a heavier man, the catcher, propels a lighter one, the flyer, high up in the air.
The magic is in full effect then, and, at long last, you forget where you are.