Cirque du Soleil’s TORUK – The First Flight has completed hugely successful stopovers in Christchurch, Auckland, Brisbane and Sydney. Now the amazing theatrical experience heads to Melbourne.
Here are some snippets from the lavish reviews.
“This is a stunning production to witness, with massive set pieces and huge animated creatures which interact with our heroic blue Na’vi (is that plural? I don’t remember anything from the film. Do you?). There are certainly daring feats of acrobatics, and the show has its fair share of “oooooh” moments, but they are few and far between, spread out by choreographed fights (“dancing with style”) and stunning projection technology that brings the stage to life.” – Larry Heath, The AU Review
“This 37th Cirque production is different in that it features less of its trademark death-defying stunts or acrobatics and follows more of a theatrical storyline. But audiences are still wowed with visually spectacular costumes and a set that comes alive with brilliant digital projections, changing from dry desert to lush forest, waterfall or volcano at the touch of a button.”– Elissa Lawrence & Kristy Symonds, The Courier-Mail
“Let me say that Toruk itself is quite an astonishing show. Set on Avatar’s alien world of Pandora before contact with the human race as portrayed in the film, the whole cast of this production only ever appears in-character, as members of the blue-skinned, faintly feline race of humanoid aliens, the Na’vi. Depicted in the film as exploited natives in a metaphor for colonialism, the Na’vi’s alien cultural aesthetic there, as here, has many obvious and intentional parallels to a variety of traditional and tribal indigenous Earth cultures, with a strong environmental slant. Although the audience for this live show must suspend their disbelief that the performers are not quite the four-fingered rail-thin giants of the film, their near-human designs are very nicely approximated by surprisingly effective one-piece bodysuits. These allow complete freedom of movement and incorporate the Na’vi’s tails, catlike ears and long plaited black hair, leaving only the acrobats’ faces to require additional makeup to complete the effect.” – Jack Teiwes, Ausytralian Stage
