Cirque du Soleil™ : Varekai

I have heard of Cirque DS years ago .. who hasn't unless you live under a rock .. and I finally bought 2 DVDs to watch. Varekai and Quidam. I have watched both and Varekai is hands down so much better than Quidam. I have not seen many CDS shows (actually nothing .. I am dying now to see all the ones in Vegas .. O, KA, etc. These two look incredible) so I can't really make a definite statement that Verakai is the best .. but I can say it is out of the three I have seen. I have also seen La Nouba (my mother in law bought it when she was at Disney World) and OMG, it was HORRIBLE! It was so plain and boring and all the tricks were so mediocre. The only think I thought was cool in La Nouba was the trampoline part but back to Verakai .. The costumes were beautiful! The show actually had a plot and the story flows and makes sense. The other two were all over the place. I actually LOVED the clowns. The guys had me in tears. I thought it was very creative. I have seen other clowns in La Nouba and Quidam and they were again, horrible. This guy in Verakai was hilarious. I liked the girl too. I thought overall the show was so much fun !! I actually loved the juggling guy! He had me mesmerized .. especially with the sombera hats. LOL ! If you're thinking about buying this DVD, DO IT! It is excellent !!!

Cirque du Soleil shows are over-the-top creative and a spectacle like no other genre of physical art. I was hooked the first time I saw Quidam and Varekai is a wonder to watch.....again and again!

Of the Cirque shows I have seen I'd rate this second to best: Ka (Live), Varekai (DVD), Totem (Live), Iris (Live), Quidam (DVD), and La Nouba (DVD). It had great pacing, an interesting concept tying it together (flying/Icurus), and great acts. I have noticed I tend to like Cirque when there is a storyline. The only act I remember being board with was the multiple trapeze. Highlights include the the Icurus falling net acrobat, the foot acrobats, the twins, the kids with spinners, the juggler, and some of Cirque's best comedy acts (nearly topping the "Rabbin" moment in Iris). You will never look at a spotlight the same way agin. The acts actually weren't the most technically impressive I have seen, but they just went so well together. The music was just ok, being surpassed by some of the other shows. It worked though and the singing was good.The DVD presentation is ok. I wish the quality was better. I don't know if the lyrics are meaningful since they are not captioned (or even closed captioned). The episode of Fire Within was interesting. Like most Cirque DVDs it's way over edited. This was actually one of the worst ones I have seen because the show was so good that the editing became very distracting. There was this great act of guys doing acrobatics on their partners feet and they kept fading between the pairs so you'd see 4 pairs instead of 2. And they would do these slow motion recaps all the time. Nonetheless, buy it. The show is just that good.

My family and I had seen Varekai live and loved it so much that we bought the DVD. I cannot believe how superbly photographed and edited this DVD is. The quality of the shots and sounds actually enhance the show. You can see such divine close-ups of all the characters. This accentuates the breadth, beauty, grace, strength, and athleticism of the performers, their make up, costumes, and the intricacy of the sets.When I watched the live performance, it was difficult for me to attend to all that is going on all over the stage. I founnd the editing to be quite artful, showing a real "feel" for how to enhance the audience's experience by giving little "peeks" here and there of what else is going on that enriched the story, for me (and for my family and my students.)When time allows at the end of each school year, I show the first 30-40 minutes ("Fallen Angel" protagonist in the netting, the thrilling, amazing precision and strength of the 4 Fire guys launching each other with their legs, through the 3 boys twirling)to my 10th grade World History students. They are SO vocal, Oooohing and Ahhing and enjoying the heck out of Varekai. Even though there are great acts in between, I jumpt to the last 19 minutes where the beauty, grace, and strength of the protagonist's love-interest is performed, followed by the finale. And, as the other reviews have state, there are a fair number of places where the sound volume goes down;yet, overall, it did not interfere with our enjoyment. And, in short bursts, the campy magician acts provided us some goofy, "low-brow" laugh time. Thank you and BRAVO!

Have seen numerous Cirque on DVD and this is by far one of the weaker ones. Sure the costumes are cool, but the story line is obtuse and the acrobatics are far from being the most exciting that Cirque has to offer. There is too much "down time" between the story and acts which kill the momentum. The editing is rapid fire - not leaving the viewer enough time to take in the entire scene in front of them. The shots don't linger long enough to enjoy or figure out what is happening. Perhaps the editor had too much coffee that morning - or better yet, the acts don't stand on their own - they need herky jerky editing to cover the hum drum nature of them.I feel as if Cirque is sacrificing the acrobatics and the acts in favor of costumes and "art". For example, during one particularly col act the costumes were so.....flouncy and full of hanging off items, that it hid what was actually happening.The production of the DVD is poor - HUGE sound drop offs throughout. Showing this to students and they can't stay engaged when the sound keeps dropping in and out. It is obviously something with the production, because it is a measured step own and then step back up in volume.Skip this DVD - try Dralion or Quidam.