How the Varekai took our breath away

Better late than never.

I missed it in Las Vegas three years ago (short on budget) and in Macau in December last year (not scheduled on the day we were there), and even on the premiere on June 22 when Varekai featuring the Cirque du Soleil opened its month-long (until July 24) Manila run.

But my friends and I finally caught it last Sunday at the Blue-and-Yellow Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) right across from the Quirino Grandstand, and it was worth the wait.

I can’t describe the two-hour show without resorting to clichés, and I’m tempted to start off with, you never guessed it, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (with apologies to Julie Andrews in her Mary Poppins best), following it up with spectacular, mind-boggling, astounding, exciting, out-of-this-world, amazing, terrific, fantastic and, I’m sure those who were with us in the audience (among them Carla Abellana with boyfriend Geoff Eigenmann, her Lola Delia Razon and his brothers Ryan and Gabby) will agree, the greatest show on earth (another cliché, I concede).

I won’t compare Varekai with the Chinese acrobats that I saw at the Big Dome in December last year or Kaos (which combined acrobatics with Broadway) at the Resorts World Manila because, again to use another cliché, it’s beyond compare. It defies description, it’s so hard to sum up in words the performers who moved and danced and glided from one end of the huge stage to the other…flew around the set like birds do…somersaulted in awe-inspiring precision as if they didn’t have bones, beautifully landing either on the floor, on chairs or on the palms of fellow performers…and gracefully bending their bodies forward and backward with fluid facility as if they were made of rubber.

They made it look so easy. They make you hold your breath and then take your breath away, without catching their breath even as they leave you huffing and puffing.

Choice photos from the Varekai souvenir program are shown on this page. Among my favorite parts:

• The comic touch provided by the big lady and the gentleman clown (who would later put us in stitches in his solo act, singing pop songs while trying to catch the spotlight that moved around the venue);

• The “net” dancer swinging high and low, round and round the stage, as if remote-controlled;

• The balancing act of the three cute Chinese kids; and, especially,

• The “solo on crutches” by a physically-challenged performer.

As I’ve been saying, Varekai is so visually exciting (words not enough to capsulize its magnitude) that, to use one more cliché, you have to see it to believe it!

(Note: Presented by Manila Hotel and Banco de Oro, together with Sun Life Financial, Varekai [Cirque du Soleil] runs until July 24. For ticket inquiries, call 775-0939, 881-0947, 0919-4508125 or 0917-4436463.)

A starry night at Varekai’s gala

Among the celebrities who graced the Varekai’s premiere last June 22 were (from left) Iza Calzado, Rafael Rosell IV and Tessa Prieto-Valdes. Running until July 24, the show features Cirque du Soleil which has been holding SRO audiences in suspense at the Big-and-Yellow Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) right across from the Quirino Grandstand at the Rizal Park. 

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