My Fantasy Land, "O" My
When I was a little girl I remember being able to see a green, white and yellow neon sign in the distance from the window of my bedroom. There was big white star on top of it and I truly believed that across the fields behind my parent’s house there was a fantasy land with beautiful kingdoms and where mysterious animals reigned.
At the time I didn’t realize that New Jersey isn’t exactly known for that kind of mysticism. England and Ireland, sure, afterall they have fairies in the trees there, but fairies are a bit thin on the ground in the Garden State. But for many years I remember looking out and seeing that sign in the distance, putting music on my little record player in my room, and letting my imagination run wild creating stories of heroic rescues of beautiful maidens… and they were “just over there”.. across the field.
Unfortunately, going the way of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, so went my kingdom over yonder. It was a horrible discovery… oh so Jersey in a way. A Mafioso-style hit on a 5-year-old’s beliefs.
We were coming back from my brother's football practice in my dad’s paneled station wagon when all of a sudden it occurred to me that the sign that we had just passed on Route 130 was that sign, MY SIGN, directing me to the kingdom. And there was not one single castle or exotic tiger in sight. I wasn't riding a white horse with a knight, I was riding in a station wagon, for the love of Pete! In fact, it was worse that that. It still hurts to even say it now! It was a sign for a HOLIDAY INN. “OH” my child’s soul cried out! I must be wrong, it couldn’t be… but it was. For the first time in my little life I think I knew depression. What a bummer! A lousy Holiday Inn sign!!! Could anything be more cruel?
So that day I left behind my fantasy world and made my way in the real world, resigned sadly to never feeling that way again. But I found out that’s not exactly true – on the same trip to Vegas as the Red Rocks excursion.
At the time I didn’t realize that New Jersey isn’t exactly known for that kind of mysticism. England and Ireland, sure, afterall they have fairies in the trees there, but fairies are a bit thin on the ground in the Garden State. But for many years I remember looking out and seeing that sign in the distance, putting music on my little record player in my room, and letting my imagination run wild creating stories of heroic rescues of beautiful maidens… and they were “just over there”.. across the field.
Unfortunately, going the way of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, so went my kingdom over yonder. It was a horrible discovery… oh so Jersey in a way. A Mafioso-style hit on a 5-year-old’s beliefs.
We were coming back from my brother's football practice in my dad’s paneled station wagon when all of a sudden it occurred to me that the sign that we had just passed on Route 130 was that sign, MY SIGN, directing me to the kingdom. And there was not one single castle or exotic tiger in sight. I wasn't riding a white horse with a knight, I was riding in a station wagon, for the love of Pete! In fact, it was worse that that. It still hurts to even say it now! It was a sign for a HOLIDAY INN. “OH” my child’s soul cried out! I must be wrong, it couldn’t be… but it was. For the first time in my little life I think I knew depression. What a bummer! A lousy Holiday Inn sign!!! Could anything be more cruel?
So that day I left behind my fantasy world and made my way in the real world, resigned sadly to never feeling that way again. But I found out that’s not exactly true – on the same trip to Vegas as the Red Rocks excursion.
Again, one of my biggest sources of touring information, my brother, told me about something that I “had to” do when I was in Vegas. I had to go and see “O” from Cirque du Soleil. He had been saying for years that it was incredible and I wouldn’t believe my eyes.
I had seen some pictures and coverage on television from the show, but nothing that really gave the impression that it was anywhere near my brother’s numero uno entertainment event, seeing Pink Floyd’s The Wall in 1979. When he saw “O” he ranked it right up next to that show. Now Pink Floyd I could understand as being incredible. I remember him sitting me down in the rec room at my parent’s house, all of nine-years-old and him saying, “Ok, Jen you have to sit and listen to this entire album. You’ll never hear anything else like it. There’s no breaks between the songs.” And to this day, there is no other album like it. I can imagine that there was no other show like it either. So while “O” looked interesting from the pictures, I couldn’t see how in the world it could ever compare to that experience but I had to try.
So on Superbowl Sunday I did something that I might lose my citizenship for… I stopped watching the game, before halftime, and went to the show instead. I figured that I’d be the only one there. No other red-blooded American would be there. Maybe some Japanese tourists but I didn’t think it would be full. It was. This started to make me think this might be something else.
Dean told me, "Be there in time for the clowns." I'll say this straight away -- I don't like clowns. Never have. I always wanted to know what they were hiding behind that make-up. But these clowns were French... more mime than the psycho clown from a Stephen King novel. The hobo clown friends come in to the sound of dripping water … from the ceiling. And the fun begins there. They warn people that in certain places you will get wet, but who thought you might 30 rows from the stage. Ok, it was certainly a different way to begin. I can’t hear water dripping without remembering the clowns.
From that point on I was returned to the fantasy world of my childhood. From the dropping, or should I say evaporation, of the curtain to its dramatic re-emergence at the end you are taken on a journey. Part Phantom of the Opera... on CRACK and part Salvador Dali painting come to life… with a 40-foot pool/stage that is as much a character in the show as any of the swimmers/actors/athletes featured.
O is a show that is dedicated to water. I’m sure they meant it to be reminiscent of H2O but from the audience’s point of view, it was “OH!” What they do, you can’t even believe. All I know is that whatever drug the guy was on who created this fantasy world… they should package and give it to the leaders of the world to chill everyone out. There would be no war if everyone lived in that world.
The original, live music guides dancers with spectacular make-up on carousel horses as they circle into the pool, a woman singing on a piano melts into the depths, men on fire dance on the water's surface like skeeter flies on a pond, a high-flying sailing ship skeleton becomes a trapeze, a church bell becomes a launching pad for high flying over-water acrobatics… and on and on and on. Your brain just goes into overload and I can't even describe it as it really is. You just have to see it yourself.
As I mentioned before about the pool/stage. Of all of it, the thing I want to see the most is how the hell they are able to take it from a 40-foot deep pool to a dry stage in the blink of an eye… literally. Snap your fingers and it’s a dry floor. There are divers who are beneath the surface of the water that give air to the swimmers, where do they go? Dean said they used to ride the stage to the surface at one point in the show and flop around on stage like dead fish in the version he saw. You can understand why. The stage splits twice, thrice, four times and pools form and then disappear before your eyes. It is the star of the production. You could NEVER do this anywhere else. Incredible is the only word that describes it.
I had seen some pictures and coverage on television from the show, but nothing that really gave the impression that it was anywhere near my brother’s numero uno entertainment event, seeing Pink Floyd’s The Wall in 1979. When he saw “O” he ranked it right up next to that show. Now Pink Floyd I could understand as being incredible. I remember him sitting me down in the rec room at my parent’s house, all of nine-years-old and him saying, “Ok, Jen you have to sit and listen to this entire album. You’ll never hear anything else like it. There’s no breaks between the songs.” And to this day, there is no other album like it. I can imagine that there was no other show like it either. So while “O” looked interesting from the pictures, I couldn’t see how in the world it could ever compare to that experience but I had to try.
So on Superbowl Sunday I did something that I might lose my citizenship for… I stopped watching the game, before halftime, and went to the show instead. I figured that I’d be the only one there. No other red-blooded American would be there. Maybe some Japanese tourists but I didn’t think it would be full. It was. This started to make me think this might be something else.
Dean told me, "Be there in time for the clowns." I'll say this straight away -- I don't like clowns. Never have. I always wanted to know what they were hiding behind that make-up. But these clowns were French... more mime than the psycho clown from a Stephen King novel. The hobo clown friends come in to the sound of dripping water … from the ceiling. And the fun begins there. They warn people that in certain places you will get wet, but who thought you might 30 rows from the stage. Ok, it was certainly a different way to begin. I can’t hear water dripping without remembering the clowns.
From that point on I was returned to the fantasy world of my childhood. From the dropping, or should I say evaporation, of the curtain to its dramatic re-emergence at the end you are taken on a journey. Part Phantom of the Opera... on CRACK and part Salvador Dali painting come to life… with a 40-foot pool/stage that is as much a character in the show as any of the swimmers/actors/athletes featured.
O is a show that is dedicated to water. I’m sure they meant it to be reminiscent of H2O but from the audience’s point of view, it was “OH!” What they do, you can’t even believe. All I know is that whatever drug the guy was on who created this fantasy world… they should package and give it to the leaders of the world to chill everyone out. There would be no war if everyone lived in that world.
The original, live music guides dancers with spectacular make-up on carousel horses as they circle into the pool, a woman singing on a piano melts into the depths, men on fire dance on the water's surface like skeeter flies on a pond, a high-flying sailing ship skeleton becomes a trapeze, a church bell becomes a launching pad for high flying over-water acrobatics… and on and on and on. Your brain just goes into overload and I can't even describe it as it really is. You just have to see it yourself. As I mentioned before about the pool/stage. Of all of it, the thing I want to see the most is how the hell they are able to take it from a 40-foot deep pool to a dry stage in the blink of an eye… literally. Snap your fingers and it’s a dry floor. There are divers who are beneath the surface of the water that give air to the swimmers, where do they go? Dean said they used to ride the stage to the surface at one point in the show and flop around on stage like dead fish in the version he saw. You can understand why. The stage splits twice, thrice, four times and pools form and then disappear before your eyes. It is the star of the production. You could NEVER do this anywhere else. Incredible is the only word that describes it.
So I sat, spellbound, with my mouth hanging open and my eyes gaping wide and regained my memory of the fantasy land on the other side of the field from McCay Drive. I have to believe it was always there, but I couldn’t see it anymore. Now that my eyes are reopened, it stays with me now.
Well, I'm pretty sure that Dean knew nothing about my fantasy world -- he was already in high school by the time I had it -- so he couldn't have known what he was giving me back when he made the suggestion to see "O." All I can say is that somewhere there's still a five-year-old with blonde curly hair in her room with Raggedy Ann wallpaper who is looking out her window on a summer night dreaming about her magic castle across the field. Thanks Dean!
posted by Jkam @ 2:57 PM
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