It is not surprising to learn that LA SOIRÉE scooped up the prestigious Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for their London season.

It would be a lie if I said I was expecting amazing things from tonight’s performance, having seen a slew of passable to mediocre cabaret/circus shows in the recent past.  However it’s not often that you get to say that a show delivered what it promised and so much more — that was definitely the case with LA SOIRÉE. [More] 

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The English Gents start smartly dressed in pinstripe suits, collars and tie and bowler hats. They make feats of great strength and balance look easy and, as the clothes are shed, you see the superb muscles which power their act. Later, one returns as a pole performer who constantly defies gravity.

The discomfortingly awesome contortionist Captain Frodo is The Incredible Rubberman, previously seen here in 2007’s La Clique. Your own body responds viscerally as he passes his body through the frames of two tennis racquets and later balances on a tower of tin cans with his feet tucked behind his head.

Then there’s aerial hoop artist Bret Pfister – sure, supple and strong – and like …

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Auckland Arts Festival opened this week with a party.  A real party – La Soiree, in fact, which, roughly translated, means a type of evening party where revellers are invited to enjoy singing, dancing and merry-making and a chance to let loose and be free.  This is what La Soiree intends to do and ticks that festival box as a show that provides fun, funny and fantastical entertainment to the masses. A mish-mash of circus, Vaudeville, cabaret and burlesque, this incarnation of La Soiree (there are several world-wide) runs the entire length of the festival and entices viewers to a “sensational” night out with the lure of being “amazed, amused, appalled, aroused, shocked, stirred and shaken” in the gorgeous setting of the world famous Spiegeltent.  These are not (entirely) half-truths, and in the context of populist festival, La Soiree has dozens of artists in its rotating line up – Auckland audiences get a mixed bag of jugglers, strongmen, aerial artists, chanteuses, carnie freaks, comedians, contortionists and striptease magicians.  I appreciate that the artists in and curators of these shows have taken traditional circus and carnie acts and have tried to spin some absurdist magic on them.  There’s only so much circus juggler one can take in life, but give him a terrifically terrible accent, dress him up like the biker in The Village People, and convince him he is a stand up comic version of Freddie Mercury, and he’ll crowd surf his way into your heart as Mario, Queen of the Circus.

Captain Frodo entertains us as the lovable clumsy contortionist.  His 70s style schtick is charming and funny and I found myself wondering more than once if falling off the stage was just part of his act or what.  Either way, his take on the squeeze-oneself-through-the-tennis-racket(s) act is quite hilarious, even if being up close and personal to a couple of dislocated shoulders may give some audience members the heebie-jeebies.

The English Gents are a dynamic duo displaying incredible feats strength and balance.  Strongman Hamish McCann returns later in the show to demonstrate his prowess on the pole – an amazing show of control and strength with a hint of Magic Mike.  But I reckon it’s tattooed aerialist Bret Pfister who steals the show with his stunning lyra (hoop) routine that shows off his impeccable flexibility and gymnast skills.

Diabolo-wielding (that’s a kind of Chinese yo-yo) comedian Asher Treleaven made me cringe mostly, but I openly admit to laughing at his reading of a Mills and Boon romance novel more than once.  That he looks a lot like John Waters is his saving grace.

And what about the ladies?  To be honest, I feel their contribution is overshadowed by the sheer physical strength of the male performers on this particular night.  The La Soiree family includes a number of strong – and I’m talking literally here – female artists and performers.  The Auckland line-up does not include any of these, opting for more subtle female presence throughout.

The delightfully devilish Miss Behave is a palette cleanser of sorts, coming in between every other act or so to give us some comic/freak relief by swallowing scissors, table legs and a number of the audience’s drinks.  She’s very sexy and very sassy and I love her rubber wiggle dress.

Ursula Martinez, the aforementioned stripping magician, plays hide and seek with a red hanky that precariously turns up in all kinds of places.  While I am a little underwhelmed by her antics, I fully appreciate seeing an older, naked confident female body on stage in all its perfectly natural glory.  Her flamenco-inspired ‘I Wanna Be Ethnic’ song, while a bit crass, had everyone laughing.  But she is half-Spanish so she can get away with it.  Right?

Stunning gold-clad chanteuse Miss Frisky left no doubt in anyone’s mind that she’s got a really nice set on her.  Of lungs, that is!  Her three musical numbers run the gamut of emotion from sincerity to outright hilarity and back again.  Her closing song Unbelievable (I think that’s what it’s called) sent shivers down everyone’s spine.

You’ll see everyone at the top of their game in La Soiree during its nearly 2-hour running time.  It’s a deliciously guilty fun and frivolous night out if you’re needing a dose of escapism.

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