Cirque du Soleil - Varekai [DVD]

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!

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!

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.

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 !!!

The acrobats are amazing, costumes and music make you feel as if you were dreaming. As stunning as this DVD is - it makes you want to see the whole thing live, and as awesome as the entire production of the show, so is the supplementary DVD containing interviews with the artists as well as all the challenges and hard work that went into producing this masterpiece.The drama of this performance takes place deep within a forest, in an extraordinary world where just about anything is possible. The story begins with the fall of Icarus (from Greek mythology), where a romantic interest develops between him and one of the inhabitants of this world - a caterpillar who by the end of the show turns into a butterfly. While they are attempting to be together, numerous inhabitants of this world attempt to stand in their way, though in the end they manage to get married and there is a big celebration.The entire production, including all the creative elements is a fruit of teamwork, where each artist contributed not only acrobatic skills, but also creativity.Beside the extraordinary acrobats, dancers and musicians, from all over the world, there are several humorous and very creative clowns - the one that introduces the show is in a way an overseer of the inhabitants, an inventor, and quite a character.

It's a slow start but soon picks up to be a stunning performance of skill, strength, grace and beauty. I normally just tolerate the clowns but these were very funny. Well done Cirque de Soleil for yet another enjoyable and breath-taking show,

Siamo andati a vedere questo spettacolo al Forum di Assago. Il giorno dopo ho comprato il DVD perchè merita di essere rivisto sia per capirlo meglio, sia per apprezzare da altre inquadrature le evoluzioni di questi elastici e plastici atleti. Uno spettacolo stupendo. Il DVD è la versione inglese, è fatto molto bene, si vede bene. Lo spettacolo è in giro per il mondo, mi pare, dal 2004. Questa non è una delle ultime repliche del tour, però è veramente bello.

Den Cirque Du Soleil hatte ich ein Mal im TV gesehen und war fasziniert von dem artistischen Können und der Perfektion der Darbietungen der vielen Künstler in fantasievollen Kostümen. Ab diesem Zeitpunkt sah ich, wo immer die Shows zu sehen waren, diese an. Die Kulisse und Farbenprächtigkeit jedes Mal einmalig, der Ablauf im "Cirque Du Soleil: Varekai [UK Import]" grandios. Interessant war zu erfahren, in welchem Umfang die Vorbereitungen zu den einzelnen Shows und wie viele Artisten, Bühnenbildner und weiteres Personal zum Gelingen des Cirque Du Soleil notwendig sind. Umso mehr bedauere ich zutiefst die bekannt gegebene Insolvenz dieses Unternehmens, verursacht, so in den Medien, durch die Corona Pandemie. Cirque Du Soleil bleibt für mich unvergessen!Guy Laliberté gründete 1982 mit einigen Artisten eine kleine Varieté- und Straßentheatergruppe in der kanadischen Stadt Baie-Saint-Paul (Provinz Québec). Zwei Jahre später bekam diese Truppe den Auftrag, eine Vorstellung anlässlich der 450-Jahr-Feier Kanadas zu gestalten. Nach dem durchschlagenden Erfolg dieser Veranstaltung wurde beschlossen, einen artistisch ausgerichteten Zirkus zu gründen. So wurde am 16. Juni 1984 der Cirque du Soleil ins Leben gerufen. Der weitere interessante Werdegang des Soleil ist bei Wkipedia nachzulesen.

The video really captures the live performance. We got the video after seeing the live show and it still brings back happy memories.

je ne pensais pas un jour être si émue en regardant un spectacle de cirque:tout est superbe:les costumes ,la mise en scène,les prestations de TOUS les artistes,un spectacle à part entière avec une histoire racontée .je ne connaissais pas le cirque du Soleil,et je suis tombée dessus le 25 décembre sur FRANCE O en zappant et j'ai été scotchée...d'où l'achat du DVD.