I love the works of Rick Wakeman. I still have my original vinyl copies of Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. I would love to have seen him live—although I likely would not have enjoyed the King Arthur concert where they performed it on ice. (Read about it here.)
I think any time you add “on ice” to a performance title, you diminish whatever the performance is. Imagine seeing your favorite band: great! Now imagine seeing your favorite band—on ice! Would you still go? (Guns ‘N’ Roses is not my favorite band but right now I have this mental image of Slash on iceskates; take a moment to conjure that image for yourself.)
My fiancee loves Cirque du Soleil; she saw an amazing show awhile back in Las Vegas (though she can’t recall which one). I’m less of a fan; I saw Ka and Love (and maybe another?) in Vegas years ago. I was supremely impressed by the technology, and I can truly appreciate the concept and aesthetics behind the shows. But the performances ultimately leave me cold (even without ice) because there seems to be some sort of nebulous story with a lot of flash and movement and dancing and a small smattering of acrobatics that doesn’t really add up for me.
But, as I say, she loves them and when I saw that one of their performances was coming to Pittsburgh, I thought, “Great Christmas gift!” Regrettably, I didn’t research anything about the performance itself, or investigate why it’s called Crystal—which of course is a reference to ice.
The performance took place at the local hockey arena. Once again, the aesthetics and technology are amazing; were the projections under the ice? Some of the skating was very cool, too, especially when the “hockey players” sailed through the air via skateboard ramps.
But overall? We had a frosty response. Not that the arena was cold, but…come on, Cirque on Ice? Proving my assertion earlier that, when you add “on ice to” the title, it’s just not as good.
Thinking about it, I’m not a whiskey drinker, but if I did, I imagine I would drink it with ice. But my entertainment? Put the skates away and let’s have it on a non-frigid solid floor. (Unless it disappears and the floor is replaced with water!)
MUSOFYR 