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Archive for the ‘RVCC Arts’ Category

Spencers: Theatre of Illusion (RVCC Arts, Branchburg, NJ, March 28, 2015)

Posted in Branchburg, NJ, C., Illusion, Muse, RVCC Arts, Spencers: Theatre of Illusion, T., The Lost Boys on March 29, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 28, 2015] Spencers: Theatre of Illusion

Back in October of 2012 we saw Spencers: Theatre of Illusion.  I saw that they were coming around again, and even though we had seen the show, I remember enjoying it and thought it would be fun to see them again since the kids were a little older now.

I also assumed that the show would be different.  I mean, it had been nearly 2 and a half years.  Sadly, many of the magic acts were exactly the same.  But on the positive side, they were still pretty awesome, and there was a bunch of new material as well.

In my previous write up I said that the pacing was too slow.  I’m sure it wasn’t faster but it didn’t feel slow this time.  That may have been the audience–the room was full of super excited kids and there was plenty of laughter and applause–it worked very well with his leisurely storytelling style (I may have also been anxious last time since our kids were younger and I wanted them to be excited all the way though).

He started off , like last time, by doing a seemingly easy but very cool illusion of tearing today’s newspaper in half. He made some jokes about the paper and then proceeded to rip it up and then reunite the whole page.   It’s pretty cool. (more…)

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Cirque Alfonse: Timber! (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, March 6, 2015)

Posted in Acrobats, Branchburg, NJ, C., Cirque Alfonse, Peking Acrobats, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, T. on March 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

cirque_alfonse_timber_2[ATTENDED: March 6, 2015] Timber!

Anyone who reads this blog knows that we love our cirques.   From China, from Montreal, from wherever.  So if  you tell me that you’ve invited circus performers who are doing lumberjack skills, you know I’m there.

One thing I loved about this show was just how different it was from most of the shows we’ve seen.  Unlike the Chinese acrobats who are dainty or sleek and strong, or some of the other Montreal cirques which are polished, these acrobats, the troupe of Cirque Alfonse, were big burly bearded men in flannel shirts and long johns and a couple of women (one very strong and the other a lithe dancer). They spoke and sang only in French and created a set that was very much reminiscent of a Québécois logging camp.

timber4One of the best things about the show was the live music.  Most of the acrobats also played instruments–guitars, banjos, a saw, and various percussion.  There was something about the performers being up there that made the show more exciting–especially later in the show when the guy busted out an electric guitar which seemed to update the danger level somewhat.  I do admit that since I don’t know French at all, I have no idea what the songs (some had words) were about.

There was much humor (an outhouse as part of the set) and of course, plenty of visual humor–usually surrounding how they set up their tricks. (more…)

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Danú: An Nollaig in Éirinn (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, December 7, 2013)

Posted in Branchburg, NJ, C., Christmas, Danú, Patrick Kavanagh, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, Solas, T., The Clancy Brothers on December 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 7, 2013] Danú

danuI received an email that RVCC was having a special concert with Danú.  I didn’t know who Danú were exactly, but the promo material said they were internationally acclaimed.  Since that could mean anything I contacted my friend Ailish who, while not being familiar with them, assured me of their bona fides.  And so, we set out for an early Irish Christmas.

And Danú did not disappoint.  There were six members on stage:

  • Benny McCarthy–button accordion/melodeon.
  • Dónal Clancy–guitar and storyteller (he’s the son of Liam Clancy of the Clancy Brothers and was in the band Solas).
  • Oisín McAuley–fiddle
  • Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh–vocals, flute and whistle.
  • Éamon Doorley–bouzouki
  • Martin O’Neill–bodhran and piano (more…)

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Cirque Zuma Zuma (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, May 3, 2013)

Posted in Acrobats, Big Apple Circus, Branchburg, NJ, C., Cirque Zuma Zuma, Futurama, Peking Acrobats, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, T. on May 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 3, 2013] Cirque Zuma Zuma

zumaCirque Zuma Zuma was the final theater show of our 2012-2013 season.  When I bought tickets for this I didn’t realize that it was designed as an all ages show (hint, shows that start at 7PM are for families, shows that start at 7:30 are for adults only).  So I felt a little bad that the kids didn’t come as there were so many kids there.  And they would have enjoyed this, although it’s probably just as well that they had a nice night with their grandma.

So Cirque Zuma Zuma is an African-based show of dance and acrobatics.  There was a large banner that said that Cirque Zuma Zuma had been on America’s Got Talent.  Now, I don’t quite understand this as the announcer of the show seemed to say that the performers were from countries in Africa.  How could they be on America’s Got Talent if they are not American?  I don’t get it.

zuma2Anyway, the show got off to a rousing start with drumming.  Lots of drumming.  There was a man with two drums (big bass drum sounding drums) and then two drummers who were playing what I thought of as an African bongo but which I believe is called a Djembe.  And, man, they pounded the hell out of these things.  It was amazing how musical three (or four) drums can sound.  They played lead drum parts while the bass drum kept a steady rhythm.  And then the dancers came out.  Two women and a man dressed in what I assume is a traditional outfit.  And they danced.  Ecstatically.  Nonstop.  For about eight minutes.  And what frenetic and crazy dances they were.  They moved with such force and power.  It was really amazing and it looked exhausting.

Then came the acrobatics.  And was surprised at just how many of the acrobatic pieces were the same as ones done by the Chinese acrobats.  It strikes me as odd that two very distinct cultures would do the same kinds of things.  Are these just standard feats that contemporary performers learn?

The first was the climbing of and doing handstands on a stack of chairs.  The big difference here was that these chairs were very large (as opposed to the many tiny ones the Chinese acrobats use).  It was still impressive, and the chairs looked quite wobbly, but it was weird to open with a show stopper from another Cirque.

Other things that they did which we had already seen were jumping through hoops, spinning hula hoops, foot juggling and hat juggling.  It was very strange to see these same things.  The big difference was the music, which was African as opposed to Asian. (more…)

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C!rca: Wunderkammer (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, March 16, 2013)

Posted in Acrobats, Barry Adamson, Branchburg, NJ, C!rca: Wunderkammer, DJ Yoda, Einstürzende Neubauten, Jeri Southern, Kate Bush, Laibach, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, Susanna And The Magical Orchestra on March 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 16, 2013] C!rca: Wunderkammer

circa1 As part of our theater-going experience, I bought Sarah and I tickets to C!rca’s Wonderkammer show.  I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect (but we’ve has such good luck with shows that we didn’t know anything about that  I wasn’t worried).  The blurb about C!rca reads:

In this exquisite cabaret of the senses, a diva melts into a rope, balloons and bubble wrap discover their artistic souls while bodies twist and fly.  Seven performers of unbelievable ability bend the very fabric of reality.  Sexy, funny and explosive, Circa presents a breathless cocktail of new circus, cabaret and vaudeville.  Control and abandon, skill and humour, lyricism and anarchy all meld into a sinuous fugue of profound beauty.

So, you sort of think you know what you’re going to get, but in many ways that descriptions is kind of meaningless.  It may help to say that C!rca are from Australia (meaning it’s unconventional).  But really nothing prepared me for what we saw. (more…)

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The Golden Dragon Acrobats present Cirque Ziva (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, March 3, 2013)

Posted in Acrobats, Branchburg, NJ, C., Golden Dragon Acrobats, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, T. on March 4, 2013| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 3, 2013] Cirque Ziva

zivaIt’s Chinese Acrobat time again!  One year ago we saw the Peking Acrobats at RVCC and this year it’s time for the Golden Dragon Acrobats!

The Golden Dragon Acrobats performed a series of exciting and amazing feats on stage.  It was not quite the spectacle of last year’s Peking Acrobats, although there were many similar elements.  The Peking Acrobats were completely over the top.  Cirque Ziva felt a little smaller but with more flash in costumery and sets.

ziva1It opened with a series of…wheels?  Round cage-like apparatus that you climb in and roll around–C. and I actually saw these in a Jackie Chan film recently–they seemed to be a part of Chinese military training (somehow).  But the Golden Dragon Acrobats did much more than Jackie did with them.  With different sizes and numbers of participants they used these wheels to wondrous effect–spinning and rolling and climbing on and off.  It was mesmerizing.

And then it was time for the women to show off.  The first item was called “Thousand Hands.”  Six identically dressed women (with super long golden nails) stood one behind the other and then their arms spread out in a wild and wonderful array.  They worked in beautiful synchronicity and it looked amazing.  For Peking we were upstairs in the balcony, and being able to see all six women from the top spoiled the effect somewhat, it was much more impressive here.  Then they moved onto more, amazing contortions (see the poster above which I don’t even understand even though I saw her do it).  They did both group formations and an individual performance (and we all agreed the woman was mind blowing and a little gross). (more…)

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A John Waters Christmas (RVCC Arts, Branchburg, NJ, December 9, 2012)

Posted in Advice, Branchburg, NJ, Consumerism, Culture Shock, David Schickler, David Sedaris, Funny (ha ha), Holidays, Language, LGBTQ, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, Sex, Yuck! on December 25, 2012| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 9, 2012] A John Waters Christmas

watersSarah and I were pretty excited to go see John Waters: gay icon, movie provocateur and all around oddball.  We had no idea what to expect from this show (his Christmas shows have apparently been around a long time although I have no idea how much it changes per year), but we knew it would be peculiar (and damned funny).

What we got was John Waters in a beautiful sparkly suit talking about seemingly whatever came into his mind (although I know from others that  the routine has the same elements in every show, so I it is not extemporaneous).  He had a podium and a bottle of water, but he used neither.  Instead, he walked around the stage, telling stories, telling jokes and being as filthy as he could.

Since this is a Christmas show, he talks a lot about the holiday (he really likes it, mostly because people give him presents), he talks a lot about sex (the more deviant the better), and he talks about himself.

We were surprised by the age range in the audience   Aside from a few young people (in punk garb), we were the youngest by far.  And while that certainly makes it seem like the older folks of the Branchburg area are much hipper (and dirtier) than I realized, it also makes some sense.  Waters definitely reached his most prolific peak quite some time ago.  And those earlier film were much raunchier than his more recently releases.  By now, Waters has settled in as kind of an outre celebrity but one who is more than happy taking part in pop culture (The Simpsons for instance–quite a long way from Divine eating poop).  We wondered if half of them knew what they were in for–but I didn’t hear any gasps, so I guess they did.  The older attendees could no doubt also appreciate a number of cultural references that were just too old for me. (more…)

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The Moscow Ballet–The Russian Nutcracker (RVCC Arts, Bridgewater, NJ, December 8, 2012)

Posted in Ballet, Branchburg, NJ, C., Children's Books, E.T.A. Hoffman, Fables, Fantasy, Moscow Ballet, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russia, RVCC Arts, T., Toys on December 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 8, 2012] The Russian Nutcracker

nutcrackWe decided to take the kids to see The Nutcracker this year.  Fortunately, it was being performed at our beloved RVCC by the Moscow Ballet!  I saw The Nutcracker performed by the Boston Ballet about a dozen years ago, and the performance was stunning (it was also expensive).  This performance was definitely scaled down compared to that one, and it was also shorter (which was good for our kids).

I honestly don’t remember all that much from the Boston Performance (except that when the tree gets bigger, I was blown away).  There wasn’t much blowing away with this show.  As I say, it was scaled down tremendously–the stage itself was about half the size.  But that said, it was charming and the performers–especially the men–were amazing.

I really enjoyed the opening which was quite simple, with the families approaching the castle for the Christmas party–it was fun seeing the adults dressed as kids skipping about while the proper adults strolled casually.  Typically the first act is longer than the second and it’s certainly less exciting.  I don’t know the ballet well enough to know if they cut any of the scenes, but it didn’t seem quite as long as I remembered.  The kids were a little less excited by the grown up fancy ball dancing, but they held up very well.

I enjoyed the sequence where Masha (she’s not Clara in The Russian Nutcracker–I wonder just how different the two are) and her brother have a fight over the Nutcracker.  Masha’s brother was quite funny and the broken Nutcracker was amazing in his life-less-ness.  Indeed, all of the “toys” were incredible. (more…)

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Trout Fishing in America (RVCC Arts, Branchburg, NJ, October 21, 2012)

Posted in Branchburg, NJ, C., Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, T., Theater, Trout Fishing in America on October 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 21, 2012] Trout Fishing in America

Trout Fishing in America is (primarily) a children’s band.  They are a duo comprised of Ezra Idlet (who plays the guitar and is six-foot nine inches tall) and Keith Grimwood (who plays bass and is five foot five inches tall).  When I first encountered them, Ezra had very long hair–although he no longer does.  They are quite a sight onstage (and they play up this height difference a lot).

Trout Fishing is, I assume, a rather successful band.  They have been around since 1979!  Their first big family friendly record came out in 1991.  Amazingly, given their longevity, they are not opposed to playing small venues.  Two years ago, they played my son’s elementary school.  Which was a hoot.

They came back through the area again and this time they played RVCC.  I’ve said before that RVCC gets some pretty major acts, but I’m not sure exactly what went on with this show.  They played at 1PM and 3:30PM and rather than perform to the audience in the normal theater seats, they let the (much smaller) audience sit on stage with them.

They erected a small stage–big enough for  the two of them and their minimal gear.  The audience chairs were arranged around them in three section and my family got front row seats, approximately ten feet from the mini stage.  It was wonderful.   Since it was the day after T.’s birthday  when Keith asked if it was anyone’s birthday  T. was right up front to get singled out (they said it was okay that her birthday was yesterday).

They played about a dozen songs.  And in between songs, their banter was wonderful.  They told jokes (Keith juggles), they did left brain/right brain challenges (draw a square with one hand and a triangle with other) and they explained to the kids about the instruments they use (they also do musical instruction at schools).   (more…)

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Spencers: Theatre of Illusion (RVCC Arts, Branchburg, NJ, October 13, 2012)

Posted in Branchburg, NJ, C., Doug Hennig, Illusion, Magicians, RVCC Arts, Spencers: Theatre of Illusion, T. on October 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 13, 2012] Spencers: Theatre of Illusion

This past summer, we purchased some subscriptions to many performances coming up at Raritan Valley Community College   Last year I was impressed by the quality of the performances our little community college attracted, and again, this year, the stars are coming out!

We started off our series with this show, a family entertainment (although honestly going until 9 was a little long for T.  It did say that it was recommended for slightly older kids, although this wasn’t so much content as the pacing and lateness of the show).

The Spencers have a fascinating back story (told in the programme and during the show).  Kevin Spencer always wanted to be a magician.  Doug Hennig was a huge inspiration.  At some point in his career he was in a car accident and it changed the nature of his show (although we never learn what the act used to be like). (more…)

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