‘Wintuk’ returns to Madison Square Garden for holidays

Non-verbal circus show is strictly kids' stuff

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

A winter holiday attraction devised for the kindergarten crowd by Cirque du Soleil, "Wintuk" re-opened this past weekend for its third season at Madison Square Garden.

Essentially a non-verbal entertainment, the two-hour (plus 20-minute intermission) show is driven more by its shimmering New Age-style musical scoring than by a story.

The first act presents a series of energetic circus routines — bikers, rollerbladers, skateboarders, jugglers, tumblers, a comical tight rope solo — performed against a wintry urban background.

After the pre-teen title figure (who could be either a boy or girl) gets his/her wish to see snow, the second act presents another series of circus routines now performed against an arctic background.

The first act environment features four sinuous street lamps with long-lashed faces that swivel around to watch the action and sometimes croon music. The second act later features several large, blocky, ice monsters not nearly as scary looking as those puppets depicting the street lamps.

Despite the general excellence of the circus performers, the problem with "Wintuk" is that all too often viewers are watching a couple of acrobats or jugglers doing their thing in the middle of a 100-foot-long stage. Some action is provided along the peripheries, but the letterbox-shaped portal of the WaMu Theatre stage tends to squeeze a good deal of the potential excitement out of kinetic entertainment.

The show concludes in a paper blizzard of white and blue snowflakes cascading down upon the audience who seemed to be as pleased by that effect as anything else they witnessed.

Anyone escorting youngsters to "Wintuk" should be warned that the MSG concession prices, while not as outrageous as their ballpark counterparts, are fairly steep: $5.50 hot dog, $5.25 large popcorn, $5 Snapple, $4.95 bottled water, $4.50 soft drink, etc. Look out for the blue and white cotton candy paired with a jester's cap being hawked in the auditorium for $12.

The MSG management does not provide a free playbill but instead sells a souvenir program for $15. Believe me, you can follow the show just fine without a program. For that matter, you might skip this chilly affair entirely and instead take the kids to The Big Apple Circus, which offers quite a good time in much more intimate surroundings.

"Wintuk" continues through Jan. 3 at Madison Square Garden, 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue, New York. Call (212) 307-1000 or visit www.cirquedusoleil.com.