Tokyo Weekender - April 2016

By Natalie Jacobsen
“Totem,” the third Cirque du Soleil show to come to
Japan, is the company’s most ambitious production yet
It all starts with The Crystal Man. Glittering
and curled up, he drops slowly from the
ceiling. The 4,000 mirror pieces that make
up his costume sparkle in the spotlight as
he dips towards the stage. His commanding
presence, hovering over the giant turtle carapace
stage set, summons the “frog people” to
rise from their slumber, bringing a spark into
the show. With a beat of the drums, the fire
catches, and life begins.
Cirque du Soleil’s “Totem” has been on
tour for the last 6 years, traipsing around the
planet to 30 cities in 12 countries, entertaining
nearly 4 million. Much of the core cast has
remained intact, with just a few performers in
rotation. “Totem” is the third Cirque du Soleil
show to appear in Japan (“Michael Jackson:
The Immortal World Tour” and “Zed” were its
predecessors).
This is the second Cirque du Soleil show
for creator Robert Lepage. Although it follows
his prior “Ka” with its exploration of love and
humanity, “Totem” is a “stand-alone performance.”
Each time the show takes up residence
in a new city, it is slightly reconstructed with
local audiences in mind. “The music is adapted
to please the [country’s] audience culturally,”
Lepage explained in an earlier interview.
Though there is no set script in the show, one
clown character, Valentino, defies the “body
language only” rule—and while he babbles
away in Italian for the most part, many zingers
are in Japanese, inciting giggles from children.
One of the fundamental components of the
Cirque du Soleil experience is their hallmark
usage of the “Big Top” tents, harking back
to days of rustic circuses on the outskirts of
French cities. Their trademark yellow and blue
tent is taken down and rebuilt in each place
it travels to, with stadium seating and earthquake-proof
framing. As if by magic, it looks
far too small from the outside to hold all that
the show entails, including an audience several
hundred strong. The audience sits around the
stage, atypical of stage performances. Said
artistic director Neelanthi Vadivel of the theater
layout: “It’s very intimate. The audience is close
to the action, so it’s a beautiful experience.”
“Totem” follows the evolution of life,
from the amphibian stage to a distant future.
“[Lepage] really wanted it to jump back and
forth through different time periods, different
locations on the globe,” explains Vadivel.
“We’re trying to tell everybody’s story.”
Each of the dozen acts embodies a particular
time and place, and highlights a different
Left: OSA Images Costumes: Kym
Barrett © 2010 Cirque du Soleil ©
2015 Fuji Television
Below: Matt Beard Costumes: Kym
Barrett © 2014 Cirque du Soleil
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