Today in Las Vegas Magazine

FINDING THE Z SPOT

I’m a Zumanity newbie, it’s almost embarrassing to admit that I hadn’t seen the show up until two weeks ago – and what a delightful surprise it was. For starters, it didn’t feel like a “Cirque” show – while it had the usual Cirque component of talented dancers, gymnasts, aerialists, it also included dialogue and more to the point, audience participation. This show is supposed to be “the sensual side of Cirque du Soleil,” and while it is so, it’s also the cozier and more intimate version.

The theater seats over a thousand people, and yet, it feels like you’re part of a select few, witnessing the show. Perhaps it has something to do with the stage set-up and the fact that the performers come in and out via the aisles, and not just through the sidestage. You can literally touch them, as in most instances where (depending on where you’re seated) you could be shoulder-to-shoulder with some member of the cast.

Patterned after a burlesque/cabaret production, the show is all campy, good fun, oozing sex and sexuality, with comedic elements thrown in, lest you think it’s taking itself too seriously or making some kind of statement. Various acts, featuring “artistic” interpretations of sexual proclivities and fetishes, make-up the production; all of which are tied together by the host, “Edie, The Mistress of Sensuality,” played by Christopher Kenney. There’s the schoolgirl in a mini-skirt, doing amazing things with hula hoops; there’s the “waterbowl” scene – for some woman-to-woman action; then there’s “rose boy” (aka “Willie Bronco”) doing a striptease act; some scenes which look to me like a foray into “S&M;” and then of course, Empress Louise, who has a fetish for, uh, bondage and leather straps; a couple having a bath, and on and on.

You might think, while reading this, that this show is merely a gratuitous exercise in showing some skin and simulating sex, but it isn’t. Granted, if all you want to see is a topless show, then Zumanity might be too “artsy” for you. Maybe it’s a case of “Vegas ennui,” but I don’t believe there was anyone in the audience that was shocked (or offended, for that matter) at anything they saw. Personally, the only time I got a bit squeamish was during the contortionist act, but that was more from fear of seeing bone pop through flesh, more than anything else.

A couple of stand-out acts are worth mentioning. The first one being the waterbowl – just for the sheer effect of it – where else but in Vegas and in a Cirque show would you see something resembling a giant fishbowl containing two semi-nude, frolicking women? For me, the most intimate was Empress Louise’s solo act; it was perhaps the only time during the entire show that the audience was in complete silence – the only sounds you hear are her gasps and moans. This segment will make you feel that you’ve stumbled onto something very, very private. The most applause has got to go to the male striptease act, or “rose boy” Willie Bronco, which got the crowd (men and women alike) pumped-up and raring to go. Also, the audience plays a part in the show’s success, depending, I suppose on who you get for the evening. On our night, a couple, who were celebrating their 32nd wedding anniversary, gamely danced on stage; another lady, who wasn’t “feeling sexy” participated wholeheartedly in the “orgy” scene; a businessman showed us his version of “express dating;” and more. Bet you never expected a Cirque show to have audience participation. That said, don’t sit in the first few rows, if you don’t want to get called on stage. Here’s a tip: we sat in “Row G” which is close enough to see all the action, but far enough not to get called on stage. Whatever the case, and wherever your passions lie, when you see Zumanity, Be game, Be open, Be zumane.

-Rachel M. Sugay

Zumanity
Zumanity Theatre, New York-New York. Show times are 7:30 and 10:30 p.m., Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday-Sunday. Dark Monday and Thursday. Tickets are $69, $79, $99 and $129. For audiences 18 years of age and older only. 702-740-6815.