Parking tip: When you enter the Atlantic Station parking deck, decline to buy Cirque du Soleil parking, which is $10. Instead, just get a regular Atlantic Station parking ticket. When you leave, pay at one of the pay stations in the parking deck. If you stay 2-3 hours, parking is $4. If you stay 3-4 hours, parking is $6. If you stay 4-5 hours, parking is $8. The only reason to pay Cirque du Soleil's official parking rate is if you plan on staying at Atlantic Station for over 6 hours, which would regularly cost you $12 or more. To see Atlantic Station's full parking rate schedule, visit: http://atlanticstation.com/parking/.
The show lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes including a 25-minute intermission, so you'll most likely spend only $4-6 on parking using the above method. If you plan on getting dinner in Atlantic Station before or after the show, then you'll probably pay $6-8.
With that out of the way, on to my review...
KURIOS: Cabinet of Curiosities is Cirque's show for Atlanta in 2016. Like the Cirque shows before it, it takes place under the big top ("Grand Chapiteau") in Atlantic Station. The show's run in Atlanta goes from March 3 to May 8, 2016.
My friends and I attended the Tuesday, March 15 show at 8pm. Former President Jimmy Carter was in the house! That was pretty cool. He was surrounded by his wife, entourage, and Secret Service. KURIOS was my 5th Cirque show. All the ones I've seen have been in Atlanta. Ever since I saw my first Cirque show, I've gone back every time it's come to town. The performances are just so fun, mesmerizing, and entertaining. Here are the shows I've been to:
* Kooza - January 23, 2009
* Ovo - November 18, 2010
* Totem - November 3, 2012
* Amaluna - October 28, 2014
* Kurios - March 15, 2016
At this point, all the shows are sort of blending together for me and I can't definitively say if I like one show over another. They're all great in my opinion. If you've never been to a Cirque show, you should definitely go. I know I will continue to go to them. I haven't gotten bored of them (yet).
That said, the shows are getting somewhat repetitive. Each show is its own grandiose production. It's got its own theme, storyline, characters, and music. However, several of the underlying stunts, tricks, performances, amazing feats of human ability, etc. are the same or similar between shows. That's not to take anything away from the performers because all of them are flat-out amazing. Their skill level is incredible.
Without going back and reading my reviews of past Cirque shows, here are the highlights I remember from each one I went to:
* Kooza - chair stacking to the top of the tent, the Wheel of Death
* Ovo - performers juggling giant pieces of fruit with their feet, trampoline/wall performance
* Totem - nothing comes to mind
* Amaluna - the fish bowl swimming act
* Kurios - chair stacking, tube balancing, hand puppets
To this day, nothing has come close to the breathtaking Wheel of Death act I saw in Kooza. If you don't know what that is, here's a video to give you an idea: https://youtu.be/ytb-HG7nsX8.
KURIOS has a really neat steampunk theme. Acts included (I've tried to put them in order to the best of my recollection):
1. Musical/dance intro medley with all performers
2. Man/woman somersault duo - the man swung the woman through the air with all sorts of flips, twists, and turns
3. Contortionists - absolutely cringe-inducing, but in a good way
4. Chair stacking - in KURIOS, they stack chairs from both the stage *and* the top of the tent. I love it.
5. Tube balancing - a man balances on a stack of tubes while suspended high above the stage. This blew my mind.
6. Trampoline net acrobats - choreographed high-flying act
7. Shirtless, ripped, flying strap dude - I thought this was by far the least interesting act, but I'm sure the ladies loved it
8. Swinging, hanging, bike lady - this lady did all these feats while hanging from a wide-swinging bike in mid-air
9. Yo-Yo performance - extremely impressive yo-yo skills on display
10. Hand puppetry - this one was the most fun and creative!
11. Acrobats - wow, these guys jump like Super Mario
Interspersed throughout these acts were silly, comedic, or whimsical acts such as an invisible circus, a prop plane scene, and one of the performers acting like a cat towards an audience member he had pulled on stage. If all this sounds far out, that's because it is. With Cirque du Soleil, you have to let your imagination run wild. I'm always a fan of the beautiful set design, the colorful, funny, and zany cast of characters/performers, and the live music which really transports you into another world.
When it comes to Cirque in the Grand Chapiteau, there aren't many bad seats in the house. I purchased a LivingSocial pre-sale deal for our group. For $50 per person, we got seats in Section 203, Row L (nice view) and each of us got free popcorn, a drink, & a souvenir. read more