Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: San Francisco/North Bay


Luzia—A Waking Dream of Mexico
Cirque du Soleil
National tour

Review by Richard Connema | Season Schedule

Also see Richard's reviews of Absolutely Fabulous and The King and I and Patrick's review of H.M.S. Pinafore


The Cast
Photo by Matt Beard
Cirque du Soleil's Luzia—A Waking Dream of Mexico is having its American premiere at AT&T Park, running through January 29, 2017. Set and props designer Eugenio Caballero along with director Patricia Ruel present a waking dream of a show that takes you to an imaginary Mexico where you experience a wondrous world of light and sound. There is a fantastic, surreal menagerie: a running woman (Shell Epstein) with spreading butterfly wings who signifies the annual migratory journey from Canada to Mexico; a magnificent steel jaguar and horse operated by two men; a giant dancing cockroach; and guitarists with crocodile heads. There are cactus walking and dancing, festooned with colorful hummingbirds. There is also a pristine waterfall in the center of the stage where a ballet is performed, and a giant Mayan golden stone orb graces the left side of the large round stage. If that is not enough, there is the original music of Canadian composer Simon Carpentier sung beautifully by Majo Cornejo accompanied by Rodrigo de la Mora on guitar.

There are also amazing acts of trapeze, juggling, contortion, scuba diving, and more, with Eric Fool Koller from the Netherlands as a clown traveler wandering into the proceedings and interacting. I was particularly awe stuck by contortionist Aleksey Goloborodko from Russia; he does amazing things with his body. And strong man Ugo Laffolay balances on his hands on poles stacked higher and higher in the air. There was also a juggling act by Rudolf Janecek from the Czech Republic.

I have seen a lot of Cirque shows in Las Vegas and this compares with the best of them.

Luzia plays at AT&T Park, 24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco, through January 29, 2017. It then moves to San Jose at the Taylor Street Bridge - E Lot from February 9th to March 19. For ticket and other information about the tour, visit https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/luzia.