June 19, 2021
Saturday night, I went to the Cottonwood Mall for the Cirque Italia presentation of Paranormal Cirque.
I know, going to a circus isn’t an outdoor adventure, like hiking, or camping, but this blog isn’t just for that. This blog is to talk about new experiences in general, whether it’s indoors, outdoors, or… outer space…? I guess there aren’t any other options besides indoors or outdoors…
Anyway, I digress.
Pre-Show Dinner
I headed to Casa Taco on Academy and San Mateo. I went to Sawmill Thursday evening for a going away thing for one of my co-workers. I had tacos there, and here I was, two nights later, having tacos again.
Part of the reason I wanted tacos again was because the taco place at Sawmill, Flora Tacos To-Go, doesn’t offer al pastor tacos, which I love. I decided to head to Casa Taco Saturday night because they do have them.
Just about everything I had was delicious.
I finished off my food before heading down Paseo del Norte to the mall.
Arrival and Entrance
As I pulled into the parking lot at the mall, I was greeted with a large amount of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian. There were a lot more people going to this event than I thought would be.
I decided to turn AWAY from the temporary tents in the parking lot and park in front of the lower level of Conn’s furniture store rather than trying to park at the upper level.
As I walked toward the tent, I was immediately thrust back to 2010 – 2013. The upper level of the building that I was walking around housed the haunted attraction for which I had worked. I had a lot of very good memories (and some not so good ones) from those days.
Either way, reminiscing about those times really got me fiending for the Fall, for spooky times, for Halloween.
I presented my ticket at the entrance and was immediately greeted by an entrance to a haunted maze that I’d walk through to get to the main performance area. As if walking around by places where I had spent some awesome times wasn’t enough to throw me back into those times…
I walked through a VERY short maze, a quick 2 minute thing with a handful of actors, some set pieces, and fog machines. Meanwhile, I was looking up at the cross members holding the walls up and noticing makeup and props (as is usually the case for me.)
I made it out of the maze and found the entrance to the main performance tent, which they had somehow managed to air condition. Good thing, too, it was 103 degrees when I got to the mall. I quickly found my seat and settled in.
The arena was much smaller than I was expecting. Maybe 18 or 20 rows in total. The first three or so rows were separated from the section I was in by a narrow walkway, then I was in the third row back (sixth row overall) in that “upper” section, dead center to the performance ring.
As soon as I sat, a vendor came by selling snow cones. I bought one and sat and waited for the show to start.
Let the Show Begin
Shortly after 6:30, the lights dimmed and loud sirens began blaring, filling the arena with sound, as fog machines pumped columns of smoke into the tent. Before long, a chainsaw could be heard and a man came running up the same ramp I had entered through, lit by a follow spotlight. He stopped on the walkway between sections and welcomed us to the show, and the lights went out again.
A heavily modulated voice was then heard over a PA system. The voice was so loud and deeply modulated that it was, at times, difficult to understand him. I did pick up that they discouraged photography and video recording, which was a drag, but that’s OK, I’d rather see the event in person rather than through my phone screen.
I believe he tried to set up some sort of scenario or story but again, was very difficult to understand. The lights came up enough for us to see a crumbling castle façade at the back of the ring. The door in the façade opened and through it walked a robed figure with a plain black fabric covering over his face. He carried a staff that he stomped on the floor in time to the spooky music that played through the PA system. He arrived at the center of the ring and spoke and gesticulated, but, once more, no clue as to what he was saying.
The first act was an acrobatic pair of men in tattered clothes and corpse-like makeup performing some amazing aerial stunts, narrowly avoiding mid-air collisions, flipping and flying through the smoke with ease. Their performance was set to appropriately spooky music, and they were accompanied by a couple of similarly made up women who, from what I could tell, were little more than backup dancers.
Then, we were treated to a tightrope motorcycle ride with a trapeze suspended from the bike. The driver would ride quickly up the rope while the rider suspended below him would contort and hang from the bar in various poses. That act finished with the bike spinning around the rope, the driver and his passenger briefly changing places around the rope.
Next up, the robed and hooded figure carted a cage out to the ring, inside of which was a very thin young man in nothing more than well-work pants. He was let out of the cage and he immediately launched into a contortionist act that predictably made me feel a little ill.
The show continued on with acts including a young woman reminiscent of Samara from The Ring balancing on a post by her hands and firing a bow and arrow with her feet, another young woman representing Regan from The Exorcist suspended by her hair being flown around the tent, a comedic act with a man dressed as a nun picking out four members of the audience to “film a movie” in the center of the arena (this act was hilarious and was largely mimed by the main performer,) an Aerial Silk act (this, I think, was my favorite act of the show), a magic act put on by a vampire (who I believe played the nun in the clown act), and finally a “Wheel of Death” act, which I had always wanted to see in person. It was quite a sight to behold. The entire contraption was about 30 or 40 feet tall, and the man in it was doing some things I have trouble doing on solid, unmoving ground.
The End
After the Wheel of Death, the hooded figure re-emerged and spoke some more, before tearing his robe off to reveal it was the magician/nun the whole time.
The cast came out for a curtain call, during which a large portion of the crowd started leaving, which, from my point of view, is extremely rude. That’s akin to eating at a restaurant and not leaving a tip. I made sure to stay for the final bow, and then I headed out.
I had an absolute blast at this thing. I don’t remember ever having gone to any kind of circus before, so this was a first for me. It really kicked me into gear for fall to arrive.
I’m definitely going to make sure I go to more of these kinds of shows in the future.
As photography wasn’t permitted, I didn’t take any photos except the cover photo for this post.
Stay tuned for a report from a hike that I took today on a new trail in Cedar Crest.
As always, thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you!
-Phil