Cirque du Soleil is preparing to debut a new show that has peaked my interest. It's called Banana Shpeel and it's supposedly a "new twist on Vaudeville". I'm such a huge fan of old Vaudeville type acts and it's great to see the Cirque du Soleil people reinventing the genre in a way that only they can. This appears to be taking a lot of classic Vaudeville style elements and redoing them in that one of a kind Cirque du Soleil style. The name comes from the most classic of humor elements, a banana peel, which someone would slip and fall on.


I remember first seeing the Cirque du Soleil people on television years ago and thinking it was so strange and different. Now I've seen them in Las Vegas with their hit show based on the Beatles and they've invaded so many other areas with Broadway style shows that are like nothing else in live entertainment. Cirque du Soleil is almost hard to describe as there are intense visual, acrobatics and contortions with storytelling music and drama. I'm not sure if there's any other show quite like it.

Cirque du Soleil's Banana Shpeel sounds interesting to me because of the Vaudeville elements. I think this is really going to be a show that will appeal to a different crowd than normal Cirque du Soleil shows might. Vaudeville acts are really just variety acts and spawned so many comedy styles like the 3 Stooges, Laurel and Hardy and so many other routines that have become famous today. Banana Shpeel seems to take these ideas and present them in a modern light while paying tribute to those creations of the past.

The story is of Emmet who is after the cheeky Katie and their encounters with so many diverse characters. There is an evil Snidely Whiplash character by the name of Shmelky and a bizarre guy called the Banana Man. I suspect Emmet and Banana Man may end up as comrades.

Check out http://bit.ly/Zefsq to learn more about the show and see when tickets are going on sale in an area near you. It has a show not too far from me that I might check out, I'm sure the girlfriend would love it.