Ingenioso

Ingenioso may be over - but relive the experience by reading just some of the amazing reviews!

St. Louis Post Dispatch

KDHX

St. Louis Beacon

The RiverFront Times

A Magical Power Is at Work in Circus Flora's Ingenioso

To paraphrase a slogan that becamepopular during a recent national election, "It's the charm, stupid" that distinguishes Circus Flora from all other circuses, It's the kind of circus performance that spreads its arms wide and embraces you in a warm and welcoming hug.

The source of that charm emanates, first of all, from the direct address Cecil Mackinnon uses as the clown character Yo-Yo to narrate the story of Don Quixote and his misadventures among windmills and other imagined sources of evil. Who doesn't like being told a story? This one is called Ingenioso, and MacKinnon is its writer/director.

Cervantes story of the Knight errant is, in many ways, given its episodic nature, the perfect story for a circus, and Circus Flora in particular, for it too tilts at windmills, is pure of heart and given to creating fantasies, turning, as it does, children into heroes, horses into gods and earthbound mortals into flyers.

And then there are the babies, the roosters, the miniature mule and twelve white ponies, the goats and the dogs, all of them so close we feel like part of an extended family. And speaking of family there is, besides the charmingly maternalistic Yo-Yo, Giovanni Zoppé as Nino, or in this case, Sancho Panza. Both performers are long standing features of the show. Nino is the adored uncle we see once a year who can't stop trying to provoke us into giggles and guffaws with his slightly silly shenanigans.

Next there is the rambunctious passel of nephews and nieces, who, around Circus Flora are known as the St. Louis Arches. So filled with youthful enthusiasm and energy are they that they can't stop leaping, tumbling, and tossing each other around with seeming abandon.

The ensemble juggling display that covers the erection of the flying net is really a family affair, as well, including among its participants just about all ages and sizes.
But Circus Flora is not all charm and nothing more. All this is in contrast to the slick, graceful professionalism of the adult stars like the exciting Flying Pages, the intimate aerial love-affair presented by the Adamo duo (Andrew Adams and Erika Gilfether), the flashy wire walking of Julien Posada and the lovely aerial duo of Claire Kuciejczyk and Elliana Hentoff-Killian.

There is also the daring of the Riders of the Ring, whose magnificent steeds, along with those of Vince Bruce and Carlos Svenson, and the diminutive animal cast members, which form the perfect union of the awe-inspiring and the
enchanting.

Once the major characters have been introduced, Quixote on a magnificent steed and Panza aboard a mule, our hero is quickly unseated by a windmill, and the circus performance gets off to a roaring start with the entrance of the Riders of the Ring in the guise of conquistadors, who immediately move the
audience to the edges of their seats with daredevil Cossack-style riding.

The horse heavy show then introduces Vince Bruce as an evil knight who arrives riding Roman post aboard a pair of matched Pinto and Overo Paints. From this position he presents a display of rope spinning in two installments that literally encircles the ring and those seated ringside. Working aboard the
horses adds immeasurably to the impact of the act.

Finally the rest of the cast is introduced as patrons of an inn where Quixote spends the night and meets and falls in love with Aldonza, his Dulcinea, in the person of Jennifer Vidbel who is seen tending her farm, which includes amongst its livestock, some talented dogs and goatsihat end up riding a trio of ponies.
Later in the performance Vidbel presents her twelve white ponies in a drill that is paced almost to the point of frenzy and is, for all that, absolutely charming as well.
A finale bit of equestrian magic is presented by Alexandre Sasha Nevidonski. This is, I believe, the third version of this act that I have seen, and it has matured in quite a remarkable way. In the first years Nevidonski worked bare-chested in white tights and created an unmistakable stir in the ladies in the audience with his entrance. Now the sexiness has been excised. Nevidonski wears black pants and the act has developed into a display of synergy between horse and man. Mammut, the fourteen-year-old American Saddlebred is very much into his moves among the folds of the red draped fabric upon which Nevidonski occasionally takes flight. He is as secure and confident as his human co-star, and the act has acquired a new beauty and mysticism.

The youngsters in the cast are first represented by Elliana Hentoff-Killian and Claire Kuciejczyk-Kernan, who present a beautifully choreographed aerial hoop display that every so often catches us unawares and takes our breath away with the daring of its drops and last second catches.

The St. Louis Arches, as irrepressible as ever, have added a bit of banquine to their frenetic display of tumbling and pyramid building. Little Donald has grown a bit, but his love of being tossed around like a human bean bag is undiminished. All in all they are a great deal of fun to watch, for their enthusiasm for performance is absolutely genuine and undisguised.

Since we last saw Andrew Adams and Erika Gilfether, they have become parents. (Theirs is one of the three babies, all less than a year old, who appear in the ring during the scene at the inn and in the finale. The other two children belong to Giovanni Zoppé and his wife, Amy, and Nevidonski and his wife Katherine,nee Binder.) Adams and Gilfether, billed as Adamo, have also been polishing their work with Teatro Zinzanni, and the passion and intimacy of their work together produces a dramatic impact.

Drama and excitement are the stock in trade of the Flying Pages. Here is a flying act that has everything: exquisite form, varied flight patterns and top-rated skills. The triple and passing leap are treats to behold. Jill Pages is still in top form as a flyer and a triple is added by Randy Hobbs.

Nino provides the required laughs in his encounter with a miraculous rooster and the aerial loop-the-loop which never fails to stir the audience to a state of near frenzy and enormous pleasure.

The cheers during the bows at this show inevitably bring to mind the inescapable charms of any family celebration filled with abundant affection and unstinting approval.

The show's scenic design is by Sarah Pearline; costumes by Nina Reed, lighting by Christine Ferriter; Miriam Cutler is the composer and the musical director is Janine Del'Arte, each adding their own touch of charm to the total effect.

Ernest Albrecht
Spectacle Magazine
Summer, 2010
Pages 23-24