Oz at the Circus!

This past weekend I attended the Circus Juventas production of Oz. Circus Juventas is a circus training school, which teaches students up to the age of 21 in Cirque du Soleil-style performance techniques.


I’m not terribly interested in seeing another performance of The Movie on stage, but this showed promise of being something different - and it was! While following the basic outline of the film, there were a number of changes made - in part, to allow for the variety of circus acts being presented during the 3 hour performance.

Oz was a good choice for a theme - plenty of opportunities for flying and tumbling and extravagant scenic effects! The tornado sequence was very memorable, with Dorothy literally hanging onto her house for dear life as it spun and rose through the air.

The Poppy Field was also lovely, with the Poppy Queen descending in a voluminous skirt that spread across the stage to form the field. Add to this a surprisingly flexible Glinda floating in a transparent contortionist's bubble, Winged Monkeys performing on flying trapezes, a fire juggling Scarecrow, a rolling Tin Woodman on a cyr wheel and many other excellent varities of circus acts and you have an evening to remember!




After the show the young performers met with the audience and signed autographs for young fans - many not much younger than the performers themselves!