Running Away With the Circus: Theatre That's Making Me Happy Today, vol 16

Cirque du Soleil's Kooza under Le Grand Chapiteau

Call me crazy, but I generally have found the Cirque du Soleil shows I've seen to be underwhelming. Even O at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas is not, in my opinion, all it's cracked up to be. Make no mistake, I very much respect the skill and artistry every Cirque show features, but I just haven't found them all that exciting.

Until Kooza.

Kooza is running in San Francisco right now, and it is amazing. I probably like this show more than the other Cirque shows I've seen because it most resembles a traditional circus. Without the bearded ladies and abused animals, that is. Acrobats, contortionists, clowns, trapeze artists, tight-rope walkers, comedy... Kooza has it all. And the result is truly phenomenal. I'm not going to waste your time trying to give you a play by play because Kooza needs to be experienced.

Just go see it, if you can. I'm no acrobat, but sometimes I'd like to run away with the circus.

Prior to the show, Gretchen and I swung by Tony Nik's for a couple of cocktails. We used to go to Tony Nik's all the time before Gretchen had her baby and Tony Nik's was overrun by the many annoying people who hang out there now. But last night the bar wasn't crowded, and Devon very sweetly recreated for me a vanilla-apple cocktail I'd had at Palomino a couple of weeks ago. It was just like old times. "Old times" being 2003 through 2005, by the way.

Cocktails and the circus? That's one good Wednesday night.