bananaspin: KAOS - Eye Candy

My mom and dad celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary last March 1. My dad decided to treat us to Kaos, a musical play-cum-circus and acrobatic extravaganza now playing at the Newport Performing Arts Center in Resorts World Manila.

The story, according to the show's site:

In a medieval kingdom, a lonely prince peers into a magical mirror and falls in love with a beautiful maiden from the future. As the past and the future converge, the two discover a love that transcends time and overcomes seemingly impossible odds.This is the story of KAOS, a visual and musical spectacle unlike anything Manila has ever seen

I won't go into detail, but the story shows how he finds her, of course there's a conflict, and their "happily ever after". Then there's a smattering of circus acts in between which they tried to incorporate into the story.

It was an eye-popping visual performance that definitely sent kids (and ladies, probably the younger kind because we were seated next to a bunch of Tourism Management students on study tour) squealing in delight.

My definite favorite was an act called the Human Time Machine, which was soort of a pendulum powered by two men with really great balancing skills. Then I also liked The Cycle of Life , where 5 motorcycle daredevils did heart-stopping stunts while confined in a tiny globe. I had to ask myself, at what point in one's life does one aspire to be a daredevil?

You actually watch this show for the circus acts and not for the story. The story was very "pilit" - which was not good for me because I had very high expectations and was looking forward to a musical play! The costumes were really, REALLY good. As for the actors , singers, dancers = I've seen better! Ah, but the Philippine All-Stars had a cool hip-hop number :-)

The circus acts came from all over the world and were really top quality. You can see that they really spent a lot for it. I appreciated it when they did one act at a time, but there was a portion when too much was happening onstage! It was a HUGE stage with a 3d backdrop (fun to watch by itself) , then a bunch of different groups doing different dances all at the same time, somebody trying to act out the story, some acrobats doing sky dancing, some animals on another side.... it was KAOS turned CHAOS.

Overall, I can say that Kaos was made up of really great acts that didn't quite blend. Or maybe I just think too much. So again, watch it for the visual effects (THUMBS up!) , but don't expect to experience a substantial story. Yay! also for the theater which was huge and spacious, with matching widescreens that showed Chinese and Korean subtitles. Boo! to poor theater etiquette, they allowed latecomers to come in even after the show already started and it was sooo distracting. ( I can't believe how late other people can get! Almost half of the audience came late!).

P.S The big cats they had were also awesome. They had a big white lion and a white tiger. They were beautiful, but I felt kind of sorry for the circus animals doing the tricks and then getting fed meat that was thrown on the ground... the audience can have their photos taken with Sito, the white tiger for Php600 (1 photo) and Php1000 (2 photos).