NYC Theater Review: 'Zarkana' is Cirque du Soleil's Latest, Outrageous Hit

In the Broadway musical Chicago, fast-talking bon vivant lawyer Billy Flynn sings his heart out about "razzle dazzling 'em" -- and I have to admit this show-stopping number (officially titled "Razzle Dazzle") never fails to run through my head every time Cirque du Soleil comes to town with a new show. Cirque does, after all, break all barriers when it comes to delivering colossal phantasmagorical razzmatazz.

This year, however, the endlessly inventive Cirque masterminds are taking their "new acrobatic spectacle" of a show, Zarkana, to even more staggering heights - which is saying a lot considering the company's reputation for jaw-dropping aerial maneuvers.  

Nevertheless, the Canadian-based troupe's one-upmanship DNA has them premiering Zarkana not in their customary blue and white tent on Randall's Island, but rather in one of the world's most legendary landmark theaters: Radio City Music Hall in midtown Manhattan.

The unprecedented move comes courtesy of the size and sizzle of Zarkana. Only the massive Music Hall, where you've probably spent at least one holiday outing watching the Rockettes "turn-turn-kick-turn" in full Santa regalia, was able to accommodate what is being heralded as Cirque du Soleil's most mammoth (and extravagant) production to date.

But the "yowza" factor doesn't stop there. Zarkana, written and directed by acclaimed film and theater director François Girard (The Red Violin, Silk), was explicitly designed for the state-of-the-art theater at Radio City Music Hall. This, of course, means you can expect the most magical of Cirque illusions to be everywhere, including above your head and in the aisles (clowns on the loose alert!).

A pop-up book of awesomeness, Zarkana (a combination of the words "bizarre" and "arcana," the latter meaning "mystery" or "secret"), fuses a stunning collection of 71 circus artists from across the globe with a captivating storyline set in a visually bizarre, highly suspenseful otherworld. (The visionary design team for this show has transformed the Radio City stage into an abandoned theater from another era. They've even created a huge crack in the back wall that reveals the city in the rain.)

The central character in the show is a magician named Zark, who has lost his love and, with her, his powers. His desperate pleas for her return magically plunge the lovelorn hero into a shape-shifting odyssey where enchanted creatures fearlessly perform spellbinding feats against a series of breathtaking backdrops, including a floral fantasy of perfect roses, a silvery realm of shimmering orbs, and a spider-web of surreal proportions.