To even mention Saltimbanco in the same sentence with the traveling cardboard cut out we saw last night would only insult the memory of Cirque and it's beginning.

Missing was the crisp and flashy, the exciting and the fluid and in it's place a 3 rate garage band and second rate floor acts who lack timing and skill.

The show opens with a loud disorganized high school like gathering of cast members to sing the intro. Off key and barely in time it goes downhill from there.

Eddie the jester who appears from time to time during the show to mime his imaginary encounters with the world around him turns in filler. Normally the interludes would last but a few minutes, with immediate audience involvement and engagement. During this performance however it became obvious even to the couple sitting behind us that this guy was killing time.

Saltimbanco is the longest traveling show in Cirque history. It began with something exciting the likes the world has never seen. With the commercial success of permanent shows in Las Vegas and Disney World the traveling version of Cirque has become a much watered down and pale shell of it's former self. A victim of it's own success.

If this is your first exposure to Cirque save your money for a trip to Las Vegas and buy the DVD.