'Slava's Snowshow': Tripping the night away

‘SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW’: Yellow clown in storm by Veronique Vial.

SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW
Created & staged by Slava Polunin
Through January 5, 2020
Stephen Sondheim Theatre
124 West 43rd Street
(212-239-6200), www.SlavaOnBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Seeing Slava’s Snowshow may conjure up memories of the hallucinogenic images that people who took “acid” experienced decades ago. In the 1980s, I dropped “acid” at the discos (most notably at The Saint) a few times and had some weird trips. You know those images from what we called “tripping,” where you are sitting on a banquette and you are too “toasted” to move, but the weird images keep floating past you. People having clownish faces, wearing strange outfits, garbled background noise, disconnected music and people just jabbering in front of you. All of it seems like you are in an echo chamber and things keep moving in and out of your head and all around you and you have no control over it. Having been clean for over 30 years now, sitting at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre last night, suddenly all those weird images and sounds resurfaced again.

Slava Polunin is the creator, director, and lead actor, dressed in a yellow bear-like costume with a red scarf along with six fellow actors, all of whom are dressed in similar seafoam shabby green coats (please view pictures for accurate description) and some sort of oversized headwear. By reading the Playbill notes, I discovered that these seven misguided souls are traveling through a winter landscape in search of joy and childhood innocence. Someone should have slipped me a Quaalude to put me on a more even keel in order to find joy and be in touch with my childhood innocence. Then I would have been flying in the same plane as the rest of the actors.

This is not really a pantomime, nor balletic movements, or even as remotely exciting as any show by Cirque Du Soleil; it is just random movements, random squeaky noises, and random effects, such as a cotton curtain-like cobweb floating over the heads of the audience sitting in the orchestra, being pushed to the back of the house and bringing us to the intermission

Act II starts with the audience in the orchestra being sprayed by bottles of water to simulate rain. Considering it was about 30 degrees Fahrenheit last night, one didn’t need to go out of the theatre wet. Also be prepared to have a high/low voice along with the actors. You have to be there to understand that one, and you will be pelted by tons of paper confetti from all sides.

The pièce de résistance is the finale. I must caution you that if you wear contact lenses, make sure your eyes are covered, because you need both hands to protect them for what’s in store for you. During the mandatory standing ovations now, you will also have a chance to bounce huge balls around the theatre with your fellow audience members.

Although Slava’s Snowshow is not for everyone, it has played around the world and won an Olivier Award and other accolades, despite what critics like I may think. I recall reading some wise man stating “too many empty Broadway houses gives the opportunity for too many shows that were meant for Off-Broadway to have a place on Broadway this season.”

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 13, 2019
Reviewed at November 12, 2019 press performance.