Whew! One of the truisms of the theater business is, of course, that the show must go on—even after Jeune Lune’s incredible year. Their recent production of Hamlet was widely acclaimed to be the finest staging of Shakespeare this town has ever seen—which is saying something, given the Guthrie’s longtime stake on that turf. We live in physical and literal times, and the Jeune Lune’s traditional approach to pomp and circumstance in drama—big costumes, stunning sets, lots of action—plays well, we think, to the Fear Factor generation. The Guthrie isn’t the only theater who should be feeling the heat: Now our friends on 2nd Avenue are putting together what looks like a local version of a Cirque du Soleil operation. (Perhaps Jeune Lune operatives learned a few tricks when they hosted Cirque’s gala premiere after-party last summer.) A Circus of Tales is billed as a fairy tale in a circus ring—we suspect it’ll have more narrative direction than a typical Cirque offering, and less of a freak-show-meets-the-X-Games sensibility. (Don’t get us wrong, we love a freak-show-meets-the-X-Games sensibility, but we also don’t mind a little narrative direction.) Theatre de la Jeune Lune, (612) 333-6200, www.jeunelune.org
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