Circus Contraption is riding the crest of a third wave of American vaudeville, with nods to old variety shows and their second, psychedelic incarnation, epitomized by acts like the Flying Karamazov Brothers. The revival is on the rise, with its surreally sinister twist on 19th-century nostalgia: burlesque shows, fallen accordion ingénues, and carnival-themed events are popping up left and right. Admittedly, this growing cirque chic can be irritatingly overdone, coming off like a tarted-up, gothy vision of Alice Cooper-meets-Cabaret. But Circus Contraption is among the best of this third wave, with the ability and imagination to impress audiences and avoid cliché.
The group began performing as a duo in 1998, but they sprang into a full-on circus with their debut show at the 1999 Seattle Fringe Festival (RIP). The results were encouraging enough to send them back to the next year's festival and on a series of West Coast and Midwest tours.
"Grand American Traveling Dime Museum was inspired in large part by things we encountered on tour," says acrobat Evelyn Bittner. "It's our most elaborate show so far, with the theme of cheap popular entertainments in early America. We saw some amazing tourist attractions on the road, like the Musée Mécanique in San Francisco and a hydraulically operated full orchestra in Wisconsin. "
Stimulated by the trip, artistic director Lara Paxton researched the aesthetics of vintage distraction--music boxes, nickelodeons, burlesque, games of skill, curiosity shops--and the Contraptioneers wrote bits around the theme.
"America had a lot of curiosity about the world and naiveté," Bittner says. "A sense of wonder and fascination with human oddities, found objects, and cultural artifacts Americans didn't understand at the time." The group says this is their most ambitious show to date, and it sounds like a raucous treat.
"We're not really actors," says Sari Breznau, who won last year's Pizzazz! talent show as her Opera Diva character. "And this isn't really theater--it's more like a big party with the audience."
