Interview: ‘Twas the Night Before is a Stunning Holiday Circus Show

Cirque du Soleil returns to Boston this week with their holiday season based on the poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, in Boston’s theatre district. It’s a living story, more than just a seasonal variety show. The plot centers on Isabella, a teenage girl who feels she’s outgrown the old family tradition of reading the poem on Christmas Eve. But when the poem itself begins to spring to life, she and her father are whisked into a whimsical, upside-down world filled with enchantment, reindeer, aerial acrobats and dancing elves.

We saw the preshow and there is a lot to be excited about! (Check back for our full review in a few days.) It’s a full spectacle of acrobats, aerialists, clowns, and dancers. Cirque du Soleil is known for weaving together breathtaking physicality with immersive theatrical design, and “Twas the Night Before” is no exception. Every element from lighting, music, choreography, and character works in harmony to create a seamless holiday world onstage. The set itself glows like an enormous, living snow globe, pulling you straight into the magic.

Through the course of the show, Isabella’s journey becomes a surprising rediscovery with a chance to fall in love with Christmas all over again. With 26 performers from around the globe, an original soundtrack reinterpreting classic holiday music, and dazzling theatrical and acrobatic sequences inspired by lines from the poem itself, the production aims to capture the sound, the spectacle and most importantly, the heart of the season.

With tickets starting at just $36, it could be a new holiday tradition for families, friends, or anyone who loves a bit of festive sparkle.

For more, see bochcenter.org. Publicist Claire Anter and two performers very kindly agreed to speak with us.

Events INSIDER: So this circus show is not just for kids, right? Tell us more.

Claire Anter: Exactly. We have been in Boston with this show before, but that was a few years ago and we obviously bring a new cast with us, and I think over the years we’ve really fine-tuned the craft that you’re going to be seeing on stage here. We’ve made acts bigger and better.

Claire Anter: This show really is all about the holidays, all about families. It’s a tradition. We see a lot of returning audience members. There’s that familiar quality to the show. You hear the songs that you grew up hearing, but then there’s a cool reimagined twist that’s Cirque du Soleil.

Events INSIDER: If I’m Jewish, can I come to this show?

Claire Anter: Absolutely. You have roller skaters. You have incredible dancers who I have here today. Kids enjoy it because there’s magic, there’s snow, there’s dancing, there’s juggling, and then teens and adults are just wowed by the acrobatics. We have a hotel cart. We have a contortionist aerialist on a hotel cart, like how clever is that?

Events INSIDER: Is it audience-interactive?

Claire Anter: Our Diablos, it’s like a yo-yo, and they call two audience members to come on stage. They get wrapped in the Diablo and you’ll have to come and see it for yourself.

Claire Anter: I love this show and Cirque really brings to life something magical and I am not just saying this. I’ve seen a lot of Cirque shows. This by far is one of my favorites.

Events INSIDER: Got it, and Austin and Joanne you are performers in the show, obviously.

Joanne Daquigan: Yes, we’re the dancers. This is actually our first stop for performances, but we were staging in Montreal. We were there for over a month.

Austin Gutierrez: It’s so crazy. Everyone spoke so many languages. I don’t understand anything.

Events INSIDER: So what do you do in the show?

Austin Gutierrez: We’re the dance group. So there’s six of us and we’re kind of like a thread throughout the show. We come out and kind of accent the different performances.

Events INSIDER: Like the clowns, right?

Austin Gutierrez: Yeah, pretty much.

Joanne Daquigan: We have had to take clowning classes to solidify our characters, but our characters are called the Tuques. We are secret elves that get revealed as it goes on.

Events INSIDER: Oh, and you keep the energy going between performances, right?

Joanne Daquigan: You always will see us.

Austin Gutierrez: We’re out there causing mischief and running around.

Events INSIDER: What a dream for you to be touring with Cirque du Soleil.

Austin Gutierrez: Oh yeah.

Joanne Daquigan: It’s also just really refreshing because growing up, you think of Cirque du Soleil as the axe and the aerialists and the flipping and all that, but I never knew there was dance in Cirque until about two or three years ago, and so getting to be a part of the small community that Cirque has is amazing.

Events INSIDER: This is such a naive question, but how do you convey emotion with dance?

Austin Gutierrez: I feel like it comes from, like you have language. We use our body language, so we don’t really express it and project it through movement. If we want to be sad, we can bring our energy down or bring it up if we want to portray happy.

Joanne Daquigan: And that was actually something that I had to adjust myself because I think for me, acting didn’t come as naturally.

Joanne Daquigan: With this show and with the energy of the show, you kind of had to learn how to be expressive with your face and your movement and taking bonding classes helps us.

Events INSIDER: That’s great. I’m sure that you get audience response and laughter too.

Joanne Daquigan: Oh yeah, we’re kind of funny.

Austin Gutierrez: Yeah, we’re kind of funny. They laugh at us all the time.

Joanne Daquigan: We’re also just so silly, our characters. You always laugh at the calm. We’re the comedic relief.

Events INSIDER: What’s it like working at Cirque du Soleil? Is it what you expected?

Austin Gutierrez: I would say that meeting all the acrobats, one thing I learned is that they’re so disciplined. They’re all back there just training all day long. Some are just standing on their hands all day.

Joanne Daquigan: We’ve also gotten the opportunity to learn stuff from them as well. He started to learn to balance stuff on his face.

Austin Gutierrez: Yeah, like balancing stuff or juggling and stuff.

Joanne Daquigan: Two of our dancers also love the [aerial] straps as well. So we’ve definitely found a community within us artists and it’s so amazing because we all come from different places.

Events INSIDER: So it sounds like you feel really supported.

Austin Gutierrez: Yeah, it’s fun. Very wholesome.

Joanne Daquigan: And that’s why we were always told that you can tell that from our chemistry on stage. We’re so close and you got to have chemistry with a show like this.

Austin Gutierrez: When we did our training, we got a handful of hours with Rock. He’s one of the original clowns at Cirque du Soleil. He has so much experience and then when we trained, it almost didn’t feel like training. We’re playing the whole time. We’re playing games.

Austin Gutierrez: It almost felt like we were playing or kind of getting in touch with our inner child. That’s what it felt like.

Joanne Daquigan: And there were so many things that you had to think about. It wasn’t just acting. It was how many breaths do you have between every moment? What’s the moment before? What do you see over there? Why are you looking up? It’s a lot of things. It’s not just, “Oh, I can act and I go into a show.” You actually rewired your brain to think something different.

Events INSIDER: Thank you so much for speaking with us.