Monday, October 16, 2006
Charivari
As fewer and fewer shows carry a full Alley of trained and skilled professional clowns Charivaris like this one will become little more than a distant memory. That's too bad becuase the big Charivaris that the Ringling clowns did in the 70s were always a highlight of the show for me.
This clip is from something called "Celebrity Circus"; I'm guessing it's the Aussie (or possibly the UK) equivilent of "Circus of the Stars".
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
It's Australian! A fairly solid clue is the fact that the word "Silvers" appears above the ring curtain, and on the vaulting horse, Silvers being an Australian circus.
Over here in G.B., we've just experienced the start of "Cirque de Celebrite" on much the same basis. Except the Celebrite don't exactly have high profile celebrite!
The actual circus involved is Phillip Gandey's Cirque Surreal.
And I wouldn't say that what we see in the clip here is a charivari. It's a comedy vaulting act, pure and simple.
John.
Can anyone name the music in this clip? It sounds really familiar but I can't place it.
And what is the difference between charivair and comedy vaulting?
The music is called 'Doop Doop'. (THough at the intro there were a few seconds of 'The Pink Panther'.)
Doop Doop was also used by Kristi Yamguchi to perform one of her best skating routines.
--Debbie Gilbert
I have a feeling that the term "Charivari" must mean something different to the American circus buff from that which it means to his British cousin. To me a vauling act might be used as a charivari, but a charivari isn't necessarily a vaulting act.
It's a high energy sequence, normally used at the start of a show to get the audience going and in a receptive mood. Despite looking Italian, the word itself derives from French.
Your definition, please.
John.
Thanks for naming that tune Debbie. I always associated Charivari with the small trampoline and the box that is jumped over behind it. I don't know if that is the way all Americans in the circus world view the word or not. What does everyone else think? Based upon John's description is the British Charivari our "blow off" or am I totally making a mess of things now?
Your "blow off" is our "pay off", surely. The equivalent of the punchline to a verbal joke.
John.
When on Ringling we called the vaulting acts "charivari", whether it was done by the clowns or an act like "The Stupids". On Big Apple, we called the opening "Charivari", and like John said in his earlier post, it's a high energy sequence.
Blow-Off in the clown's world means the pay-off to a gag or entree. To the rest of the circus, it usually means the last chance to hawk novelty items before the public leaves the tent or building.
-Greg
Post a Comment