Olivier Lemieux training for what must be a fantastic act. Cirque du Soleil seems determined to demonstrate that it’s their Matrix, and the rest of us are just living in it.

It pains me to write this, having been blown away by the five Cirques du Soleil I've seen previously (Saltimbanco, Quidam, Mystere, Alegria, and Dralion), but Varekai was merely very good. The other shows were entrancing/spectacular/[insert your favorite superlative here] from beginning to end. But Varekai? Sure, we enjoyed the show, and it got the standing ovation, but really I only stood up so I could see over everybody else who felt compelled to leap to their feet. Here's where it fell short (note that these are all things the other shows delivered beautifully):

• The unifying theme wasn't all that unifying. I still don't know what some stuff was supposed to represent.
• The clowns, for the first time, were very Ringling Brothers. Not that there's anything wrong with Ringing Brothers clowns, but until now the CdS clowns have been very distinctive, uniquely hysterical, and well-integrated (see note above regarding the weak theme).
• I do not, for the first time, feel any desire to buy the music for the show. I understand the dissonance was intentional, but was it really necessary to shine blinding lights into my eyes to underscore the discomfort?
• The acts were varying degrees of amazing, but not as uniformly as in years past. I don't think it's that I've seen too many of these shows, but perhaps.

All that said, it was money well spent and I'd go again. Five fabulous shows and one entertaining one is still quite a track record.