Rache and I really had idea what to expect from this show. For a start we didn’t expect that it would be a one-man show. Impressively, however, that didn’t stop Arturo from delivering what was a charming and engaging show because in fact we must have seen easily hundreds of “cast members.” What do I mean by this? Well, a quick-change artist is literally that: an artist who can change his or her clothes (and consequently character) rather … well … quickly. For example, in the space of about ten seconds and with the use of a disc shaped object he was able to create ten different characters. It was amazing and something to be witnessed first-hand.
That’s not to say it was 80 minutes watching Arturo changing from one costume to another. Spun into the background of this talent is his story which takes us from his current self, to you his younger self, to his older self and all around. For this he takes advantage of a lot of hi-tech stuff – all seemingly contained in this giant box which rotates around on stage and also with the aid of multi-media projects. Its almost indescribable.
Next to his quick changing skills he also demonstrates his hand at being a magician, his puppetry skills, his comedic skills, his story-telling skills and even his skills as a ventriloquist (I suspect it was harder for me to work out the spelling than for Arturo to throw his voice …). Its clear that this is an act that means a lot to him and it showed in every energetic presentation he brought to the stage.
The whole show went so quickly its difficult to remember everything he did. The first thing I recall is that there is a splash zone. So consider yourself warned!
One of the pieces involved his moving through the seasons: autumn, winter, sprint and summer. Another, and favourite of mine, was when he did finger puppetry on to the back wall. Simple but the shapes he formed, like this really cool elephant, were very imaginative. The Hollywood scene where he morphed into one Hollywood legend, such as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, into another, King Kong. Featured also are characters from Star Wars, Jaws, Titanic, Lord of the Rings, E.T, Shrek, Bond movies, Spiderman and Harry Potter even dropped in. The soundtrack was very good in particular for this part of the performance.
All of the whole show revolved around Arturo’s character being nervous about the “final transformation” and as such it was a little self-indulgent. Sadly too such a big deal is made of the “final transformation” that when the time comes for it, and I won’t ruin it too much, I could note nothing too remarkable about it though it was moving and beautiful to see.
It was a truly remarkable show and if there is one thing that really grated on me about the show, and Rache agrees with me, was the fact that we spent the entire show trying to work out how he managed his tricks – and we are still none the wiser. Damn! LOL.
A fabulous and unique show.