Cirque The Greatest Show: Theatre Review

Cirque The Greatest Show is a blend of West End musical songs and circus acts. It’s an enjoyable night out at the theatre – maybe not ‘The Greatest Show’ like its name suggests, but still good fun. Here’s my Cirque The Greatest Show theatre review.

Overview of Cirque The Greatest Show

Cirque The Greatest Show, as its name suggests, leans heavily into the theme of the popular film The Greatest Showman. There are circus acts, all performed alongside some of the top hits from musicals. My Cirque The Greatest Show theatre review is mostly positive – it’s an enjoyable show to see.

The Songs

The opening songs are from The Greatest Showman, where three singers (two male, one female) sing some of the well-known songs from the film, such as A Million Dreams and The Greatest Show. After performing three songs from The Greatest Showman, the show goes on to showcase hits from other musicals. There are songs from musicals including Hairspray, Moulin Rouge, Rocketman, Mamma Mia, and Miss Saignon. And the show finishes with a few more songs from The Greatest Showman.

Circus Acts

Behind the singers, circus variety acts perform throughout the show. There are trapeze artists who perform aerial acorbats on a hoop high above the stage. There’s a quick change act, where the two performers change costumes in just a few seconds, repeatedly throughout their set. There’s a man who spins in a hoop (it’s honestly a lot more impressive than it sounds) and who spins a cube around (again, a lot more impressive than it sounds!). And there’s also a contortionist, and plenty of dancing and gymnastics as well.

Silent Film Man

Linking all the sets together is the black and white, silent film character. He’s the main story behind the show – this show doesn’t really have a storyline, but this character gives it a bit of a story and links the sets of the songs from different musicals. At the beginning, we see him as a black and white character, getting a new TV. He presses play on the TV, and in a huge burst of colour we see the first song/dance act. And then after a few songs from a certain musical, the singers/other performers head off-stage and we see the Silent Film Man again. He doesn’t a few mime-type jokes. And he also does some audience interaction, which was actually really funny. And then after a few minutes, he presses ‘play’ on his TV and we see the next song/performance. It’s a fun way of linking together the performances, and fills the costume-change breaks nicely.

What I liked about Cirque The Greatest Show

I thought the three main singers in Cirque The Greatest Show were really good. I really enjoyed their covers of the West End songs. The song selection was enjoyable as well – I recognised all of the songs they did from the various musicals and really enjoyed hearing the slightly different version live on stage. I thought most of the songs they chose were a good fit and it was enjoyable to see them live.

I also really enjoyed the variety of the circus acts. To be honest, I’ve mainly seen these circus acts on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent. I’m not sure I’ve seen many of them live before. So I really enjoyed having the chance to see such a wide variety of acts live. And I loved that this show gave this type of act a space to perform. I enjoy these acts and I think it’s so important that shows like this raise the popularity of these acts so there’s a space for them and they don’t die out.

What I wasn’t so sure about

I enjoyed watching this show, but for me there weren’t too many ‘wow’ moments. The circus acts were enjoyable, but it felt like none of them were jaw-droppingly amazing. There were a few things that went wrong in some of the acts, and others just felt fairly safe and predictable. There wasn’t any fire-juggling, like one of the posters had advertised. And there just weren’t many other ‘I can’t believe they just did that’ moments. I get that the performers were constrained by a fairly small stage – I saw the show in Swindon, which doesn’t have a huge theatre. But I think there might have been room for just a few more ‘spectacular’ moments, rather than just being a nicely enjoyable show.

Would I recommend Cirque The Greatest Show?

My Cirque The Greatest Show theatre review is mostly positive, so I would recommend going to see it. It’s definitely an enjoyable evening out, especially if you love the songs from West End musicals as much as I do. Even if the circus performances aren’t jaw-dropping, they’re still really enjoyable. It’s a nice, enjoyable evening out. Check out the UK tour dates here.

Hope you enjoyed reading my Cirque The Greatest Show theatre review!  If you’d like to see more shows in the UK, check out my latest theatre reviews here. Seeing a show at a theatre is a great thing to do in any UK city, and makes a great evening out when you’re travelling in the UK. Check out more top things to do in the UK here.