Paramour NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (750)
See it if enjoy glitzy extravaganzas
Don't see it if your experience is limited to learned and erudite dramas Read more
See it if you like love stories plus acrobatics all in one.
Don't see it if you do not like cirque acrobatics
See it if If you like to be entertained. The show was very entertaining. Loved all the stunts. And a easy storyline
Don't see it if Not sure why you would pass on this. So entertaining. Beautiful theatre.
See it if you like people doing fancy flips and insane staging with a surprisingly good soundtrack
Don't see it if you're looking for a deep, emotional story that will change your life
See it if Just see it. It's not so bad
Don't see it if You haven't any opinion, and bad reviews are much better for you than own thoughts
See it if you are new to Cirque du Soleil, can forgive a cliched musical story, love interesting choreography, and will enjoy death defying stunts
Don't see it if you expect top notch musical narrative and score, or expect a show packed full of Cirque stunts only
See it if You like Cirque acts and want to be wowed by amazing set pieces and visual aesthetics. Everyone onstage is very talented in their craft.
Don't see it if You're looking for a developed musical theatre plot. The plot is simple, and some of the songs seem thrown in, but it's still very fun.
See it if you love over the top staging and production value. A unique take that feels like a movie, Cirque du Soleil show & musical all wrapped in 1.
Don't see it if you dont like death defying acrobatics, old hollywood references and cliche love triangles
Critic Reviews (43)
"The directorial credo of 'Paramour' appears to be more is better. Scenes are overstuffed with competition for our attention, perhaps in order to distract from a thin book and bland/utilitarian songs, few of whose lyrics are intelligible...For anyone particularly interested in the medium, however, the show is a must on the basis of both imagination and technical expertise...All in all a spectacle the sum of whose parts are not larger than the whole."
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"Awesome acrobatics and first-rate Vegas/Busby Berkeley visuals are not anything Cirque needs to prove...As a musical, alas, the awkward story is a Golden-Age Hollywood cliché, the choreography is generic and the serviceable music dips lavishly into retro-bombastic influences...The book is dull padding between the wows...We have to wait until someone has a dream ballet or A.J. has a nightmare in order for the creators to justify the marvelous physical virtuosity."
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"Though the show’s book and songs are hardly revolutionary, they are not meant to be, but are intended to revisit a bygone era...While Broadway purists might find the book, music, and lyrics somewhat lacking in originality, nostalgia buffs will delight in their references to the Silver Screen and enjoy the evocation of a past era in entertainment, and Cirque du Soleil fans will surely love the experimental blend, enhanced spectacle, and outright fun that is 'Paramour.'"
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"The production is a bumpy, swerving ride. It begins with an assault on the senses, with vast musical routines...If the goal is disorientation, the numbers succeed splendidly...The tone of the story, which has groaningly awful dialogue, veers uncertainly between broad satire and semi-seriousness...'Paramour' gives the sense of being created by a group, with everyone tossing in something."
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"In between the predictable plot lines, the $25 million production offers inventive stage acts...Most of the visual elements...are dazzling. Director-conceiver Philippe Decoufle keeps the action flowing, and every now and then, the stage performances and the romance connect...The twist, and the downside, is the story itself, which is banal. That doesn’t mean the show isn’t entertaining—or the leads don’t deliver. Just that as Broadway musicals go, it’s more Las Vegas than Great White Way."
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"A hybrid musical combining a conspicuously familiar plot with a series of genuinely thrilling athletic sequences…'Paramour' goes heavy on the company’s signature stunt sequences to our relief, because there isn’t much to be extracted from the often eye-glazing book and score…Kushnier makes the most of his cliché-ridden role, exuding confidence and hubris as needed. Lewis has a beautiful voice and gamely follows the worn path laid out ahead."
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"You can scoff at the hoary plot, clunky lyrics and preponderance of pulsing music, but 'Paramour' delivers a feast of glitzy entertainment...It’s the circus arts that provide the big thrills, executed by a gasp-inducing ensemble...Despite their often feeble nature, the musical theatre accoutrements succeed in giving context to the circus acts, making them stand out more sharply than when presented simply as a parade of skills against some vague theme, as in the other Cirque shows."
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"The use of dramatic tension to accentuate the acrobatics is too rare. Instead, 'Paramour' confuses the filler with the substance, and we are left wondering why the world’s most famous circus would undervalue its greatest asset."
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