The Wanderlust Circus

Yowser, only one review? The Wanderlust Circus is the most amazing, bizarre, astounding thing you’ll see in Portland all year!
Every performance is different, so giving the details won’t do much good. The bottom line is this — if you are interested in and open to an over-​the-​top spectacle of performance art, aerial dance, and circus performance (the stuff that doesn’t involve animals), then you won’t see much better.
It’s a carnival atmosphere, so perhaps not for the truly meek, but really worthwhile for almost everyone. Highly recommended!

My son recommended I go see the Wanderlust Circus «Pyromance» performance at the Bossanova Ballroom last night. Now, my son and I have eclectic tastes, but generally not the SAME ecletic tastes. So off my girlfriend and I go and decided to take a flyer.
We arrived early, and since it wasn’t open, went next door to a place called «The Wurst»…a great little bar and a great find. But that’s another story.
We wait in line and the staff came outside and apologized for the line and the wait in the cold. No problem. Good attitude. We conga to the booth, get a little stamp, told to find a seat anywhere in rows 4 – 9. Go upstair to a minimulist stage. A little bit more waiting, but hey, not one but TWO bars open. Good bartenders, good pours, reasonable prices. Back to seats.
The MC comes out, and he’s only slightly bit more eclectic than the audience. Dressed in red, and I mean RED… from top hat to suit coat to vest to slacks to shoes. Add the whiteface and it’s a bit macabre.,.but darned if it doesn’t WORK!
Opening performace is a dance number with a mustaschio’ed performer in a top hat that I could not figure how it stayed on his head. Move on to acrobatics, singing, dancing, strong man stuff, a saxophonist who tap danced (excellent 7 piece live orchestra who knew their stuff), horizontal pole dancing, a Lithuania-​Jewish cowboy (I kid you not), and performace with sheers strung from the ceiling. Every number was GREAT. No a clunker in the house.
Break time… head for the latrine or the bar… your choice, then back for round 2.
Remember, this was called Pyromance, and there was liberal use of flaming batons, pots tethered to 6 foot ropes spinning all over the place, even a flaming bull whip. Yep… the Lithuanian-​Jewish cowboy. Singing… dancing, tossing people in the air, acrobatics with 2 amazingly strong guys that sometimes defy logic. Toss in a Samoan from Eugene (again, I kid you not), and it was an evening to remember.
My staff said…“well Dr. J… what was it like?” I said… think Cirque du Soleil, only for FAR LESS MONEY and MUCH BETTER SEATS. And friendly crowd too.
What I really, really appreciated about this crew, was that this COULD be family entertainment. There were no crude jokes, no putdowns, no cheap sexual inuendos for the equally cheap laugh. I had a great experience and highly recommend this troupe. Put me on the email list. It’s a night of entertainment that will certainly stay with you.