Wintuk wonderland

The acrobatic exhibitionists of Cirque du Soleil have been a hit with families since the Canadian group’s U.S. debut in 1987. The risqué costumes and trippy sets might have been designed to stimulate adult sensibilities, but kids saw right through the tarted-up packaging to the all-ages heart of the show: totally cool stunts.

Beginning Thursday 1, Cirque takes over the Theater at Madison Square Garden for a ten-week run of its first show created specifically for children. Wintuk tells the tale of a young boy’s journey from his perpetually snowless town to find the elusive white flakes. The performance, says director Fernand Rainville, “is built entirely on a child’s vision. None of the other shows has told a child’s story, but here we follow his quest and meet characters through his eyes.”

Wintuk’s themes of courage and risk-taking are, of course, legion in youth culture. But anyone who’s ever seen a Cirque performance knows not to expect some tame after-school special. Lessons are learned through interactions with ice giants and other outlandish creatures rather than authority figures and peers.

The cast includes a colorful array of gargantuan puppets, which Rainville predicts will elicit big oohs and aahs from young theatergoers. When Wintuk (boy and show share the same name) ventures off to a fanciful Arctic Circle, he encounters a host of fantastical characters, including six-foot-wide dogs and ice giants that stand 20 feet tall. “The moment when [the audience] first sees the dogs will be a big one,” Rainville says. “And in the second act, when they encounter the northern lights and the winter giants, there are sure to be some trembles.”

Because the vertically challenged MSG Theater’s ceiling height allows for only a 25-foot aerial span—compared with the much loftier big top in which Cirque usually performs—the troupe employs more horizontal cinematic elements, like a dramatic skateboarding sequence. Plus, with a 90-minute running time (traditional Cirque shows clock in at three hours) and a low ticket price (admission starts at $30), Wintuk is tailored for tots ages three and up.

Of course, parents are in for a treat as well. “It sounds cliché, but it’s the inner child in all of us that makes the holiday season special,” Rainville says. Just make sure everyone brings a sweater to the performance, as Rainville promises the entire theater will be “very cold, fresh and wintry.”

Wintuk runs Thu 1–Jan 6 at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.