David and Hannah Mirvish/Gazillion Bubble Show, created by the Yang family, starring Deni Yang, CAA Theatre, closes Sept. 1. Tickets here.
Do you know what the sound of unadulterated joy is?
It is children running hither and yon squealing like banshees while trying to catch bubbles. This experience of innocent exuberance is what Gazillion Bubble Show offers to the young members of the audience, and what can be better than that?
The Yang family — father Fan, mother Ana, and children Deni, Melody and Jano — are bubble masters, and they have 18 Guinness World Records to prove it. The latest are: Encasing the Largest Land Mammal/Elephant in a Bubble (2008), creating the Longest Soap Bubble Wall (2009), and Capturing the Most People (181) in a Bubble (2012).
Over the years, father Fan Yang has kept developing special soap mixtures and implements to aid in the family’s ability to perform these lavish bubble tricks, which includes oversized rings and tubes. To get an idea about the stage picture, think back to the puny bubble set you had as a kid, then increase that to the nth degree.
In 2007, the family opened Gazillion Bubble Show off-Broadway where it is still running. They have also taken the show on the road, traveling literally all over the world, and now they have landed in Toronto. Deni Yang is managing the bubbles (Aug. 1-15), then sister Melody takes over (Aug. 16-Sept. 1).
So just what constitutes a bubble show?
Well, what about blowing one bubble inside another, or blowing a bubble through a smoke ring, or creating a giant snake in the air? My favourite was Deni conjuring up the illusion of a snow storm. I was also taken by the eye-catching interplay of a multitude bubbles as they pass through beams of light that keep changing colour.
The genial Deni also used child volunteers from the audience during his various tricks, which is always fun to watch. They, in turn, seemed to be delighted to be captured inside a bubble.
Blowing bubbles is a fragile thing, and failure is built into the show. When a trick didn’t work, Demi would shrug in an appealing self-deprecating way and try again. There was one effect that didn’t ever work, but Deni never lost the audience due to his good humour.
Gazillion Bubble Show is really a sound and light extravaganza with a heavy music track playing throughout, accompanied by very sophisticated lighting. The live-cam shows Deni blowing his bubbles on three giant screens, so the visual aspect is almost overwhelming.
Several times throughout the show there are misguided attempts at something serious, for example, the voiceover explaining how bubbles are made, or giving a treatise on the importance of oceans.
I am guessing, however, that few in the audience, including myself, could hear all the words because at those very times, a gazillion bubbles were launched from the stage into the theatre, which the kids took as their cue to rage up and down the aisles.
From an adult’s point of view, there is enough visual bounty to keep Grandma happy, so Gazillion Bubble Show can truly be enjoyed by all ages.
In the final analysis, that people can make a living blowing bubbles is quite a remarkable thing.
Are you looking to promote an event? Have a news tip? Need to know the best events happening this weekend? Send us a note.
#LUDWIGVAN
Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.
Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast! — local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox HERE.
