It is a fundamental premise of Cirque du Soleil that its characters and messages never crystallize -- no two shows can be the same, or else we would unconsciously recognize its staleness. So. Inaccuracy guaranteed. Warning # 2: If you have not yet watched Quidam and plan to, the spoilers in this analysis could detract from your experience. It's like using a cheat guide; it may help you understand which way is up, but it captures nothing of the magic of actually playing the game. Hoopla. Here we go!

[A shorter overview is offered by Lisa.]

CHARACTERS

Zoë — sometimes performed by the composer's daughter. The apparent protagonist, Zoë wears pink overalls and frequently sings on stage during acrobatic acts. The world of Quidam seems at times to be the product of her imagination. John and Fritz constantly compete for her attention.

John — performed by John Gilkey. He is the eccentric Master of Ceremonies, with a single tuft of hair atop his otherwise bald head. (That's John's real hair, by the way.) John is endearingly dorky and loves to show off his stuff. He's not always quite in control. After Zoë puts on the blue bowler hat and enters the world of Quidam, John puts on Dad's shoes. [Keep your eyes open for similar "double" relationships.]

Fritz — Half-animal, half-human, he is Zoë's cute, ever-energetic companion. Fritz has large spikes all over his costume and a spiral on his stomach. He never merely walks -- he flips, takes exuberant leaping strides, or literally BOUNCES. (Fritz is also referred to as Karl, because he was originally played by dancer Karl Baumann, formerly a Lizard guy for Mystère.)

Dad — Zoë's businessman-father figure. He wears suspenders, and goes around in socks for most of the show because John has taken his shoes. He does a lot of acrobatics and stuff with the birdcage once he comes out from behind his newspaper.

Mom — This mother-figure wears red, which makes her face seem all the paler. She doesn't interact with Zoë any more than Dad does.

Les Clowns — Two slapstick clowns, one wearing yellow, one wearing red. Red Clown is glum, crotchety and sometimes downright mean. He has an exaggerated limp. Yellow clown is particularly dim-witted, with extraordinarily slow reflexes. Their crude mannerisms clash with the overarching tone of the show, but even the grotesque clown acts can be read poetically.

Boom Boom — No, this is not a boss from a Mario game. He is a bald, white, evil-looking clown with huge boxing gloves. There is a rumble of thunder every time he strikes his fists together.

Generic People — People wearing white, spacesuit-like, hooded costumes move in herds throughout the world of Quidam. They are anonymous and a bit ominous.

Quidam — The tall, headless man who personifies anonymity; when Zoë borrows his hat, she enters a surreal dreamworld that is a distorted mirror of our world. [Don't worry. Quidam's actor actually has a head in real life. I think.]

As the spectators arrive in the tent, they find themselves facing a large thrust stage. The ceiling of the tent is hung with strings of yellow light bulbs. Five gold-colored steel arches run over the stage, from the musician's cage at one end to the lighting booth at the other. Those arches will be used as dolly tracks to fly in hanging props, set pieces and performers.

On the thrust stage is a surrealist set of living-room furniture: two tilted chairs, a radio, a twisted metal lamp, a black-and-white spiral mat, a glowing red sphere perched in a birdcage, and in the back, a free-standing white door.


PRE-SHOW (Particularly vulnerable to frequent changes, as are all the clown acts.)

As spectators continue to trickle toward their seats, Red Clown and Yellow Clown make an entrance, carrying portable chairs through the audience.
Red Clown noisily drops his metal chair down the stairs, then retrieves it.
They make their way around the tent, obnoxiously trying to find a place to sit in their chairs.
They decide that the best view of the stage is sitting ON the stage.
John Gilkey, meanwhile, enters through the stage door, and quietly puts on his jacket.
John condescendingly shoos the obnoxious Clowns away, and turns on the radio. A little light tango music.
He suavely walks among the audience, finding balding men and attempting to give them tufted hairdos like his own.
He returns to the stage and retunes the radio.
He passes a station that is playing explosive music from Nouvelle Experience. He flinches, and lunges for the dial.
Another station is playing the title track from Alegría (arguably Dupéré's most popular song).
He winces, holds his nose, and retunes the radio.
He accidentally gets the radio's antenna stuck in his eye. The radio begins to beep.
Suddenly, in booming tones, the announcer's voice welcomes us to Quidam. John, having extricated himself from the radio, lip-syncs the announcer's voice, thanking the sponsors, etc. John breezes out as all the lights fade.
...and the radio announcer concludes: "And now, ladies and gentlemen....

"QUIDAM!"

ACT ONE
Absolute darkness. Ghostly sounds float through the tent. Zoë turns on the living-room lamp.
Mom and Dad are sitting in the tilted metal chairs.
Dad sits reading his newspaper (its title resembles "Good News," but has been gibberized); Mom sits holding some kind of object in her lap.
As the lights fade in, the shape of a fracture on the circular stage floor becomes apparent. This recurring lightning-shaped projection is visible only to those sitting further back.
Music = Track 1 from the soundtrack album.
Zoë walks around in her pink suspenders, looking thoroughly lonely. She sings bits of a plaintive melody, plays hopscotch for a second, breathes on an imaginary pane of glass and traces a word on it with her finger. No response from Mom and Dad.
Dad takes off his shoes, places them next to his chair.
Zoë runs her fingers along the wires of the birdless birdcage; sound of dissonant chimes.
She seems to be thinking about turning off the lamp again when suddenly... there is not a knock on the door. But ominous accordion and a brightening of light bring our focus to the disembodied door upstage.
Zoë runs to the door, opens it. Sure enough, there stands Quidam, the headless man, personifying anonymity and holding an umbrella. Our young protagonist is a little frightened, but curious.
Quidam strides into the room, opening an umbrella. [Handy for those living-room storms]
He walks to center stage, drops his bowler hat on the spiral mat between the oblivious parents.
Obligatory thunder and lightning. [Good thing Quidam brought the umbrella, eh?]
He returns to the white door, pursued by Zoë, who tries to return the hat. But he firmly closes his umbrella and leaves. [What would he have done with it, anyway? He has no head to put hats on.]
Zoë curiously inspects the bowler hat. As she holds it to her ear we can hear birds distantly chirping.
John and Fritz make stealthy entrances through the door, and excitedly sneak up behind her as she considers the bowler. Fritz can barely contain himself.
She slowly lowers the hat onto her head...
And all at once the "room" dissolves in mist...
clouds appear on the tent ceiling...
the furniture slides away...
her oblivious parents float up and away from her...
and while Fritz pulls an imaginary counterweight rope and cavorts hither and thither...
John conducts overpowering, ominous choral music (still Track 1 from the soundtrack).
At last, Zoë notices her parents obliviously drifting away. She is a bit startled. John beckons.
Red Clown pokes his head up through a manhole, offers a red balloon to Zoë, rather maliciously.
She takes the balloon, but John stuffs the Clown back down where he came from. [Bad Clown! Bad! Down! Balloons are bad!]
John gleefully puts on Dad's shoes, and initiates the next tune by dancing in them to the sound of bells.

As fast-paced music revs up, strobe lights flicker and automated beams of white light shine upward and rotate like searchlights.
Fritz leads a crowd of white-spacesuit-wearing people onto stage; they walk around Zoë chaotically, ignoring her.
A man in a Wheel (not a gerbil wheel, but close) rolls forward, Fritz dives right through it.
"Incantation" music (Track 2 on the soundtrack).
German Wheel act: a man (Chris Lashua) in a large metal wheel rolls around and around, coming perilously close to the edges of the stage. He nonchalantly flips and maneuvers his way through the rotating perimeter of the wheel. He and the wheel tip sideways and wobble like a lopsided top. He smiles a lot.
Meanwhile in the background:
Mom and Dad, out of their chairs, look lost and wander back and forth.
Dad, dressed for work, carries a briefcase, which falls open; a little red balloon flies out, up, and away. Dad forlornly disappears.
Riverdance-remniscent dancers skip forward, leaving their leader skipping in place with arms outstretched. He eventually leaves, skipping backwards.
The German Wheel act ends.

Dad stands center stage with briefcase, face buried in the "Good News" newspaper. Square patterns on floor.
Suddenly Dad realizes he is not wearing his shoes.
He is startled by the floor, and then stares confusedly at the ceiling, and stumbles backward (as Zoë did when she noticed her parents floating away). Zoë enters.
Dad is relieved to find his daughter, beckons her to leave, but she seems to be in control of him.
Suddenly three Zoë-clones run up and join Zoë. They look exactly like her.
The Zoë-clones sit in a circle around Dad, who hides behind his newspaper. Zoë sings the first section of "Carrousel."
John enters with bicycle handles attached to his head, produces two orange rings, places them on his head's bike-handles, jumps up and down on one foot as the rings spin around the handles. He hams it up. (Bah. Zoë's not impressed.)
John summons the drummers. Two by two, cast members run forward banging drums and circle back upstage. The pairs of drums get louder and larger, ending with Red and Yellow Clowns banging on their metal chairs.
The real Zoë lies down and covers her ears in dismay.
John now conducts all the drummers, who sway from side to side as they beat their drums in unison, and the clone-Zoë girls kick their legs in the air. Faster and faster...
The noise crashes to an end. Dad's newspaper vertically unfolds 3 more times, hiding him completely.

The Diabolos girls come forward. We hear the quiet sound of cricket-like, high-pitched whirring.
John's playful conducting pose collapses; he covers his ears, and crawls off toward the back.
The Zoë-clones run off with Fritz. The metal-and-ball Manipulators (from an act yet to come) place the props for diabolos, and tip their hats crisply at each other in the blue light.
Zoë sits in the background and watches the young metallic-suited girls spin and toss the diabolos (Chinese yo-yos) in sync, with machine-like accuracy. (Only 3 of the 4 girls were performing when I attended, because one had recently broken her arm while sightseeing.) The girls dance and tumble while their twirling spools remain in constant motion.
In the background, Zoë gets distracted; Fritz pantomimes teaching her how to do a cat's cradle.
Zoë leaves, skipping.
At the end of the Diabolos act, three ropes descend from the ceiling, and the girls let their spinning diabolos roll up the ropes to the ceiling — and then they roll down again, blue streamers raining down after them.

General chaotic dancing; the male vocalist sings through a megaphone (second section of "Carrousel").
Suddenly...
Boom Boom smacks his huge gloved fists together — thunder crashes and lightning flashes.
The stage is empty except for this bald, white-faced clown. Silence.
He SCREAMS. No amplification necessary. A raw, chilling scream of anguish. [Perhaps it was that silly Riverdance skipping that was too much for him.]
A manhole cover flips open, and Red Clown pokes his head up. Clown music begins.
Boom Boom runs around the manhole in a loping circle, and disappears.
Red Clown climbs out, carrying a bit of rubber tube. He tries to fish Yellow Clown out of the hole using the tube. Yellow Clown climbs out; Red Clown continues to pull. Red Clown collapses.
A ten-second pause. Yellow Clown falls down. Red Clown leaves in disgust.
Silence. Yellow has the stage to himself. His idiocy begins to show.
He swings the rubber tubing around in circles like a lasso, singing a fragment of melody over and over and sporadically laughing a squeaky hiccup-like laugh.
He stops whirling the tube and lets it wind around him, then unwind. (Woohoo!)
He lets the tube wind around his leg. Then around his neck. (He gags.)
He pauses, and forgets what he's doing. He remembers and resumes. The inane game continues.
He whips himself in the crotch (yipe!). He squeaks and collapses, then stands up and takes a bow.
John rises slowly from the manhole as if on an elevator platform. John gives Yellow Clown a look, shoos the fool away.

Okay. John has a megaphone. He barks gibberish orders to dancers, as...
Another all-cast dance ensues. 2 enormous red vertical strips of fabric fly out and forward.
Zoë sit and sings on a giant swing while her Dad walks in his socks through the air in slow motion (suspended by wires). His astonished face is sticking through a hole in the middle of his newspaper. He tears the paper off his head and rips it into tiny pieces. He drops the pieces onto the stage far below and floats back into the darkness. A bodysuited man blows them away with a giant rolling fan.
Clouds and a moon are projected on the tent ceiling. The sound of wind. Fritz gets down on all fours and howls.
2 thin red sheets hang down from ceiling to floor, center stage.
A woman (Isabelle Chassé) in a flesh-colored unitard dances suspended only by the vertical red sheets, climbing, wrapping herself, spinning, falling.
Music = the haunting "Let Me Fall," with its lyrics fortunately translated into Cirque gibberish.
Mom and Dad watch from the back of the stage with concerned looks. Mom, still in her red dress, carries the same weird glowing object she held in her lap during the opening scene.
The singer, back in the musician's cage, has a red spotlight on his face. Inexplicably, he wears the birdcage on his head. Later I caught him spinning the cage around on his head.
Thunder and lightning signal a tense change in the music as Isabelle, hanging from the red fabric, suddenly falls quite a long way. Her movements become spasmodic and violent.
Suspenseful music — she climbs slowly, twists the sheets again, does the splits upside-down.
At last she gracefully slides down and lands with a somewhat despondent look.
After her applause, she grabs the ends of the sheets and twirls them around over her head.
She is carried away by Dad (or Mom and two other women in red dresses), still clinging to her red sheets.
Sound of a steam engine.

John runs in with a hula hoop on his head, screaming and hollering madly and pantomiming a train with his arms. He's completely hyperactive, out of control.
The announcer's God-like voice interrupts — "Johnnnn.... John!" John abruptly freezes.
John grins guiltily, holds the hoop over his head like a halo. No response.
He decides to show off his hot talent.
He lets the metal hoop drop and spin on the floor; after three wobbles it rebounds right into his well-placed hand. The hoop's brief dance is accompanied by appropriately cute sound effects.
Responding to the audience's laughter and applause, he walks cockily to the front of the circular stage. Very carefully, he rolls the hoop to his left. The hoop takes off in a diminishing spiral path as John walks to the middle. The hoop rolls around the stage twice before rolling right into his (well-placed) outstretched hand.
TADA! John, pleased with himself, invites the next act forward.

The cast has been sneaking in from the back corner — and now they jump-rope in three groups under pulsing, shifting rectangles of light, accompanied by the sad music of "Innocence"
Zoë enters with Fritz, who carries a string of clustered red helium balloons.
She plays a game of catch with Fritz; then tries to throw her ball at John. John winces, and doesn't seem thrilled. John hands the red ball back. Fritz smirks at John.
Sped-up music accompanies more rope-jumping and a girl in red starts doing high-energy rope tricks, emitting little yips from time to time.
Darkness; shaking spotlight pans the stage floor to the sound of a helicopter; John salutes upward and runs off to take care of business.
The spotlight lands in front of the musicians' cage, where Boom Boom is emerging in slow motion, followed by the cast.
The woman in red runs out with a HUGE red helium balloon, tries to join the group, and is turned away. The sad music of "Innocence" is now accompanied by distant sounds that disturbingly resemble tortured screams.
Nearly the entire cast jump-rope in unison in a giant circle of interlocking ropes.

3 hoops descend on ropes. Fritz lies down in one, floats away looking rather relaxed.
The other two hoops are snagged by two girls with red velvet gashes sewn on their tummies.
They spin and swing from the suspended hoops; music = "Séisouso."
In the background, Red Clown sets his metal chair down and watches glumly. A cute little child in a white bodysuit comes out from backstage and tries to entertain him; she does a short jig with her arms in a hoop shape, but Red Clown doesn't want to be consoled. Fritz sits down next to Red Clown.
The music has evolved into the ominous orchestral section near the end of the soundtrack.

Another all-cast dance to the third section of "Carrousel."
Even Quidam is in there dancing to the bouncy tune. When the dance ends...

Fritz, John, and Zoë are sitting in a row on chairs. Since there are only three chairs, Red Clown pantomimes sitting on an invisible chair, until Zoë playfully pushes him and he falls over. Red Clown responds by gesturing upstage — a cue for a chair, I guess. His cue is misread, and the lights go up on the musicians. The musicians bow, of course, and everyone applauds. Red tries his cue again, gesturing toward the back. This time, Yellow Clown skips out in a revealing pink leotard — without tights. And I do mean revealing. He carries a gymnast's streamer on a stick. Red Clown huffs off to look for a chair to sit on. Jazz music as Yellow cavorts clumsily around with his pink streamer. Fritz, John, and Zoë look on with amusement from their chairs, changing their sitting positions in sync.

Lightning and thunder, the sound of rain.
Red Clown returns at last carrying a chair and Zoë's red balloon.
The whole cast (disguised in their white spacesuits) walk in and lie down on the stage. Mom stands off to the side with her ENORMOUS helium balloon.
Dad is hanging upside-down from the ceiling, holding a handbell and the birdcage. Hovering over Zoë, he tinkles the little bell mechanically, incessantly, until Zoë lets her little balloon fly up and get caught in the cage. The plaintive vocals crescendo into a roar as all the sleeping people on the floor release helium balloons, which fly up and away en masse like so many ghosts. Dad recedes into the darkness, taking Zoë's caged balloon with him, still ringing the bell.
Thunder and lightning; lights fade; Mom's ENORMOUS red helium balloon is the last thing visible.
BLACKOUT.


INTERMISSION (20 minutes)


ACT TWO

The stage is empty except for the black-and-white spiral mat, now upstage and tilted toward the audience.
As spectators find their seats again, a man wearing a large blue dress and enormous poofy grey hair walks slowly onstage and does a slow, silent spinning dance by him/herself.
House lights fade. Energetic music revs up.

John rolls in on a scooter, with a little dartboard affixed to the top of his head (instead of a target, it is printed with a spiral). His scooter screeches to a halt. He makes it do the screeching noise again, just for kicks. He props it up with a kickstand, rings its bell. He grins mischievously.
He produces a large, thick-needled dart. He tosses it in the air, positions himself, and when the dart lands — a bull's-eye on his dartboard!
Sound of a gong as a manhole flies open. Out pops a "seal" (a bodysuited person acting like a seal). The "seal" waddles to John on its forelegs, and gives him a little red balloon. He makes the seal roll over and clap before giving it an imaginary treat. The seal waddles back to the hole, and dives in. John sticks the balloon to the dartboard on his head.
John produces a second dart, and makes martial-arts noises in meditative preparation for the big throw. He's going to pop that darned red balloon.
Tension rises in the music. He aims carefully and tosses the dart up in the air.
The dart descends and lands right in — his right shoulder. The music stops.
John notices that his right arm won't move. Uncomfortable laughter from the audience. Pause.
Loud music kicks in, in harmony with a howl of pain ("OOOWWW-W-W-W!...")
John runs back to the scooter, heaves his dead arm onto the handlebar, rings the bell and scoots away as the spiral mat upstage begins to spin hypnotically.
The howl continues, develops into a melody.

3 hanging ropes fly forward for the Spanish Webs act, with 3 acrobats clinging at their tops. Dad is the middle acrobat.
As the other two acrobats descend gracefully, Dad makes a flailing, thrashing descent.
Now there are 5 ropes hanging from ceiling to floor; Fritz and another performer take the others.
They run and propel themselves into brief, curved rope-flights over the crowd; then they climb their ropes in unison.
Fritz and Dad hover over the audience on their ropes, suddenly falling and then catching themselves.
The other suspended acrobats wind their waists in rope, then roll down the ropes and abruptly stop just inches from the stage floor.
A female acrobat lifts herself by the head of a man hanging upside down by his ankles; they do some painful-looking movements in tandem.
Then Fritz hangs halfway up the center rope, feet pointing upward. At the bottom, a man turns the rope like a long jumprope turned sideways. Poor old Fritz revolves right along with the gyrating rope, pulled outward by centrifugal forces. Faster and faster...
Fritz suddenly releases the rope (YIKES!) and spins by an ankle harness attached to his gyrating rope. The music soars. So now he's not only rotating in horizontal circles around the vertical rope, but also spinning incredibly quickly in a half-upside-down pirouette. He narrowly misses two side ropes also being turned. Fritz spreads his arms, arches his back, and flies. (Go, Fritz!)
He climbs down. Then all five Spanish Web ropes are similarly gyrated simultaneously, with the acrobats holding on unharnessed, spinning faster and faster around the vertical ropes until their bodies are horizontal.
They descend.

Another clown act.
Red Clown limps forward, carrying a violin.
Yellow Clown literally bounces forward carrying two cymbals. He coughs up a rubber ball, and predictably, stops bouncing.
They make as if about to begin playing their instruments. Red is waiting for Yellow to start, and Yellow is waiting for Red to start. No one starts.
Red keeps gesturing as if about to play the violin; his repeated gesture devolves into spasms and he slowly sinks down to the floor as he anticipates Yellow's cymbals. Finally, he notices he is no longer standing, stops spasming, and as he struggles to get up, Yellow clashes those cymbals together. Red hops right up and performs a 5-second fiddle tune. They bow.
Intoxicated by the applause, Red shoos Yellow away, then tragically plays a doleful solo with lots and lots of vibrato. Yellow starts to look rather mournful, then, unable to bear it any longer, interrupts with his cymbals and jumps up and down hyperactively making noise. Red chases Yellow out.

Sinister, foreboding music. Zoë slides forward, her belly on a skateboard, propelling herself with her arms. She is followed by other stomach-skateboarders.
Dad is carrying the red balloon in the birdcage. Zoë sees him, chases after him.
Bagpipe music. A very-red-haired girl enthusiastically runs forward, then upstage to watch the manipulation act.

Men in blue suits, bowler hats and rainbow-reflecting mirrors on their stomachs, manipulate red balls on S-shaped sheets of metal. They also juggle their bowler hats.
Music = the heavy beat of Track 5 from soundtrack.
The manipulators give their metal sheets to the diabolos girls (it's only fair — earlier, the manipulators delivered the diabolos girls' props!)
Fritz enters with the balloon in the birdcage. He sits on the cage.
Zoë watches as the manipulators juggle a goodly number of red balls.
Fritz catches all of the balls in the cage, wears it as a hat and runs away.
Red-haired girl capers about again. Very weird. More Irish music.

John enters. He wears a little cotton hat.
Zoë places a tall hatrack behind him; she hesitates, leaves.
John sneezes into a handkerchief. Silence.
He opens the handkerchief to inspect it (à la Mister Bean). He rolls its invisible contents around with some fascination, and as the handkerchief unfolds into what seems to be an S shape, it becomes a miniature version of the previous manipulation act. He finally puts it in his pocket.
He mimes the contents of the handkerchief sticking to his index finger. He tries to flick it off. No success...
He eyes the hatrack. Aha.
He is about to wipe his finger on the unfortunate hatrack, when the announcer's God-like voice booms down at him once more: "JOHN...."
He grins angelically, and pretends he was just doing a little finger-dance or something.
And he quickly wipes his finger on the hatrack.
Voice: "HEY!"
Cha-cha music; John's now-famous hatrack routine begins. It involves the juggling of red balls, dancing with the hatrack, and lots of silly music.
Quidam (the faceless man himself) walks by in the background with a bounce in his step.
John ends the dance by throwing his hat so it lands right on the hatrack hook.
Zoë returns from backstage. She offers her arm, he takes it, and they walk away together.
Sweet music begins as the manipulators set up the balancing canes for the handbalancing act.
The handbalancing gymnast (Olga Pikhienko) descends from above, wearing a silvery black skirt over white leotards and tights.
As Red Clown looks glumly on, and Fritz and Zoë sit on the revolving stage to watch, the inhumanly thin gymnast balances and contorts her body on the spinning perches. Zoë sings a melody. Very nice music which was not included on the soundtrack. The handbalancer's act includes scorpion-like backbends, some dancing on the floor, and rather sexually-charged displays of contortion and arm strength.
The gymnast floats away; Fritz and the manipulators walk away with her balancing canes.

Red Clown is left snoring in his chair.
Suddenly the musicians break into a jazzy piece.
Red Clown wakes up with a start, falls off his chair, and begins tangling himself up in contorted positions as he tries to get to sleep. His baggy clothes give him the semblance of a rag doll.
At last he collapses flat on his stomach. He sleeps peacefully.

Clanking sounds. On the ceiling, stars light up and the cloud projections return.
4 women in pale blue veils dance with short lengths of rope.
The Cloud Swing act: a woman (Petra Sprecher) in a jungle-dweller costume swings back and forth on a V-shaped rope hung from the 2nd and 4th arches. She swings higher and higher. She does a few flips.
In the background: the electric guitarist comes out of the musician's cage.
Boom Boom is draped in a net. He paces around slowly, his movements exaggerated as usual. He watches her intently.
That red-haired girl who likes to run around is back as well. She eventually runs off with the blue-veiled women.
The Cloud Swing ends.

The Banquine act begins: Quidam's Slavic ensemble walks forward. They range from big burly men to deathly thin, white-faced girls. They all wear tattered rags remniscent of Les Misérables. They stand in a diagonal line, facing John.
John halts in front of them, directly facing a muscular guy. A pregnant pause.... John leans in and pecks the guy on the nose. [Awww. How sweet.]
The music resumes and the group walks purposefully into place for a group dance.
They toss around 2 girls and a boy who have very white hair. Lots of flips.
The music is suspenseful and hesitant. Extremely sparse sections alternate with dense moments of melody and ecstasy.
The Banquine cast swiftly form unusual balancing structures that collapse and regroup like crystal particles accumulating and crumbling.
They make two group poses upstage; a mass of light bulbs behind them flashes as they pose.
More tossing-about of blond people.
The blond boy is catapulted atop a three-person column.
The Banquine act ends.

Immediately a giant red proscenium curtain flies forward and the ragged Banquine cast exits through it.
Red Clown and Yellow Clown emerge from a manhole with Zoë. Red Clown smiles at her and helps her up. The girl comes downstage, looks back and sees the enormous theatrical curtain framing the stage. Her parents cartwheel across and she runs over to hug them. Fritz and John swing in on ropes to join them.
A hand-clapping, foot-stomping tune (resembling traditional circus music) starts up. The whole cast (back in their bodysuits) abruptly enters and starts doing silly tricks with red balls. They dance like trained animals. Forced energy.
Quidam walks forward.
Sudden thunder and lightning; the music ends; darkness; all the Generic People drop to the floor.
Mom and Dad hold each other.
As the light returns, Quidam holds out his hand to Zoë.
Zoë removes the magical blue bowler and wavers. She gently returns the hat.
Music = the final track from the soundtrack — "Quidam."
The Generic People melt away. John hesitantly returns the shoes to Dad.
Zoë is standing front center, lit by footlights, singing and smiling at you.
Dad and Mom stare at Quidam. At last Dad tips his hat and smiles.
The entire cast (still disguised in white bodysuits) walks onto the thrust and stand in a circle, facing outward toward you.
They remove their hoods...
You stand up and applaud and applaud...

THE END

If this had been an actual performance of Quidam, you would be a bit stunned at this point, having undergone something between enactogenic effects and full-blown nirvana. Since this has only been a text-based simulation, life will remain about the same. Sorry.

Please share your reactions and insights!

love,
Tristan