AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

Saturday, a thin coat of snow blanketed most of the Tri-State area. Sunday, a full blizzard set in on Broadway with the opening of Slava's Snowshow, a delightful, magical and often sublime theater piece, at the Helen Hayes Theatre.

The fun at "Snowshow" actually begins before the first performer takes to the stage. Audience members toss "snow" (small bits of white crepe paper) that has amassed around their seats from previous performances. The fun continues after the curtain call as the audience once again merrily takes part in the action: punching, tossing and hurling gigantic balls that have burst from the stage and into the house. In between, the glee and enchantment of "Snowshow" rests entirely with the company and Yellow, its chief clown (at some performances creator Slava Polunin, and at others either Robert Saralp or Derek Scott).

"Snowshow" looks like a cross between "Harold and the Purple Crayon" and Dr. Seuss. Large panels of blue quilt dotted with stars and trimmed with white gauze back the stage (the art direction is by Gary Cherniakhovskii). Yellow himself looks a bit like one of Seuss' fantastical creatures in a furry yellow outfit, a cross between an astronaut's G-suit and a child's snowsuit. Completing his Seuss-like image are the red furry shoes on his feet. The Green Clowns at Yellow's side are equally fanciful. They look something like donkeys which have been turned into humans and sport oversized hats with floppy brims that stretch to either side of their heads and long gray-green coats (the costume design also comes from art director Cherniakhovskii).

Some of the enchanting adventures in which Yellow and fellow mischief-makers are involved include the gigantic clean-up that closes the first half of "Snowshow." Here audiences can expect a cobweb unlike any they've ever encountered. At the top of the second half of the show, Yellow's nowhere to be seen, but that doesn't matter the Green Clowns are dealing with problems of their own as a rainstorm approaches. As the piece moves forward, an argument between Yellow and one of the Green Clowns goes a bit too far, causing an irreparable rift between the two. Yellow attempts to fill the void in his life with a woman (a hilarious sequence for one involving two phones) and then, begins packing for parts unknown (a truly touching sequence in which a coat on a hat-tree seems to come magically and expressively to life).

Yellow's departure sets the stage for the show's finale - a gargantuan blizzard that engulfs not only the stage but also the auditorium, as wind drives the snow off the stage into the audience's faces. It's a breathtaking moment in this show where even cold-sensitive snowbirds might find themselves intoning, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow." Surely, "Snowshow" is the most welcome theatrically created meteorological event of late 2008.

---- Andy Propst

Slava's Snowshow plays at the Helen Hayes Theatre (240 West 44th Street). Performances are Tuesday at 7:00pm, Wednesday through Friday at 8pm; Saturday at 2 and 8pm; and Sunday at 2 and 7pm. Tickets are $69.50 - $111.50 and can be purchased by calling 212-239-6200 or by visiting www.telecharge.com. Further information is available online at www.SnowshowOnBroadway.com.