KNOPF
'Apassionata' features stunts, such as this one where a daredevil stands on the backs of horses as they jump over fiery rails.
If youre a horse lover, gallop dont walk to the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J.
From Friday through Sunday, Apassionata, a 40-horse equestrian extravaganza with five international teams of riders will take over the stadium.
Boasting everything from dressage a formal form of horse training to daredevil acts complete with death-defying tricks and pyrotechnics, Apassionata is what might happen if Cirque du Soleil featured stallions instead of limber, European mimes.
Horse shows in America are often competitions or rodeos, says Scott Faris, the Broadway director whos helming the show for its U.S. debut. This is not that; its a piece of theater with horses as the stars.
The two-act show, subtitled The Beginning, is indeed set up like a Broadway play, but theres no chance audiences will confuse it with Equus.
From my point of view, the show loosely follows the relationship between humans and horses, explains Faris.
The show opens with wild horses running freely into the stadium and, over the course of the performance, introduces its teams - classic riders from Portugal, Ukrainian stuntmen and French comedians, to name a few - and their horses, building up to what the director describes as a climactic ending.
Working with a cast (human and animal alike) with such studied, unique skills has been exciting for Faris, himself an amateur rider with some experience.
I tried to ride for a while and thought, Wow, thats hard, he says. When I came into this, I had knowledge without being a horse person. I knew how hard it was to get horses to do what you want, so I knew how sophisticated the riders were.
Even longtime pony professionals are impressed with what the Apassionata players can achieve.
In this show, you have a lot of things happening, says Sylvie Willms, a classical rider who joined the show nine years ago after a lifetime around horses. You can see something funny, something classic, some trick riding. The trick riders go under the horses belly while galloping and do a lot of complicated moves. I dont do that at all, so its impressive for me.
As it will be for audiences. Faris says after viewing the show in Europe, where its been seen by more than 5 million people, he included only numbers that made audiences gasp or applaud.
The result, he says, is a theatrical presentation of fantastic horsemanship, even for people who would never find themselves at a rodeo.
Whether you love horses or not, the director says, youll be won over by the beauty and excitement of the numbers.
YOU SHOULD KNOW
Apassionata runs June 1-3 at the Izod Center, 50 Route 120, East Rutherford, N.J. (800) 745-3000. Tickets, $ 29 and up. Info: izodcenter.com.
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