Gazillion Bubbles

We went to the "Gazillion Bubble Show" this weekend, which can best be described as an entertaining "Live with Regis and Kelly" segment stretched into a 90-minute off-Broadway show.

It starts with a short video about two little boys in Yugoslavia. Jano keeps telling his little brother Fan to stop goofing off and focus on their farm work, but little Fan wants to touch a rainbow and play with bubbles. So now, says the voice-over, Fan is a world-famous bubble guy, and he's so great and brilliant that his bubbles can practically cure cancer. And poor Jano, though it's not said, is probably working at a TGIF in Belgrade.

Then the video ends, and the stage curtain opens, and with a big fanfare, out steps...Jano. Huh? The evil big brother? Where the hell is Fan? Apparently off relaxing in the Bahamas while poor Jano is stuck doing the post-holiday shows for the Jersey and Long Island folks who bought half-price tickets.

So Jano does some bubble tricks. Giant bubbles. Bubbles within bubbles. He does a little show-bizzy "thumbs up" thing after each trick so that the audience knows to clap. And there's a new-agey Enya-like soundtrack to reinforce the wonder of it all.

Then...Jano does some more bubbles. And more thumbs-ups. And more clapping. Okay, getting a little redundant. After 15 minutes I'm wondering how much longer til the big finale where the auditorium inevitably fills with thousands of bubbles?

The answer: another hour.

Samuel and Ethan loved it.

Jennifer and I didn't hate it. It was fine.

But I think Fan is a bit of a butt-head. And I pity poor Jano, who must also secretly think Fan is a butt-head, but he needs the money and doesn't want to go back to that TGIF in Belgrade. I think I would like to see a show in which Jano and Fan fight to the death.