BY CINDY MARVELL

 

Ah, home for the holidays! Having just completed a very chilly tour of the northern regions with Lazer Vaudeville, I am looking forward to haunting the city for a week before resuming the tour on New Year's Eve.

 

My little hometown seems to be doing quite well without me. In addition to more snow than usual, I read in the papers that New York also has more circuses this season. As well as the annual Big Apple Circus, which features Kris Kremo this year, the city boasts three other shows of interest: the German "Pomp, Duck & Circumstance," a new "Full Moon" with Bill Irwin and David Shiner, and "Cirque Eloize," a Canadian troupe performing on Broadway.

 

Various schemes for sneaking into shows flit through my mind, then the phone rings. It is Christian Harel, a professional juggler from Montreal who performed a beautiful routine at the lJA's Burlington festival. He tells me he is in town with Cirque Eloize. Like a true New Yorker, I smell a bargain. "Congratulations!" I say, "Can you get me a ticket?"

 

"Better than that," he answers, "You can see the show from on stage!"  To paraphrase the bizarre swing my holiday was about to take.. .Christian and gymnast Brigette were filling in for one of the original Eloize performers, the multi-talented Damien Boudreau. Unfortunately, Christian sprained his ankle in the line of duty and is now camped out in Barrett Felker's living room, wondering what to do. He asks if I would be willing to spend the next hour learning his part and then perform it tonight!

 

Somewhere, I have heard this line before: "Look, kid, the substitute juggler is sick- you're on!"

 

Isn't this what New York is all about? But only one thought occurs to me as I glance over at my suitcase, bereft of costumes or props. "What will I wear?"

 

"Don't worry, you can wear my costumes," Christian offers.

 

Like most jugglers, he is six-feet tall and skinny, but I have no other choice. A few hours later, clutching my circus slippers and make-up bag, I head for Times Square. En route I cannot resist stopping at Lincoln Center, hoping to catch sight of Kris Kremo strolling across the plaza. But the place is deserted and I continue on to my assigned stage door on 42nd St.

 

I arrive early for the rehearsal and the first people I meet look at me like I'm crazy. "You can't just walk into a Broadway show off the street," they say. "We have choreography and everything! "

 

I try to explain that I am not just anybody. Only last week I was towing a 16-foot truck from Winnipeg to Fargo at 3 a.m. Somehow this fails to inspire them with confidence. I tell them I'll just hang out in case anybody needs me.

 

I nonchalantly slip onto the stage Broadway at last! Gilded angels deck the grandly restored ceiling. Gradually the performers arrive and begin passing clubs with me. Soon they are all in a feed throwing garbage in a scene reminiscent of the 1986 Amherst mini-convention. Jeannot Painchaud is the leader, and he likes to run the tricky parts five times in a row. They teach me the choreography, which involves joggling backwards in various patterns without colliding with other people engaged in a similar activity. I wonder if this might catch on as a new form of Combat!

 

I should mention that all the other jugglers in Eloize have amazing specialties in other fields, yet they spend more time warming up juggling than anything else and seem to genuinely enjoy it. Almost all are alumni of Cirque du Soleil, yet the show has its own style and character and should not be mistaken for a spin-off. They always seem to be looking out for each other.