A couple years back, Cirque du Soleil extended its quest for global entertainment domination to the holiday season by creating its first Christmas-themed show, ’Twas the Night Before…, which set up shop in Milwaukee just after Thanksgiving in 2023. On Tuesday, the Pabst Theater Group announced a return engagement that will bring the high-flying festivities to the Miller High Life Theatre from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1.
The four-day run (skipping Thanksgiving) will include nine performances of the show, which is built around the classic tale Clement Clarke Moore laid out in his poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” Santa isn’t quite at the center of the Cirque du Soleil version and instead finds himself as a supporting character in the story of a young girl who isn’t quite as wowed by Christmas as she used to be.
Also, compared with its source material, ’Twas the Night Before… has a lot more flipping and juggling.
In all seriousness, though, I got an opportunity to see the show last year as a mild skeptic of Cirque du Soleil and general Grinch when it comes to holiday entertainment — and I still came away awfully impressed. You can only resist aerial performers in floating luggage carts and a juggling Santa Claus for so long, it seems. As I noted at the time:
By the time you get to the acro-bike (acrobatics via bicycle) performance that serves as the emotional resolution to the story and heard several dozen “whoas” from the grade-schoolers and the 80-year-olds and the teenagers around you, it’s not hard to imagine at least a slight smile creeping across the face of even the Grinchiest audience member. Does ‘Twas the Night Before… reinvent holiday entertainment? Of course not. But for those who would rather shelve The Nutcracker or scare up something other than Scrooge, it does reinvigorate it.
If you’d like to give yourself something Christmas-y to look forward to as we sit smack dab in the middle of summer, group tickets went on sale today via the Pabst Theater Group website, with a 15% discount if you have 10 or more people. There will also be a presale for PTG eMembers starting this Thursday, July 18, followed by a general sale at 10 a.m. the following Thursday, July 25.
