Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...This year’s production, directed by the Ringling Brothers veteran Sylvia Hase, is still not wholly the equal of major circus attractions on, say, the Las Vegas Strip, but then the tickets cost a lot less in Chicago. And for 2008, Navy Pier has delivered a much zestier, sexier and generally more appealing show that uses talents from the Chicago theater to showcase the visiting Chinese acrobats—whose skills have been dazzling from the project’s inception—to much more powerful effect."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...The all-new, eye-popping, Olympic-themed Cirque Shanghai, back for a third year at the Skyline Stage on Navy Pier, is indeed a winner. This high-energy show is great, glitzy summer entertainment for all ages."
SouthtownStar
- Highly Recommended
"...This summer's production excels over previous presentations because of Sylvia Hase's sharp, entertainment-focused direction. A veteran of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Hase brings an exhilarating energy and sexy spirit to the show."
Windy City Times
- Highly Recommended
"...Shanghai Gold, by contrast, is all sunny spun-sugar garishness, pure pop candy and cheerleading for China. The uber-talented performers twirl dazzling hula hoops by the dozens, stand on their heads—hands free—atop chairs stacked three stories high, and hurl themselves between, up and down poles with the agility of rain forest spider monkeys."
EpochTimes
- Highly Recommended
"...Last year, they opted not to use a script and the show was much stronger, but this year Wow! A better set, fantastic costumes and wonderful music make this a family treat that should not be missed. The talent is incredible and some of the acts are far superior to previous years. From contortions, ring balancing, hoop diving (always fun to watch), flying on silk, and the big bike where a bike rider adds 9 others to the bike and pedals around the stage several times."
Copley News Service
- Highly Recommended
"...The Cirque is lean distilled circus. There are no braying ringmasters, no chorus girls with frozen smiles riding on elephants, no unfunny clowns. The production has no filler. All of the dozen and a half acts are exhibitions of athletic talent at a very high level. The show is wordless, with no theme and no narrative (a serious flaw in a previous version). We get no announcements and the intervals between acts are a matter of seconds. The program opens with a brilliant contortion act and the hits just keep coming."
Time Out Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...Cirque Shanghai’s multinational production team doesn’t conjure a Terry Gilliam fantasia, but this year’s show still gives a lot of talent and art-directing bang for the buck. Many of the old-school-circus acts (contortionists, handstands atop a leaning tower of chairs, a dozen women riding one bike) are repackaged reprises, but Gold outshines its predecessors with gorgeously filigreed costumes and scenic tableaux (a whole lotta lotuses), polished choreography and a high-energy score that caffeinates traditional Chinese music with electro-dance gyrations."
ChicagoCritic
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Navy Pier’s summer Skyline Stage offering this year is billed as a collection of gold award-winning acts from China. The show features a collection of young acrobats and contortionists who are enjoyable enough to watch, but it is much more an advanced circus school recital than the world-class circus that the massive publicity implies. There is no attempt at a story or theme, merely a series of unconnected production numbers that are at times less than perfectly choreographed."
