Music and Dance Reviews : ‘Alchemedians II’ at Smothers Theatre

Melding circus arts with sublimity, Bob Berky and Michael Moschen--who call themselves “Alchemedians II”--offered an evening of form and foolishness Thursday at Smothers Theatre in Malibu. Juggling, often evoked as a metaphor for our overstuffed lives, was here cleanly demonstrated as a victory over chaos and the inevitable march of time.

Moschen is a minimalist. Eschewing rubber chickens and the other gags of pop jugglers like the Karamazovs, he dresses and moves like a dancer, tossing white or crystal balls in traditional patterns. In “Sticks,” he manipulates a translucent wand until it seems to defy gravity.

Berky, a more accessible figure, is first a berserk bird-watcher camouflaged in a helmet of leaves, pecked at by his own fingers. Then he’s a traditional brash clown, in slouch hat and red nose, hauling people out of the audience and requiring them to learn his craft.

A creature of appetites, happily burbling through a kazoo, Berky’s broad humor contrasts with Moschen’s elegant geometry. His honked sentiments may range from “varoom” to “va-va-va-voom,” but under his Jackie Gleason-like, rumpled facade resides a virtuoso.

The program closed with the pair whirling torches. Fire racing through air makes noise as well as dazzling light; this program was as noticeable for its attention to sound, and its perfectly calibrated score by David van Tieghem, as for its many visual delights.