Despite its showy jungle setting, the aerialists are the stars of "Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy," playing this week at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. Working its way to a summer opening on Broadway, the show is a themed circus in the European style, created and directed by Neil Goldberg. ("Cirque Dreams" is not affiliated with Cirque du Soleil.)

The jungle fantasy theme means a cast decked out in striped and spotted body stockings, sprouting fur and feathers and stylized makeup. An otherwise bare stage is flanked by twisted tree trunks and backed by a leafy mural, while murky lighting and florescent highlights enhance the dreamlike quality.

Continuity is provided by a "Jungleboy" comic gymnast (Marcello Balestracci), a "Lady Bug Vocalist" (Julia Langley), and a muscle-bound "Soul Tree Violinist" (Jared Burnett). The last two also deliver a new age/pop musical score backed up by full orchestration.

The cast is a collection of gymnasts, acrobats, dancers and contortionists with heavily Slavic origins.

There is a lot to see and hear.

A "Swinging Vines" routine features Denys Kucher and Vitalii Lykov both hanging from a pair of canvas lines and striking a series of effortless poses. "Butterfliers" Sergey Parshin and Naomi Sampson use a pair of tie-dyed fabric panels as they artfully circle above the stage.

And "Owls on a Perch," features Ivan Dotsenko and Carly Sheridan hanging from a traditional trapeze in a remarkable routine of physical control and timing.

There is plenty of other talent as well.

Four contortionists create a veritable snake pit of entwining arms and legs. Vladimir Dovgan and Anatoliy Yeniy share a duet balancing act atop a giraffe table while Serguei Slavski and Alexander Tolstikov appear as "Jungle Kings" using simply their own bodies in a powerfully artful gymnastics routine.

Perhaps the best visual success in the show is a pair of dancing emus. Human legs support a feathery body and a human arm and hand extend upward to create the emu neck and head. We can identify the component parts, but their animal creation is so delightfully convincing that we readily accept the result.

It's a jungle fantasy, indeed.

Joseph T. Rozmiarek has been reviewing theater performances in Hawai'i since 1973.