OCTOBER 14-19

Cirque Ingenieux was voted Best Show of the Year in Atlantic City, where glitz and chintz measure second only to Las Vegas. While it’s basically a knockoff of Cirque du Soleil, that fantastic and macabre Canadian spectacle, Ingenieux is decidedly American in its bigger-is-better, Broadway approach, lavishing its audiences with grand sets, costumes, and sex appeal. From the seductive “Enchantress” Galina to strongmen adorned in little other than muscle (pictured), Ingenieux gives more than good face. The stunningly handsome young Russian acrobat Sasha leads a cast of international artists. Arlington playwright Norman Allen, who wrote the “libretto,” describes Sasha as “the only man I have ever met that even straight men don’t for a moment hesitate to call ‘beautiful.’” Still, Ingenieux is a family show. The plot is The Nutcracker set at a circus—with really sexy acrobats and the new-age sounds of Kitaro. A little girl, fascinated by a circus act, revisits it at night, and (gasp!) everything comes to life. She is rescued from the more dangerous elements of this fantasy world by her brother (Sasha), only to wake up in the real circus, where she fulfills her fantasy of flying on the trapeze. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 1 & 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 & 5 p.m. Sunday at the Warner Theatre, 513 13th St. NW. $19-39.50. (202) 628-1818. (Holly Bass)