The Reviews Are In! - Critics Say Brit's Circus Was So-So ...

pix courtesy Getty Images



Despite our prayers and best wishes, Brit didn't exactly get rave reviews for Circus' opening night!

I mean, it wasn't all bad, but from what we've been reading online, I'd say she'd get about a "C" - not stellar, but not sucky.

Brit showcased jugglers, a martial arts routine, acrobats, gymnastics, and the death of Perez Hilton (yay!) all in the introduction! Then the show really began, with Britney's three-ring circus in four acts: "Circus," "House of Fun," "Freakshow/Peepshow," and "Electro Circ." It was a flurry of costumes and set changes, dancers and performers and most reviewers of the show thought it was TOO much.

She opened with "Circus" and "Piece of Me" as she was lowered onto the stage in a cage, then she went on to perform "Radar" as a pole dance in a sexy bra get-up. Then "Everytime," a ballad, was done from swing (hasn't she done that before?)

The "Freakshow" portion of the show was real chaos with so many people on stage you could hardly even find Britney amid the mess. At least she did "I'm a Slave 4 U," which made the crowd go wild.

Britney ended the night with "Womanizer" and a reprise of "Circus," giving the crowd just what they wanted.

Here's what some of the reviewers said ...

from MTV.com:

At times, Britney herself is almost dwarfed by the spectacle. She looks great in her myriad of outfits (Genie! Drill Sergeant! Kinda Stripper!) And she can still move with the best of them ... it's just, well, she's almost lost in the sheer hugeness of the production around her ... And by the time she said good night ... she looked exhausted. But happy. And why not? She brought the circus to her hometown, and it was a huge, sold-out, screaming success. It probably just would've benefited from a little more Britney Spears, that's all.

from the AP:

The "Circus" tour was another strong step in the right direction. Spears didn't interact much with the crowd — the only thing she uttered to the audience was "Thank you, New Orleans" at the end of the nearly two-hour show — and appeared at times to be lip-synching. But fans didn't seem to care, screaming wildly at the first sight of Spears, who descended from the ceiling on hoops suspended by wires, wearing a short red and black ringmaster ensemble."

from USA Today:

Finally, it was just her grinding away with a muscleman. And there was music involved as well ... en the massive size of the center stage (painted to look like a target — we get it, Brit) and the non-stop visual and sonic bombast, the pop princess sometimes got swallowed up.

from People.com:

Don't call it a comeback quite yet. Britney Spears still isn't all the way there.

From Us Weekly:

Even though Spears didn't interact much with the audience (and appeared to be lip-synching at times), fans went wild as she performed hits like "Womanizer" (in a cop costume) and her classic "Baby One More Time."