For zany Circus Contraption, every show is a costume ball

Sari Breznau isn't just one of Seattle's most talented and unique singers. The lively young lady is also soon to be a zombie.

Circus Contraption, her troupe of acrobats, musicians and oddball performers, puts on a Halloween blowout at 9 tonight at the Showbox ($18). They share the bill with the March Fourth Marching Band, a 35-person crew of musicians, puppets, stilt-ists and acrobats; Orkestar Zirkonium, a 12-member brass band; Nanda, a Kung-Fu-movie-inspired acrobat team from Port Townsend; and Scotty Walsh, a juggling magician.

And then there's Circus Contraption, a sort of low-rent Cirque du Soleil, with acrobats, aerialists and contortionists. While most Circus Contraption shows have the band in the background, at the Showbox, the "gypsy carnival junk orchestra" moves to the forefront, with some light performances.

Breznau's alter ego is Pinky d'Ambrosia, a sultry, slightly ironic character who ranges from roaring sea shanties to faux opera (a hilarious bit).

Circus Contraption recently returned to Seattle after two months in New York.

For a costume-crazy band like this, Halloween is a combination of the Super Bowl, New Year's Eve and the prom.

Breznau answered a few questions by e-mail, while frantically preparing for the show.

Q: Does Circus Contraption have anything special planned for the Halloween show?

A: Yes, we have several things, and I'll list them, but don't give it all away! Today I am making papier mâché shark fins that are going to circulate through the crowd until I fall off the stage and get ... [details deleted]. We'll see how this actually works out! Our acrobalancers are making special black-light skeleton costumes, so they can do their act in the dark, which should be super cool. The Aerialistas are guest go-go dancing to the "Monster Mash," which we have learned as a cover, as well as a couple other Halloween cover tunes, and the band has a bunch of new songs that we worked up in New York.

Q: Is being in CC like having Halloween all the time?

A: Yes! Except for the candy. There's no candy happening in Circus Contraption, unfortunately. We'll have to look into it.

Q: Which of your songs is the spookiest/creepiest?

A: We have an old tune called "Toy-shop" with a fantastically ominous base line. I get to wail like a banshee, along with a Theremin and musical saw, and Armitage [Shanks] sings in his powerful tenor about the "Toyshop Armageddon."

Q: How was your time in New York? Any scary moments there? (Good scary, hopefully.)

A: New York was very eventful for us — in our second week there, we had a lot of expensive equipment stolen — our laptop, cordless mic, two video cameras, tech radios, headphones and, strangest of all, a tiny, tiny red Spandex devil costume, one of a matched set of four for our acrobatic team. So our smallest acrobat had to go out on stage as a strange non-matching hybrid devil for a few nights until she had time to sew a new one.

Additionally, Schmootzi [Drew Keriakedes], our songwriter/tuba player/banjo picker, got married to Zoe, his beloved, in a wedding/freak show at the theater. They exchanged their vows while standing on a bed of nails atop Eek the Geek's stomach and exchanged rings after our Coney Island Freakshow friend Insectavora guzzled a live "ring worm" that was hiding in the jewelry box.

Also fairly traumatic to the group was Harold Smaude [Greg Adair], our longtime accordion player's announcement, within weeks of arriving, that he had fallen in love with a New York girl and was going to marry her and stay in New York. We left him there, after eight years of performing together, to his new life and lady. Best of luck to them both!

Q: Have you always liked Halloween, and what's been your favorite costume?

A: I have always been a Halloween junkie, and my all-time favorite costume is the old standard ghost, with a sheet over your head. It's so perfectly, pathetically cute! And somehow the ghost in the group is always the kid who is dragging behind, stepping on her shoelaces and missing out on the best candy. I wore several different variations of this costume when I was a kid — the "business" ghost, with a bow tie and brief case; the two-person ghost, with my best friend in one eye and me in the other; and later as a whole team of ghosts. I actually did my best to convince Orkestar Zirkonium (which she is also in) that we should perform on Friday in ghost costumes, but they are a pretty stylish bunch that don't share my high opinion of embarrassing yourself in public. Ah, well.

For more, see www.circuscontraption.com.

Tom Scanlon: tscanlon@seattletimes.com