To Brothers K, life’s literally up in the air

They can’t fly. They’re not Russian. And they aren’t related, either.

But the Flying Karamazov Brothers sure can juggle.

The Brothers K, as they’re known to fans, took the stage at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono on a snowy Sunday evening. The weather didn’t deter the crowd – nearly all of the 1,000-plus ticket-holders attended – nor did it quell the spirits of the “brothers.”

Instead, they pondered the arrival of a middle age in “LIFE: A Guide for the Perplexed.” During the two-hour show, the all-male foursome riffed on popular culture with a hilarious “Brokeback Mountain” cowboy scene, Broadway with an ode to “Spamalot,” and life in rural Maine. The troupe’s youngest member, Pavel (Roderick Kimball) grew up in northern Maine and taught juggling in Portland.

Let’s just say if you’ve never watched a man juggle a wooden toilet seat, a cooked lobster and an oil-coated gallon jug of ice water, you’re missing out.

It wasn’t all fun and games, though. “LIFE” tells the parable of the stages in a man’s life, using a biblelike tome (which arrived in a FedEx box) as a guide. It begins at the moment of conception – since this was a family show, sperm-style juggling balls and a lanternesque egg costume drove the point home – and ends with our hero, Dmitri (Paul Magid), standing alone in the light.

What happens in between is a rollicking rumination on marriage, family and ultimately, trust, which you really need if you’re going to juggle three balls while playing the guitar of the man next to you.

Then again, you need a lot of trust if you’re going to juggle family, career, the demands of your ego and the arrival of “little white hairs on the chin.”

As the Brothers K showed Sunday’s crowd, life is the ultimate performance. And as long as you’re surrounded by friends, it’s OK if you drop the ball – or bowling pin – as long as you pick it back up again.

Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.