Move over, Rogers Stadium, because there’s a new event venue coming to town that is set to be potentially even more impressive due to its record as the largest of its kind on the planet.
Dubbed the Pavilion, the complex is designed specifically for the new Cirque du Soleil production, Ovo, which debuts in the city this spring.
While it will only seat some 2,500 patrons — Rogers Stadium, by comparison, will accommodate up to 50,000 on the old Downsview Airport lands — the structure, once built, will boast the title of the biggest free-standing live event venue, with a footprint of more than an entire acre.
This is far more performance space than local Cirque audiences are used to, and is comparable in size to the brand’s installation in China in 2018 for its run of Toruk.
Curious to see where #TORUK is until May? Here is our special #setup in the heart of #Sanyachen, #Hainan, #China!
🎥Carter Baynham pic.twitter.com/pkacX3petF
— Cirque du Soleil (@Cirque) March 9, 2018
Even if the sprawling tent will be even less permanent than the new stage coming to Downsview, existing for but a few months, it will still take a whopping four weeks to construct and another three weeks to take down — way longer than the mere days it usually takes Cirque to Soleil to set up and wrap up when it hosts shows in its iconic Big Top.
Residents will be able to watch the one-of-a-kind “mobile arena” come to fruition next to Lake Shore Boulevard, at Park Lawn, ahead of Cirque’s first Toronto event of the season on May 1.
Ovo, the latest of the contemporary circus company’s creative pieces, tells the story of two insects who fall in love — and their encounters with a mysterious egg — in the midst of “a vibrant ecosystem filled with energy and life.”
The show runs through to June 28, after which the Pavilion will be no more — that is, until, perhaps, next year’s Cirque production.
