Last night, Cirque du Soleil opened a new Toronto show and its gigantic new ‘pavilion’ on Lakeshore West with the launch of OVO, running until June 28.
Those who recall the whimsy and charm of past Cirque big tops can forget about it, the pavilion is billed as the world’s largest pop-up venue and is the size of 22 tennis courts. By appearances, it exudes all the charm and warmth of a day at Costco.
Inside, the stadium-style hard metal seating encircles a thrust stage with a number of rows of VIP seating at floor level. I didn’t want to like it, if I’m being honest. It felt harsh and cold, impersonal, nothing like the quirky big tops of yester-cirque. It looks like about twice the number of seats as previously big tops perhaps more.
Then the show started, and everything changed.
With the new venue, the site lines are much-improved, the sound quality is incredible, and the newly enhanced stage offers more opportunities for Cirque du Soleil to do what it does best.
Artists still wander the crowd before the show and amongst those seated at floor level in the lead up and during the changeover between acts. It did seem like those in the stadium seating sections were a bit more removed from this experience.
On stage, OVO is a wonder. It is a faster moving show, and new stage offering artists an opportunity to disappear and appear through a multitude of holes instead of more often having to exit to the rear. The set-up and dismantling of netting and various apparatus is startlingly efficient.
The theme is a bug’s life, and all of the acts portray one insect or another. The name, OVO, is the Portuguese word for egg, and is not a reference to a certain someone’s clothing brand. A giant egg is front-and-centre in the Cirque show.
The most obvious improvement with the new venue came with the closing act when a group of acrobats and tumblers portraying crickets make wondrous use of a gigantic climbing wall built into the rear of the stage. I recall this act in previous incarnations of the show, and it pales in comparison to the frenetic energy and dizzying talent on display enhanced by the new venue.
In the first act, some standouts include a diabolos performer working in darkness with glow-in-the-dark materials that seem to float through the air. Of course, he is a firefly. Lovely aerial straps and silks work, balancing acts are beautiful. The scarabs act is the Cirque equivalent of a fly trapeze, except the performers are tossed through the air by some seriously hulking beetles.
The second act brought two of the most memorable acts.
First, a contortionist, portraying a spider. Cirque du Soleil always has a contortionist or contortionists, but this one is something special. The spider vibe is perfect. And this human can do things that seem to defy physics or physiology. And, she plays it perfectly, scurrying upside down and contorted, across the stage, or doing circles around herself, like some Tim Burton character. Then, a hand balancing act. It’s been done, I know. But here, we add a slack rope and a bowed or boat-like apparatus with a heavy rocker so the balancing occurs on an apparatus constantly moving back and forth and a rope that is slack, thus creating the movement when weight is added. It is one level of difficulty piled upon the next to a crescendo that leaves the audience in awe.
Throughout the circus acts we have a bit of a narrative that is acted out with the aid of a trio of Cirque clowns — a flea, ladybug and mosquito — and the assistance of an audience member or two. It’s one of the Cirque charms that remains consistent from show to show. You cannot have a circus without clowns. Period.
At the end of the show, the audience is thoroughly pleased by OVO. As all of the performers take to the stage for the familiar farewell, it feels right. It feels like a Cirque show after all.
Although I miss the big top, once the lights dim OVO exudes all the charm and incredible entertainment we’ve come to expect from Cirque du Soleil. Go, and check it out.
