Strong ticket sales for Cirque du Soleil’s month-long, circus-style production of Kooza this summer has prompted the Montreal-based theatre company to return to the Lower Mainland twice in 2011.
The company will perform the arena show, Quidam, a total of eight times March 9 to 13 at Rogers Arena. It will also perform the arena show Dralion a total of seven times between June 2 and 5 at the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre.
“When they were here last, it was a big top show that they did. These shows that they are doing in 2011 were big top shows in the past, but they are touring them as arena shows so they are scaled back somewhat,” said Cirque du Soleil publicist Marnie Wilson.
“By doing so, in an arena, they only come for a week and do between five and eight shows. This way they can reach a lot more people and go to communities such as Abbotsford.”
Earlier this year, the profitable Cirque du Soleil was operating 19 productions around the world. (See “Profitable circus comes to town” – issue 1082; July 20-26.)
Those shows included:
Combined, the shows generate nearly $1 billion in annual revenue, André Côté told Business in Vancouver in July. He is Cirque du Soleil’s vice-president of marketing for touring shows.