Cirque du Soleil arrives at the Trop Thursday
The big blue-and white striped tents in the Tropicana Field parking lot are hard to miss. The largest – yes, it’s called The Big Top – tops out at 62 feet high, and is 135 feet in diameter.
The Big Top, that’s where it all happens.
Cirque du Soleil, the Canada-based producer of contemporary circus arts extravaganzas, will be in St. Pete for a month. It’s the fourth stop on a cross-country tour for BAZZAR, a show that commemorates the company’s 40th anniversary. BAZZAR opens Thursday and will be at the Trop through March 24.
The 27 international performers tell a story, of sorts, through aerial and earthbound acrobatics, high-flying stunts, bright colors, lights, dance, sound and music. It’s loud, it’s high-energy and it’s nonstop.
The look is sort of a Ringling Brothers/Mad Max mashup. In neon and psychedelics.
BAZZAR – the name is purposely-misspelled homage to a middle eastern bazaar – was first produced in 2018.
“We’re doing things that people still can’t imagine are physically possible,” artistic director Johnny Kim told Metro Philadelphia, “and we’re doing it and presenting it in such an artistic way.
“We’re also obviously a company that does this with humans only and no animals, and I think that’s a huge thing to celebrate as well when it comes to what the human body’s capable of doing and what kind of magic we’re able to share.”
Said set designer Simon Guilbault: “The performance lab, visually speaking, is a matter of lines and metal supports and how separate pieces can be linked. You don’t really understand how it’s made or holds together. There are so many bizarre angles. It’s very chaotic and seems to float in space with just a few anchor points.”
The Big Top seats more than 2,600 people.
Click here for showtimes and tickets.
