Cirque du Soleil ready to take Penticton audiences on visually rich journey

Cirque du Soleil is inviting audiences into their dream world.

The world-class performers are in Penticton this weekend for a run of shows called Corteo, a story told from the perspective of a subconscious clown.

Even by the standards of Cirque du Soleil, this show is going to be unique, according to touring director Michael Veilleux.

“Visually it’s very rich,” he said in a phone interview. “As soon as people are entering the bowl, they’re going to be wowed.”

The show will be set in a mysterious space between heaven and earth with a carnival atmosphere, where the clown is going to witness his own funeral and rediscover the juxtapositions of life.

And the soundtrack for Corteo – the live instrumentalists, singers and a whistler – is the glue that holds the show together, Veilleux said.

He said it’s easy for the audience to enjoy each act, but admits the high-level acrobatic stunts are a bit stressful for him to watch.

“You’ll see there is a variety of acts that are just as good as the next one.”

The size of the crew fluctuates between 114 and 117.

It includes 53 artists, around 30 technicians and the rest are support staff. It’s a diverse team with citizens from 27 different countries. Many of them — including Veilleux — were part of the team during previous shows in Penticton.

“When everybody arrived and saw the lake, everybody was super excited,” he said.

“We know the building, we know the people – it’s always like coming back home to see friends who you haven’t seen in a while. Little stress – we know them, they know us. Really close partnership that makes it really fun to come back.”

And during this extraordinarily dry winter, it was refreshing for them to see some snow on the tops of the Okanagan mountains.

“We just came through Canada and there was barely any snow.”

Corteo was first performed in Montreal in 2005. There will be eight chances to see it at the South Okanagan Events Centre between tonight, Jan. 4, and Sunday.

The show has two 50-minute halves plus an intermission.

Tickets are $49 to $149 for adults and $39 to $115 for kids. They can be purchased at valleyfirsttix.com.

— This story was originally published by the Penticton Herald.