By Juliane Kim
Cirque du Soleil returned to Virginia with its mystical big top touring show, Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities, at Lerner Town Square in Tysons Galleria on July 21, and the show seeks to transport the audience to a mad scientist’s 19th century-inspired laboratory.
According to Amélie Robitaille, a Cirque du Soleil spokesperson, Kurios was inspired by the Industrial Revolution when “people started travelling more, communicating more and believing that everything was possible.” Kurios aims to bring that sense of wonder to a modern audience with performances that seemingly distort reality.
The show will offer something new for everyone, even longtime fans of Cirque du Soleil after concerns in the past of its shows being too predictable.
“The main goal of the director [was] to bring you in [one] direction and [then] suddenly he [turns] your world upside down because … you’re discovering something that you could not expect to happen,” Karl L’Ecuyer, who will portray the show’s protagonist, Mr. Microcosmos, says. “Also, there’s other apparatuses that were built just for the show, [and] that has never been done before.”
The Mr. Microcosmos character is a major part of Kurios’ fantastical world, and his costume adds its own mind-bending element to the show. As part of his costume, L’Ecuyer will wear a giant round ball around his torso that opens to reveal a woman within (pictured above).
“My costume is so big that I cannot fit through a door,” says L’Écuyer. “Inside the costume lives this character called Mini Lili, so I literally have someone attached to me while I walk … That’s one of the main challenges, to be able to interact with the public with that massive costume and also that lady inside that’s trying to tickle my ribs during the show.”
Kurios will open July 21 and run until Sept. 18, so there’s plenty of time to take your family or friends to Cirque’s latest awe-inspiring show this summer.
