You’ve heard of three-ring circuses, but how about two entire separate Cirque du Soleil shows coming to two different Connecticut cities in the same month?
Internationally renowned Canada-based Cirque du Soleil announced Monday that it would perform one of its newest productions, “Bazzar,” in a specially constructed big-top tent on Market Street in Hartford for an entire month, April 6 through May 5, 2024. Another Cirque du Soleil show, “Corteo,” will be at Bridgeport’s Total Mortgage Arena April 11-14, 2024 for six performances.
Tickets are already on sale for Cirque du Soleil Club members. Tickets for “Bazzar” in Hartford go on sale Oct. 23. Ticket prices have not been announced yet, though a press release says “Bazzar” tickets start at $50.
Moody and magical ‘Corteo’ brings the strange joy of Cirque du Soleil back to Connecticut
The April dates are the first time “Bazzar” will be seen in Connecticut. It premiered in 2018 in Mumbai, India, the first time that country hosted a Cirque du Soleil show. Besides India, the tour has been to Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. The show’s title is a play on a public marketplace common in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Cirque du Soleil describes “Bazzar” as a “marketplace of merriment and creative camaraderie … where a joyful troupe of acrobats, dancers and musicians craft an awe-inspiring spectacle.” One of the acrobatic routines in the show is based on the Indian sport of Mallakhamb.
“Corteo” performed in Hartford in December 2022 at the XL Center. The show is a dreamscape in which a clown envisions his own funeral. While most of Cirque du Soleil’s shows have made-up words for titles, “corteo” is an Italian word for a procession or parade. In one part of the show, a performer flies around the arena attached to a giant balloon, floating down so she can be touched by audience members.
Cirque du Soleil tent shows, such as “Bazzar,” are special since the company constructs its own village of multiple tents in one large location and controls all the design and technical elements. Hartford has been hosting Cirque du Soleil shows for decades, both tent and arena shows. The most recent tent show in Hartford was the water-filled wonderland “Luzia” in the summer of 2019.
Cirque du Soleil pioneered the modern form of theater-based circuses in the 1970s and has created dozens of shows that combine acrobatics, aerial acts, juggling, clowning, music, magic, special effects and more. The shows each have a loose theme and their own design style.
Most of the touring Cirque du Soleil shows start as tent shows, first at the company’s headquarters in Montreal, then in select cities around the world that can handle such a set-up. Then some of the shows are adapted for indoor arenas like the XL Center and Total Mortgage Arena. The company also creates shows that stay in one location, like “The Beatles LOVE” and “Michael Jackson ONE” in Las Vegas or the 2016 Broadway show “Paramour.”
Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport was meant to have a tour of yet another Cirque du Soleil touring show, “Crystal,” in July 2022, but the show was canceled just weeks before it happened.
