Though its cast of characters may be insectoid, Ovo is far more crawly than creepy—it’s just as family-friendly as other touring Cirque du Soleil shows, clown innuendo and all. That said, there are plenty of hypnotically weird visuals, whether via a suspended, featureless cocoon that contorts its way into a flowing butterfly or a sinewy human-sized slinky that springs about the stage.
Some of Cirque’s most entertaining moments come from acts that start out with you thinking “that looks fun, I’d love to do that” but very quickly transition to “oh… nope, I could never pull that off.” In Ovo, that comes via the finale, where colorful crickets spring off of trampolines and up and across the climbing wall that backdrops the entire show, all while a line of tumblers flip in the foreground. The rest of the show flies forward with firmly “how’d they do that?” sort of acts, whether that’s watching scarabs tossed back and forth on aerial cradles or a firefly toss an increasing number of diabolos into the air.
Touring Cirque shows are an annual fixture in L.A.—or at least they had been until the pandemic. Ovo arrived in L.A. just a few months into the traveling show’s resumed run, and its month-and-a-half stint here is the longest on the tour (and the first in a five-year agreement for shows hosted at L.A. Live). During a behind-the-scenes preview of Ovo, we chatted with a cricket-costumed tumbler named Kilian who detailed how he stayed in shape for a year and a half while stages were dark (first by running, then by getting back into gyms as they reopened) before ultimately spending three months training in Montreal for Ovo. “It was very good to be back on stage with our second family,” he said of the show—and if you’re a repeat Cirque attendee, you may likely feel the same as you settle into your seat for Ovo.
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