History Creator / CirqueDuSoleil

[[quoteright:355:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cirque-du-soleil-brand.png]]

In 2017, Music/BlueManGroup was brought under this company's umbrella, but their productions are considered separate from the Cirque shows. That same year, the company revamped its identity to be more modern, this coincided with the rebrand of the Cirque du Soleil corporation to Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group. However the former name is used for their circus arts productions. This was followed in 2018 by the acquisition of [=VStar=] Entertainment Group.

In 2017 Music/BlueManGroup was brought under this company's umbrella, but their productions are considered separate from the Cirque shows.

* ''Theatre/{{Delirium}}'' (2006-08 arena concert tour)

* ''Theatre/{{O}}'' (1998)

* WidgetSeries: The concept applies to the company's output as a whole, and even more so to ''Solstrom''.

'''[[https://www.cirquedusoleil.com Cirque du Soleil]]''' (French for "Circus of the Sun") is a Montreal-based company. Initially mostly made up of street performers and/or acrobats, and organized by Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix, its first troupe toured in 1984 (as part of the 450th anniversary celebrations of the discovery of Canada by the French). It was successful enough that a second tour ran in 1986, and a third, [[Theatre/LeCirqueReinvente ''Le Cirque Réinventé'']] ("Circus Reinvented") the year after that.

** Unfortunately, this trope became averted ''hard'' in 2020 with the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic forcing the company to close ''all'' of their shows worldwide. They later filed for bankruptcy protection and laid off 3,500 staff members as a result.

'''Cirque du Soleil''' (French for "Circus of the Sun") is a Montreal-based company. Initially mostly made up of street performers and/or acrobats, and organized by Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix, its first troupe toured in 1984 (as part of the 450th anniversary celebrations of the discovery of Canada by the French). It was successful enough that a second tour ran in 1986, and a third, [[Theatre/LeCirqueReinvente ''Le Cirque Réinventé'']] ("Circus Reinvented") the year after that.

* NiceHat: Nice hats show up a ''lot'' in Cirque. Some are even magical.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Quite a few shows are just bursting with odd folks; many are not even named in the program and may appear just as colorful extras.

* ''Twas the Night Before'' (2019 and 2021; New York City seasonal production)

'''Announced Shows'''
* ''Under the Same Sky'' (tent tour)
* ''Drawn to Life'' (Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL) [[note]] A collaboration with Creator/WaltDisneyAnimationStudios and "Walt Disney Imagineering" [[/note]]

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Most of the Vegas shows since ''Mystere'' put a significant twist on the usual formula in staging and/or thematic focus -- ''"O"'' uses water as a performance medium and setting, ''Zumanity'' is adults-only, etc. ''Zarkana'' is an exception to this, though it folds in RockOpera for its score, owing to the fact that it wasn't originally created for Vegas.

* ''TOTEM'' (2010)

* ''Theatre/{{Volta}}'' (2017)

* ''Axel'' (Arena ice show, 2019)

* ''Drawn to Life'' (Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL)

* TheRival: In the U.S., the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, especially once Cirque put its older shows on the arena tour circuit. Ringling Bros., which almost always performs in arenas, is the epitome of traditional circus and uses animals, something Cirque eschews with the exception of doves in ''Believe''. Ringling presents three different tours that are each revamped with a new "edition" every one-to-two years, as opposed to Cirque shows being unique, stand-alone productions that can run indefinitely.
** Well, looks like one model won out: Ringling Bros. deciding to wind their whole group up basically means that animal circus performance is officially going the way of dancing bears in the US, at least. It's been on the cards for a while.

In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing, all ongoing productions were forced to stop performances in Spring; this was what shut down ''Zumanity'' for good while ''NYSA'' (a Berlin resident show) was cancelled. Cirque launched ''[[https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/press/news/2020/cirqueconnect-a-weekly-virtual-rendezvous-of-wonder-for-all-ages-to-enjoy-at-home CirqueConnect]]'', a weekly online program showcasing their past performances. Content can be viewed on their website [[https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/cirqueconnect here]], or their [=YouTube=] channel [[https://www.youtube.com/c/CirqueduSoleil/playlists here]]. While ''X (The Land of Fantasy)'' reopened that summer, the world premieres of ''Under the Same Sky'' and ''Drawn to Life'' were put indefinitely on hold. This has not, however, been enough to keep them from filing for bankruptcy in June of that infamous year, though they've managed to remerge by selling the company to Catalyst Capital Group.

* ''Twas the Night Before'' (2019; New York City seasonal production)

'''Announced Shows''' (Opening dates TBA)

In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing, Cirque launched ''[[https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/press/news/2020/cirqueconnect-a-weekly-virtual-rendezvous-of-wonder-for-all-ages-to-enjoy-at-home CirqueConnect]]'', a weekly online program showcasing their past performances. Content can be viewed on their website [[https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/cirqueconnect here]], or their [=YouTube=] channel [[https://www.youtube.com/c/CirqueduSoleil/playlists here]]. This has not, however, been enough to keep them from filing for bankruptcy in June of that infamous year.

'''If you want to know about a specific show and its tropes, look to the CirqueDuSoleilIndex.'''

** In 2008, the cast of ''Theatre/TheBeatlesLOVE'' teamed up with the cast of ''Film/AcrossTheUniverse'' for the Grammys' tribute to Music/TheBeatles and/or Music/JohnLennon.

More tours followed with increasingly ambitious themes, visual concepts, acts, and music (most of the shows have original scores) as more performers joined from other countries. 1992's ''Theatre/{{Saltimbanco}}'' is generally regarded as the first "modern" Cirque show. The following year, casino mogul Steve Wynn had a theatre custom-built at his new Treasure Island hotel-casino in UsefulNotes/LasVegas for Cirque, which became home to the troupe ''Theatre/{{Mystere}}''. The company's growth and development progressed to the point that, in TheNewTens, the number of troupes performing somewhere in the world at any given time wad in the double digits. Each one is unique, changing acts and performers over time but sticking to an individual thematic/artistic core.

In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing, Cirque launched ''[[https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/press/news/2020/cirqueconnect-a-weekly-virtual-rendezvous-of-wonder-for-all-ages-to-enjoy-at-home CirqueConnect]]'', a weekly online program showcasing their past performances. Content can be viewed on their website [[https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/cirqueconnect here]], or their [=YouTube=] channel [[https://www.youtube.com/c/CirqueduSoleil/playlists here]]. This has not, however, been enough to keep them from filing for bankruptcy.

More tours followed with increasingly ambitious themes, visual concepts, acts, and music (most of the shows have original scores) as more performers joined from other countries. 1992's ''Theatre/{{Saltimbanco}}'' is generally regarded as the first "modern" Cirque show. The following year, casino mogul Steve Wynn had a theatre custom-built at his new Treasure Island hotel-casino in UsefulNotes/LasVegas for Cirque, which became home to the troupe ''Theatre/{{Mystere}}''. The company's growth and development progressed to the point that, in TheNewTens, the number of troupes performing somewhere in the world at any given time is in the double digits. Each one is unique, changing acts and performers over time but sticking to an individual thematic/artistic core.

In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent social distancing, Cirque launched ''[[https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/press/news/2020/cirqueconnect-a-weekly-virtual-rendezvous-of-wonder-for-all-ages-to-enjoy-at-home CirqueConnect]]'', a weekly online program showcasing their past performances. Content can be viewed on their website [[https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/cirqueconnect here]], or their [=YouTube=] channel [[https://www.youtube.com/c/CirqueduSoleil/playlists here]].