That's a pretty good move for Spain theme park Port Aventura as the park announced that next summer world famous Cirque du Soleil will come at Port Aventura during summer season during with "Kooza", "a stunt show with a large dose of fantasy".
"Both parties have signed a partnership agreement and the Cirque du Soleil will be installed in the resort with a daily show for more than 2,400 spectators.
Kooza, a show which has been seen by more than 4 million viewers from different countries discusses the work of Innocent, a loner character who tries to find a place in the world. The Cirque du Soleil believes the show is a return to the origins of the company because it combines two circus traditions: the art of clowning and acrobatic performances.
Throughout his life journey Innocent will contact comic characters like a king, an obnoxious tourist and a pickpocket. Kooza explores through exotic visuals world issues such as fear, identity, recognition, boldness and power .
"It will be a synergy that will allow us to entertain and amuse the millions of visitors of the park and also reach our fans," said Finn Taylor, senior vice president of Cirque du Soleil. "This collaboration is definitely a step forward in the consolidation of PortAventura resort as a leader in Europe and one of the most valuable tourism industry family brands," concludes Sergio Feder, chairman of the executive committee of the Park attractions of the Costa Dorada."
Now, you may ask: "By the way, why don't they have a permanent Cirque du Soleil show at Disneyland Paris, like WDW have at Downtown Disney? " This would be a good question, and the truth is that DLP tried to have one but - and it's a big "but" - the problem was apparently the cost. From what i've been told the deal with the Cirque du Soleil wherever they create a new show is that a special theatre must be build for the show and the cost of it must be paid by the place where the show will be, whether it's a Las Vegas casino or a theme park resort. And the cost is supposed to be around... $100 Million! You better understand now why there is no Cirque du Soleil at DLP as the park simply couldn't afford it. Instead they choose the cheap option and built a small circus tent under which they had a show for a while but nothing comparable with the quality of the Cirque du Soleil shows. What they could do probably more easily is what Port Aventura will do next year, i.e to have a temporary show which won't require a multi million dollar theater. That would be smart and we'll see if this will happen at DLP in the future. In the meantime have a look t the trailer below, and as i've said it's a very good move from Port Aventura which, with a brand new family ride also coming in 2014, should help the park to have an excellent 2014 season.
Pictures: copyright Cirque du Soleil
Having worked closely with both companies, I can give a little insight as to why Disneyland Paris did not put a Cirque show at their resort. Cirque needs to do 2 shows a night, 5 nights a week to make it profitable; DLP wanted them to on ly do one show a night, so as not to compete with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Cirque said no and the deal was scuttled.
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