Cirque du Soleil will return under the marquee of Toronto’s Place de l’Ontario – a site similar to Parc Jean-Drapeau – from April to May 2022, with the show Kurios. The Quebec troupe hopes that its return to Toronto next year will be the first in a series of annual visits to the Queen City, announced Daniel Lamarre, president and CEO.
“We want Toronto to become a tourist destination,” the CEO said at a press conference Monday, alongside Ontario Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Lisa MacLeod. His ministry will lead a major revitalization of Ontario’s place over the next decade. The arrival of the Circus represents an “interim activation” of the park, underlined the minister, while awaiting its transformation into “tourist destination of choice”.
A lobbyist was hired by Cirque du Soleil at the beginning of October to promote the interests of the company with the managers of the site where the performances will take place, the Ontario Place Operating Company. The lobbyist’s objective is to sign a long-term agreement with the Society for the Occupation of Ontario Square.
In interview with The duty, Daniel Lamarre, however, specified that a long-term agreement with the Ontario government for annual performances in place of Ontario – a property of the province – “will not be possible as long as the development plan [du site] will not be confirmed ”. But the leader of the Quebec flagship wants Cirque du Soleil to be able to confirm its return to the Queen City in 2023, next April, when the troupe will be in Toronto for Kurios.
Toronto-based investment firm Catalyst Capital Group became Cirque’s largest shareholder in November 2020, after the company turned to the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. But if Catalyst Capital Group is “obviously” sympathetic to the idea of having shows in Toronto, the shareholder did not influence the strategic planning of Cirque, assures Daniel Lamarre.
Last eventful visit
Cirque du Soleil’s last visit to Toronto took place in the spring of 2019, on the occasion of the show Alegria. The public was then greeted in Ontario’s place by a picket line from Local 58 of the International Alliance of Theater Employees, who came to demonstrate Cirque de Soleil’s choice to employ non-union workers for installing and uninstalling the scene. They were paid $ 10 an hour less than AIEST members, according to Toronto chapter president Justin Antheunis
Since that time, no conversation has taken place between Cirque du Soleil and Local 58, told the To have to Justin Antheunis. The union will contact the Quebec company in a month or two, he said, to try to come to an agreement. Cirque still does not know who will be hired in 2022. “We have always worked well with workers locally, all over the world, so I do not see why we would have a problem,” noted Daniel Lamarre.
Kurios was presented for the first time in 2014, in Montreal; and the show passed through Toronto that year. Torontonians will be the first to attend Kurios from 2022. Shows Kurios in Milan and Rome, Italy, will also take place in 2023, the only two other stops so far confirmed.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.