Cirque du Soleil: “ECHO” finally ready to be presented under the Big Top in Montreal

The pandemic almost got the better of the “ECHO” show, which was stopped dead in 2020 when Quebec went on hiatus a few weeks before the big premiere.

Three years later, Cirque du Soleil is ready to unveil its 20th big top show, which will be presented from April 20 to August 20 in the Old Port of Montreal. The large-scale production was fine-tuned during the “covid” hiatus by the teams of creative director Chantal Tremblay and British director Mukhtar Omar Sharif Mukhtar.

Three numbers both spectacular in beauty and prowess were unveiled to the media on Wednesday under the Big Top, including the one entitled “Suspension by the hair”, in which the Torontonian Charlotte O’Sullivan and the Austrian Penelope Scheidler put some dazzle by suspending themselves in the air using their hair and their mouths, while performing different tricks. They are the only ones to do a “double suspension”, according to Cirque du Soleil.

A huge cube makes up most of the decor of “ECHO”. This advances and performs rotations, as is the case in the “Fil mou” number, in which two very gifted acrobats perform pirouettes, jumps or quite simply movements on an extensible wire. Do not try at home! Ukrainian artist Taras Hoi and his accomplice Antino-Tisson Pansa, from French Guyana, have, let’s just say, great dexterity when it comes to balance.

In the “Human Framework” number, 11 Ethiopians use only their bodies to form structures, launch themselves through the air and perform pirouettes in their colorful costumes, which usually requires acrobatic apparatus. In the room, we force with them and we are amazed by their know-how.

Solidarity and collaboration

“ECHO” celebrates human solidarity, collaboration, as protagonist Future brings humans and animals together – the animal heads are very beautiful – in order to rebuild their planet to make it a better place. There are themes that resonate in this era of Russian invasion of Ukraine, major population displacements and the return to the forefront of a certain Donald Trump.

“Future represents the new generation, the dynamism, young people look at the world differently. Connection, empathy and hope are part of the show’s narrative,” creative director Chantal Tremblay, who has been with Cirque du Soleil for 31 years, told QMI Agency.

“To reinvent ourselves, we gave the technical team major challenges, such as the huge cube. We also try to maximize our acrobatic performances.

As in any show by the troupe created by Guy Laliberté – 39 years ago already – there is magic, poetry and music to tie it all together.

A local singer at the heart of “ECHO”

Opera singer Pascale Brigitte Baril takes part in her first Cirque du Soleil show with “ECHO”.

It’s an incredible experience for the 32-year-old, who is from Longueuil. Hired in 2019, she had to wait like all artists on the planet for the past three years. Since January, she has taken over the collar with the other five voices of “ECHO” to push the note during the numbers, which requires adjusting throughout the performances, depending on what is happening on stage. Pascale Brigitte also plays the piano during the show.

“It’s quite an experience! There’s a lot of sound technology, whereas I’m used to working in an acoustic environment, without amplifiers or monitors. We work with headphones [intra-auriculaires]everything is amplified, all the instruments are electronic, although there are a lot of classical instruments like violin, cello, viola and piano,” she said.

Pascale Brigitte, who notably sang at the Opéra de Montréal, simply responded to an announcement in 2019, in which Cirque du Soleil was looking for new voices. She will take part in the North American tour of “ECHO” until December 2024.