After 15 months of complete inactivity and a painful restructuring, Cirque du Soleil began in July 2021 the resumption of its shows in Las Vegas to then begin a gradual return to its touring performances. The creative group from Montreal ended the year 2022 with 38 active shows around the world while recording gross revenues higher than those pre-pandemic of 2019, a spectacular comeback as explained to us by its CEO, Stéphane Lefebvre.
In November 2020, Cirque du Soleil emerged from the protection of the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act with staff reduced to 200 people, compared to 5,000 before the outbreak of the pandemic, and no short-term show horizon.
It wasn’t until July 2021 that the creative company gradually resumed its residency shows in Las Vegas and relaunched its touring performances step by step.
Today, Cirque du Soleil has more than 3,600 employees around the world and has replenished the workforce at its headquarters, which now employs 770 people, compared to 1,000 before the outbreak of the pandemic.
“We executed the crisis exit strategy that Daniel Lamarre and I presented to our new shareholders in November 2020. Essentially, this strategy was based on three axes. We had to reaffirm Cirque’s creative leadership, rethink the customer experience and finally ensure better market management,” explains Stéphane Lefebvre.
Before becoming CEO of Cirque du Soleil in December 2021, Stéphane Lefebvre, former Chief Vice-President Finance of CAE, joined the group in 2016 as Chief Financial Officer, before assuming the position of head of operations.
We stopped diversifying to firmly anchor ourselves in the Cirque’s DNA. I asked Michel Laprise, the very talented creator of the shows Kyrios and Drawn to Life of Las Vegas, to support me as a creative guide. He is with me full time.
Stephane Lefebvre
Cirque du Soleil also now wants to share more of the experience of shows on tour, whether in the big top or in arenas, with spectators by showing them behind the scenes or the training routines of its artists in a physical or virtual way.
Finally, Cirque du Soleil, which has mapped a directory of 450 cities around the world where it can present its large-scale shows, now wants to develop mid-size markets like Nashville or Cleveland.
“We did it with our Christmas show which takes place in theaters and which was a great success in December in Boston, Dallas, Phoenix and Detroit, and we want to exploit this option more”, explains Stéphane Lefebvre.
A record year
The CEO of Cirque du Soleil believes that the group has resumed its cruising speed in 2022, a year notably marked by the return to profitability of the group.
“We had two new favorable credit ratings during the year by Moody’s and S&P agencies, it’s a good signal from outside which confirms that we are on the right track”, notes Stéphane Lefebvre.
Cirque du Soleil now has seven permanent shows in the United States, six in Vegas and one in Orlando. The group must sell 90,000 tickets each week for its shows in Las Vegas.
” The show O begins its 20e year of performances and posted an occupancy rate of 94% in December”, specifies the CEO, satisfied.
The Cirque also has a residency show at a resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico, and will have a second this year in Nuevo Vallerta on the West Coast.
This summer we recorded a record number of ticket sales for our show Kooza in the Old Port of Montreal with 270,000 tickets sold and we are back in April with the brand new show Echowhich will be breathtaking.
Stephane Lefebvre
In addition to its permanent shows, Cirque du Soleil also presents eight touring shows, five in the big top (soon to be six with the new show Echo in Montreal) and three in the arena. The CEO flew to London on Monday evening to attend the show of Kyrios at the Royal Albert Hall, which will be on view until March.
“We have big markets in London, in Spain – in Barcelona and Madrid –, in Switzerland, everywhere it’s sold out. But it’s still North America that generates the biggest volume because of our permanent presence in Vegas, which alone generates nearly 50% of sales and profitability,” says Stéphane Lefebvre.
The other three divisions of Cirque du Soleil have also resumed their cruising speed. Blue Man Group, which offers clownish musical shows, is present in five American cities simultaneously and will undertake a tour in Japan.
The VStar Entertainment group offers two children’s shows on tour and The Works Entertainment offers magician shows that allow Cirque du Soleil to broaden its portfolio of skills with venue owners.
Cirque du Soleil is light years away from this period of more than 15 months of pandemic during which it generated no cash and relied only on a handful of lawyers and accountants who were trying to restart the machine.
Both creative and support employees have returned and the CEO is seeing a strong commitment from people who are proud to put their shoulder to the wheel to participate in this successful comeback.