There’s one point in Cirque du Soliel’s new production, Luzia, where a staggering mountain of water cascading from the ceiling begins to hiss and stutter.
The stream breaks and the impressive indoor waterfall begins cutting figures and symbols into the air. It’s amongst the most beautiful things I’ve seen this year, set against the soft spotlights of the Entertainment Quarter’s Big Top in Sydney.
A massive tropical downpour is just one of two new innovations the paradigm-shifting entertainment company has created for its new travelling production. Resting in Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter for the time being, Luzia presents Cirque du Soliel as you’ve never seen it before, splayed as a dazzling fever dream with wild costumes and high-flying theatrics. Lifted by Eugenio Caballero’s stunning set pieces which play with rich layers of Mexican culture, traditions and folklore.
Luzia’s story is hard to piece apart. It starts with little fanfare as the audience take their seats in the semi-circular set up under the Big Top. A beautiful circular maze of bright yellow cempasuchils (a reference to Dia de los Muertos) sits around a large circular, sun-like backdrop while dancers in elaborate bird costumes dance around the bright field of flowers. A lone musician sits nonchalantly at the centre of all that spectacle, strumming out the dulcet sounds of flamenco.
This preamble is, unsurprisingly, the calmest part of the show, which often follows that typical Vegas cadence of acts starting small and continually building into epic performances.
Once it starts, we find Eric Koller seemingly falling into the middle of a Mexican dreamscape.
The charismatic performer is our signature clown for the evening—a large, charming on-stage presence that gets over well with the audience via Mr Bean-esque slapstick humour. He finds a comically large bronze key in the middle of the stage that, once spun, unlocks a dazzling display of nonstop action from all sorts of acrobatic performers including hoop divers, jugglers, contortionists, aerialists and trapeze artists.
These performances are Cirque standards but writer-director Daniele Finzi Pasca pulls them in new directions with his wildly imaginative takes on vibrant Mexican folklore, and the eccentric costumes that come with it.
The stage is mostly taken up by an oversized treadmill (the second innovation) for the first few acts, adding the dimension of constant movement to make the typical hoop-jumping antics infinitely more impressive. Performers constantly one-up their own movements by using the treadmill in daring ways, even while it changes orientation.
Though the treadmill is only used briefly, it’s one of the most impressive set inclusions I’ve see at a Cirque du Soliel show, especially given Sydney’s smaller capacity compared to the wild west of Las Vegas. I do hope they use it more.
Thankfully, the rain curtain is used far more extensively and is the one element that will go on to not only define LUZIA, but once again draw attention to the fact that this 40-year-old entertainment company is still finding creative ways to keep things feeling fresh and exciting.
Performer Jérome Sordillon steals the show, paying homage to ancient rain dances as he flies through the rain curtain on Aerial Straps. A puppet cheetah dances beneath him, drinking from the “lake” as Sordillon lowers into the water, splashing patterns to create incredible visuals.
The puppetry, handled with equal parts playfulness and precision by Gerardo Ballester Franzoni and Andrii Lytvak, is another strong element to the 90-minute performance and helps build that immersion into surrealistic Mexican folklore. Yet it plays second fiddle the Caballero’s subtle (and not-so-subtle) set design, which at its most impressive centres around a large rotating disk symbolising the sun and the moon.
Once the expected (and well-deserved) standing ovation fills the Big Top with applause, you get a sense that LUZIA will be remembered for years to come as one of Cirque du Soliel’s wildest Australian productions. The company is celebrating 25 years touring the country this year, so this feels like an appropriately grand milestone.
Cirque du Soliel: Luzia plays at the Big Top in Entertainment Quarter through to February 9, 2025. Photos by Matt Beard.
How long is Cirque du Soliel: Luzia?
Luzia is a 100 minute performance broken up by a 25-minute intermission. If you see the 5pm show, for example, you should be out by 7:15pm.
How much are tickets to see Cirque du Soliel: Luzia
Tickets to see Cirque du Soliel’s Luzia start from $80-$90 with the option to pay more for the VIP experience.
What is included in the VIP Experience?
Cirque du Soliel’s Luzia offers two VIP add-on options. The standard VIP experience includes premium tickets, access to a dedicated bar with appetisers before the show and during intermission, a photo opportunity with performers, access to private bathrooms and an outdoor terrace, private shopping and a dedicated entrance.
There’s a booth just before you enter where you can upgrade your standard ticket with a VIP add-on before the show.
The top-tier VIP option gives you a behind the scene experience with meet and greets with a tour member, a Q&A session, a site tour, backstage visits with insights into life on tour and photo sessions with artists after the show.
Cirque du Soliel: Luzia
Where: Under the Big Top; 122 Lang Rd, Moore Park NSW 2021
When: Until February 9, 2025
Price: From $80
