Cirque du Soleil will raise its big top in the Big Apple for the first time in nearly a decade as the popular troupe continues its high-profile push to expand the brand after struggling during the pandemic, The Post has learned.
According to CEO Stephane Lefebvre, the production — called “Luzia,” based on a lucid dream of Mexico — is scheduled to run from March 5 to 30 in a temporary tent on Randall’s Island. Tickets for the 2,500-seat venue go on sale this week starting at $55.
“We haven’t been in New York since, I believe, 2016,” Lefebvre told The Post. “So it’s been a long time. It’s such an important market.”
Lefebvre helped revive Cirque after it went dark in 2020 — when it laid off all the acrobats, strongmen and trapeze artists on stages from Las Vegas to Lyon, France.
He led a group of deep-pocketed investors that included private equity firm Catalyst Group and Los Angeles Dodgers owner Todd Boehly to wrest control out of bankruptcy from co-founder Guy Laliberté and backer TPG Capital, as The Post previously reported.
“We came out of COVID a weaker organization,” Lefebvre said. “We really started the business from scratch. When you think about it, in March 2020, we had to let go almost 90% of our people. So when we restarted the business in 2021, we had to literally start from scratch and hire every performer to come back and work with us.”
Cirque — which currently has residencies at five different Vegas hotels, including its water-based show “O” at the Bellagio, as well as Orlando and Germany — is breaking even on a cash-flow basis, according to an investor report from Moody’s previously issued. March.
It has about $200 million on its balance sheet, according to Moody’s.
Last month, Cirque Group, which also owns the company behind the Blue Man Group, hired Amanda Moore-Saunders from Live Nation as the new Global Head of Marketing and Growth for its resident division.
Now, Lefebvre wants to bring Montreal-founded Cirque to the masses by adding more intimate dinner shows around the world, including Hawaii, London and New York.
It launched the concept with two permanent dinner shows in Mexico, where a full three-course dinner, drinks and show at Vidanta Riviera near Cancun costs $384, according to its website.
“We’re expanding the number of shows we have on the road and touring, as well as building a more sustainable presence,” Lefebvre said.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the performers. In August, an acrobat was seriously injured when he fell from a hoop during a performance in Portland, Ore.
“She is in rehabilitation. She is fine now and will be back on the show,” Lefebvre said.
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