Cirque du Soleil will return to Toronto next spring with touring show ‘Kooza’

Cirque du Soleil’s rollicking troupe of acrobats will return to Toronto next spring with the circus’s second show in as many years.

The Montreal-based company announced Tuesday that its acclaimed touring production of “Kooza” will land in the city for a 10-week run from April 7 to June 18.

The show will be presented in Cirque du Soleil’s iconic big top at the former site of the Mr. Christie factory in Etobicoke. It’s the first time Cirque du Soleil has hoisted its tent at that location, which is under redevelopment after the cookie factory closed its doors nearly a decade ago.

“Kooza,” which has played more than 4,000 performances across 22 countries, debuted in Toronto in 2007. In his four-star review in 2007, former Toronto Star theatre critic Richard Ouzounian called the show a “brightly hued spectacle that unfolds with never-ending bursts of colour.”

A tribute to the acrobatic gallantry of traditional circus, the show features high wire and teeterboard acts along with the infamous “Wheel of Death.”

“It’s the most circus of our circuses,” said Duncan Fisher, Cirque du Soleil’s vice-president of operations and general manager of the touring shows division.

The production is one of the most successful Cirque du Soleil shows in its history. Earlier this year, it broke the company’s attendance record when it returned to Montreal.

The last Cirque du Soleil show to play in Toronto was “Kurios — Cabinet of Curiosities,” which opened at Ontario Place in April. As previously reported by the Star, Cirque du Soleil said the goal was for Toronto to become a “super market” for the company, one of a select few international cities that can host a show annually.

Fisher said that continues to be the company’s intention. “There are very few cities around the world that can accommodate us every year, but Toronto is certainly one of them,” he said, adding that Cirque du Soleil has signed a multi-year deal that will see them return to the Etobicoke location in the coming years.

The circus had previously inked a contract with Ontario Place, which was to become the company’s new home in Toronto, starting with “Alegria” in 2019. However, Fisher said the extent of the planned redevelopment at the site has now made it unfeasible for the company to mount a show there.

Tickets for “Kooza” go on sale to the general public Dec. 12.

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