Cirque Du Soleil to premiere Corteo at MVP Arena

Cirque du Soleil celebrates 40 years of producing shows, Corteo to celebrate 20 years in 2025

ALBANY – After a four year hiatus, Cirque du Soleil returns to MVP Arena on April 19 and the Canadian entertainment company will return its production of Corteo.

Corteo, taken from the Italian word, “cortege”, meaning procession, was inspired by “The Grand Parade: Portrait of the Artist as Clown”, an art exhibition previously on view at the National Gallery of Canada. The production centers on the storyline of its main character Mauro, a dreamer clown who is seeing his funeral beginning at the start of the show.

At Mauro’s celebration of life, spectators will see Mauro meet his friends and family from his entire life and devour into the different memories that Mauro experienced from childhood through adulthood on the proscenium to be placed in the center of the MVP Arena performance area.

“We’re basically celebrating his (Mauro’s) life.” Olaf Triebel, artistic director of Corteo said. “It’s not a sad show and it’s not actually about the funeral. It’s more a celebration of life.”

“I would say that this one focuses on human nature, the interrelation that people have with each other and the friendships.” Michael Veilleux, senior tour director said. “And throughout this show, what we often do is play with the emotions through a high level acrobatic act or through some counting on stage.”

For Corteo, eight musicians, including two live singers, will be performing all original music compositions live on each side of the arena. The band, according to Triebel, is on the road with the cast and crew full-time.

In addition to the music, over 40 acrobats will be on stage flying through the air, tumble on the ground, and perform juggling acts. Everyone on stage will wear incredible costume pieces and in fact, over 2,700 costume pieces were used for this particular tour,Triebel said.

Cirque Du Soleil’s previous Albany appearance was in January 2020 for its production of OVO, and in 2014, it brought Dralion, to the Capital District.

The company, based in Saint-Michel, Montreal, will celebrate 40 years of producing contemporary circus acts June 16 and Corteo will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2025.

“(Corteo) will be a very different experience than a rock concert.” Olaf added.

It took two years for Corteo to be produced into a live show. Originally, Corteo was shown under a big top setting in Quito, Ecuador until December 2015 after more than 3,500 performances that were seen by more than five million people since its Montreal debut in 2005.

In 2018, Corteo reopened in New Orleans as an arena experience. The transition to reopen Corteo into an arena show took 15 weeks, Veilleux said.

“As people enter the arena bowl, they will be utterly flabbergasted by what they’re gonna see and that’s gonna be the first impression is going to be the best impression.” Veilleux added. “I think that’s gonna be standing in their minds and it’s just an amazing show.”

The entire production will be set on a proscenium, a theater stage, in the center of the arena. It will take local riggers and the Cirque du Soleil crew 12 hours to set everything up.

“This stage is actually in the center of the arena and it divides the audience into two sides.” Triebel explains. “So the audience is watching the show and the backdrop of the show is the other side of the audience. The audience gets the feeling about how the show is for artists on stage who always look into the audience you’re playing with the perspective of how the audience sees the show and that way, everybody’s much closer to the stage.”

Once the show ends, it will take three and a half hours for the crew to take the show down before the show travels to Cincinnati, Ohio after a two week vacation.

At the start of April, Corteo was showcased in Syracuse and prior to that, it was in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Veilleux is fortunate to bring Corteo to different cities and tour the city where the production will be showcased, including Albany.

“It’s a fantastic thing. It’s always great to come back to a city that you haven’t seen in years.” Veilleux said. “So it’s been a while for me in Albany so I can’t really remember off the top of my head, but obviously when you get there, you’re like, oh yeah, sure, I remember this, I remember that.”

Corteo will be seen in 42 cities a year. For Olaf, bringing Corteo to an arena instead of having it be seen under a big top is a great opportunity for people to get closer to the shows.

“We actually sell a meet and greet, often once or twice a week, we see the fans directly and they have the opportunity to interact with the artists and technicians, and you get some really great questions and a lot of love is shared there because they just saw the show.” Veilleux said. Veilleux calls Corteo a timeless show.

“When you talk about human emotions and all that, that’s what resonates with people and that’s why the word of mouth is so good.” Veilleux said. “The show really encourages people to come back and we’re very lucky.”

Corteo by Cirque du Soleil won Pollstar’s family, event, or non-music tour of the year on Feb. 8 and Olaf said, the show is the most theatrical Cirque du Soleil show to date and there is something for everyone to take from the production.

“If you’re a music fan, we go from classical music to rock music, if you are into costumes, they are absolutely stunning to see all those different pieces coming together.” Triebel concluded. Corteo will premiere Friday, April 19, 7:30 p.m. The production will include three additional showings Saturday, April 20 at 11:30 a.m, 3:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m., and its final showing Sunday, April 21, 1 p.m. Tickets can be purchased for the show at www.cirquedusoleil.com.

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