Kurios (Cirque du Soleil)

Kurios^[1] is a Cirque du Soleil touring production which premiered on April 24, 2014, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada under the full title of Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities. Created and directed by Michel Laprise,^[2] it looks at a late 19th-century world inventor who invents a machine that defies the laws of time, space, and dimension. As he reinvents everything around him with steampunk elements, he is joined by characters from another dimension who interact with him.^[3]

Kurios
Logo for Cirque du Soleil's Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities
Company	Cirque du Soleil
Genre	Contemporary circus
Show type	Touring show
Date of premiere	April 24, 2014 (Montreal)
Creative team
Director	Michel Laprise
Director of creation	Chantal Tremblay
Set designer	Stéphane Roy
Composers	Raphaël Beau, Bob & Bill (Guy Dubuc and Marc Lessard)
Costume designer	Philippe Guillotel
Lighting designer	Martin Labrecque
Choreographers	Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Yaman Okur
Acrobatic choreographers	Andrea Ziegler Ben Potvin Susan Gaudreau
Sound designer	Jacques Boucher Jean-Michel Caron
Makeup designer	Eleni Uranis
Acrobatic performance designers	Rob Bollinger Germain Guillemot Boris Verkhovsky
Rigging designer	Danny Zen
Production manager	Gabriel Pinkstone
Chief production officer and executive producer	Charles Joron
Creative guide	Jean-François Bouchard
Other information
Preceded by	Michael Jackson: One (2013)
Succeeded by	Joyà (2014)
Official website

Acts

Acts currently in the show include:^[4]

• Chaos synchro (synchronized dance)
• Russian cradle
• Aerial bicycle
• Contortion
• Balancing on chairs
• Rola bola
• Acro net
• Aerial straps
• Yo-yo
• Banquine

Retired acts and acts in rotation include:

• Handbalancing
• Juggling
• Aerial cart
• Chinese pole

Music

The score, composed by Raphaël Beau in collaboration with Guy Dubuc and Marc Lessard (known as Bob and Bill), fuses jazz with electro swing.

The soundtrack was released on December 9, 2014. A CD launch, "Kurios about Music", took place at the December 10, 2014, show, which included an off-stage performance by the Kurios band and an after-show party.^{[citation needed]}

Track titles

1. "11h11" (Opening)
2. "Steampunk Telegram" (Aerial Bike)
3. "Bella Donna Twist" (Chaos Synchro 1900)
4. "Gravity Levitas" (Russian Cradle)
5. "Monde inversé" (Upside Down World)
6. "Hypnotique" (Contortion)
7. "Departure" (Theater of hands/Transition into Rola Bola)
8. "Fearsome Flight" (Rola Bola)
9. "Clouds" (Acro Net)
10. "Créature de siam" (Aerial Straps Duo)
11. "Wat U No Wen" (Banquine)
12. "You Must be Joking" (Finale)

Vocalists

• Eirini Tornesaki - from April 24, 2014, to March 19, 2017^{[citation needed]}
• Sophie Guay - from March 19, 2017, to present

Critical reception

The Toronto Star praised the show and critic Richard Ouzounian, saying "Kurios is Cirque du Soleil's strongest act in years."^[5] The Gazette also declared Kurios a success, saying it was "...a classic. It runs like clockwork and could tick on forever."^[6] The Globe and Mail described it as a "kinetic, whimsical and astounding new production".^[7]

On the show's debut in San Francisco, the San Francisco Chronicle called Kurios "the best Cirque du Soleil show in a long time".^[8] The San Jose Mercury News wrote, "For its 30th anniversary, Cirque du Soleil has concocted a dark and mysterious world that eschews the brightly colored eye candy for which the French Canadian juggernaut has become famous."^[9]

Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Well, the Cirque has come roaring back with a dazzling, hyper-detailed, potent, quixotic and generally fantastic show that reveals this extraordinary artistic company's singular capacity for exploration and metamorphosis. It is not to be missed on any account. Even the music, sung by the Greek vocalist Eirini Tornesaki, is beguiling."^[10]