With its purchase of the Blue Man Group wrapped up, Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil is now turning its attention to a largely-untapped market: China.
Headquartered in Montreal, Cirque was jointly purchased in 2015 by an American investment fund, as well as China's Fosum Capital, one of the first signs of a pivot to the Asian market for the global circus giant.
That pivot will kick-off this fall, when the company's show Kooza will begin a tour of seven cities in mainland China. The show has been presented in nearly sixty cities around the world on every continent. To date, the company says it has been seen by over 7 million.
Then, in November, Cirque will open its first-ever permament show in China, when it opens up a big-top facility in Hangzhou. The Journal de Montréal reports that the show is expected to be a big-ticket specatcle: President and CEO Daniel Lamarre told the paper the Hangzhou show will be in a specially-constructed facility, in a similar style to the company's shows in Las Vegas, in an attempt to make a big splash in a market where establishing an unknown brand there will be challenging.
It won't just be the Cirque du Soleil brand that will be new to China: that famous circus tent itself will be new for Chinese customers. "It's a fairly new experience for them, Chinese circuses are not under a big top," spokeswoman Marie-Hélène Lagacé explained to the Journal.