Cirque du Soleil presents OVO happening at the ENMAX Centre this weekend, May 24, 2022 (Photo: Cirque du Soleil)

By Drew Stremick

Cirque du Soleil ‘OVO’ to entertain audiences in Lethbridge this weekend

May 24, 2022 | 8:14 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – It’s not quite under the big top, but Cirque du Soleil’s OVO will be ready to wow audiences at the Enmax Centre this weekend.

Lethbridge is the first stop on the Canadian leg of OVO’s tour, and starting Friday, May 27, 2022, there will be five opportunities to catch the performance, including three evening shows and two matinees.

An acrobat performs a hand balancing act during OVO, May 24, 2022 (Photo: Cirque du Soleil)

OVO, which is Portuguese for “egg”, is the 25th Cirque du Soleil live production and was created for the company’s 25th anniversary in 2009.

Gerry Regitsch is from Austria and has been performing as a clown for over thirty years. In OVO, his character is Master Flipo, the chief of the insect community. Regitsch says becoming the character of Master Flipo was a challenge because he usually plays human characters, not animals or in this case, insects.

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“Well, first of all, we want to use a language everybody can understand so we’re not going to use words,” said Regitsch. “So we’re going to use, like, noises, so we have our own bug language.”

Regitsch also had to study how bugs move.

“Movements, especially movements. I don’t want to look to human, to walk like normal,” Regitsch said. “So that’s why you have to start to see how bugs are moving.”

Gerry Regitsch as Master Flipo, May 24, 2022 (Photo: Cirque du Soleil)

Studying how bugs move and sound was one of the ways the performers had to prepare for the show. Costume designers for OVO also had to study multiple types of insects in order to create costumes that helped the performers mimic insect movements, and look like them too.

Domenic Taylor is an acrobat with OVO and his act was added to the show after the tour had to stop during the COVID-19 pandemic. Taylor says, although it was difficult not being able to perform during the pandemic, the break allowed new life to be breathed into OVO.

“So now, coming back after pandemic, we decided to kind of restart, revamp,” Taylor said. “So it was adding new elements to the show. For example, my character is now done by a male, so the costume is brand new, the makeup is new, the concept is new, and then the aerial hoop act is new as well.”

Acrobats practice their performance on the Russian Cradle, May 24, 2022 (Photo: LNN)

Although the performers play a big part in making the show such a beautiful thing to watch, the other half of the production is what ensures the show can even raise the curtain.

The OVO crew consists of around 104 members – 52 performers and 52 crew members whose roles are all vital to the production.

Rigging, lighting, and automation technicians, seamstresses, massage therapists, and more all work together to make sure the show is a success.

One crew member spent 12 hours over the last two days just doing laundry. Each show has roughly 1,000 pieces of costumes, so the OVO crew has almost a dozen washing machines in order to ensure costumes are clean for each performance.

Racks of costumes air drying before the shows premiere, May 24, 2022 (Photo: LNN)

Music for the show is performed live, rather than pre-recorded, in order to keep the atmosphere during the show flowing in instances where applause and laughter may be longer or shorter.

To experience OVO for yourself, you can buy tickets on the Cirque du Soleil website.

Slack wire performance during OVO, May 24, 2022 (Photo: Cirque du Soleil)

Seamstress makes adjustments to costumes needing altering, May 24, 2022 (Photo: LNN)