SALT LAKE CITY -- The circus is back in town, but it’s not the kind with lions and elephants. Cirque du Soliel brought their production of Varekai to the Maverik Center this week.
The show is one of the group’s largest, and they brought some big set pieces and talented acrobats to town. FOX 13 News got a behind the scenes look at the production ahead of its local run.
Varekai is one of the group’s 18 classic productions, but what’s unique about Varekai is that it tells a story.
"It is loosely inspired from the Greek mythology of Icarus,” said Vanessa Napoli, a publicist for Varekai. “So it starts off where he falls from the sky because he flew to close to the sun, but landed in this beautiful enchanted forest."
Beyond the amazing acrobatics, theatrical components and live music on stage--there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes.
"We have a lot of costumes, and it changes all the time because we are always rotating them in and out,” said Tanya Jacobs, the head of wardrobe for the show. “We have about 80 different looks in the show. And for the trucks, wardrobe takes up about one and a half trucks."
It’s been almost 2 years since Cirque du Soleil came to Salt Lake City, and they said this trip is overdue.
"Salt Lake is always a really good market for Cirque,” Napoli said. “It had been a while since we had come back, about two years. So it was time for us to come back and visit."
The production runs through Sunday. Click here for more details and ticketing information from the Maverik Center.
