Welcome to our big top full of dreams!

Premiere: May 22, 1992 Type: Touring / Bigtop Director: Roger Parent Composer: Rene Dupéré & Benoît Jutras Location: No Longer Performing

In 1992, Cirque du Soleil first visited the Land of the Rising Sun -- Japan. For the first time since Le Cirque Réinventé ventured to London to perform with Circus Knie, a Cirque du Soleil show was to be experienced outside of North America. The show was a limited engagement beginning in May of 1992 and concluding that September 1992, running exactly 118 times across nine Japanese cities. Like some of the older Cirque shows (1984/1985), Fascination! remains one of the most illusive; hopefully, we can shed a little light on such a colorful world.

Fascination is a combination of Le Cirque Réinventé (1987 - 1989) and Nouvelle Expérience (1990 - 1992), consisting of many of the acts featured in both. But that's where the likeness ends. The costumes were re-imagined and made brighter and more colorful. The casts of each were also merged, and the show itself had a different direction. The crew responsible for the show had old and new names alike.

As for theme, the show (like Le Cirque Réinventé) begins with the Prologue. Masked people - Ordinary People - dressed in their ordinary everyday clothes. They mill about, uncertain where they are. Are they dreaming? Are they still in reality? Or somewhere in between? Regardless of where they find themselves, these people begin responding to a mysterious urge deep inside of themselves, a playful urge - full of folly. Then, out of a billowing white cloud the Queen of the Night (Michelle Rawlake) and the King of Fools (Stéphane Drouard) emerges, with their child-like helpers. They wave their hands (full of magic) and transform the Ordinary People in their dull ordinary gray clothes into whimsical, colorful acrobats. Color and movement fill the air as the Transformation (the second step in the opening of Fascination) is complete - dreams and fantasy can now be played out!

Many familiar faces fill the stage as the show continues through the acts and performances. Like some of the older Cirque shows (1984/1985), Fascination remains one of the most illusive; hopefully, we can shed a little light on such a colorful world.