Cirque Du Soleil’s show Kooza returned to London today – two years after its last five-week residency at the Royal Albert Hall. This time it’s back until 8 February. It won’t be back again as it is being retired after its next stop in Switzerland.

As it tours, Kooza is not able to do what Cirque’s Vegas shows can and show off with big-budget installations – like the zillion-gallon water tank for O.  Kooza has always been a tourer, never staying put longer than about three months in one location. It tours with a huge big top – except for indoor residencies such as the Royal Albert Hall. After premiering in Montreal (home of Cirque Du Soleil) in April 2007, it then spent three and a half years touring North America. It then moved to Japan for eighteen months – but the crew had to be evacuated to Macau when the earthquake and tsunami hit.

Kooza

After returning to the US for 6 months, Kooza moved to Europe at the beginning of 2013, where it has remained ever since. Many of the cast remain with the production for years – lead singer Tara Baswani, for example, joined in April 2007 and only left in January 2013… that’s nearly six years!

Kooza is a stunning show. I first saw it in California in 2009. The highlight is, undoubtedly, El Penudulo De La Muerte – the wheel of death.

El Pendulo De La Muerte – Kooza Wheel Of Death

It elicited from the audience the most thrilled reaction I have ever experienced in any theatre, opera or circus. At one moment in the act, the entire audience audibly gasped – which is clearly audible, even over the loud music, in youtube videos of the act. But watching it on youtube doesn’t do it justice (and may not be legal anyway!) – see this thrilling act in London in the next few weeks.

Kooza‘s return to London is a good time to raise the question of why there isn’t a permanent London Cirque Du Soleil show. The simple answer is – that there is no simple answer. Click to read more.

Photo Credit: Kooza logo Wikimedia from Cirque Du Soleil

Wheel of Death: Huffington Post from Cirque Du Solei