Cirque Du Soleil: Drawn to Life

So, a few Fridays ago I went to one of the best shows of my life. This was the first Cirque show I had ever been to. Cirque Du Soleil: Drawn to Life. For those who don’t know, this show is in Disney Springs. This show is the first of its kind, debuting on November 18, 2021, and performed in the custom-built white theater. This collaborative project is between Cirque Du Soleil, Walt Disney Imagineering, and Walt Disney Animation Studios. I highly recommend it. My jaw was on the floor the entire time! There will be some spoilers ahead, but I won’t give away the whole show in case you want to see it for yourself. Reading is nothing compared to seeing!

Let’s get right into it, we start off with a preshow. We meet our four mainstay characters who will pop in and out throughout the show. They select a few lucky children in the audience to come up and draw a picture. While they are drawing a few more characters are seen on stage. We are introduced to the band which has a fantastic opera singer, violinist, and drummer, also an actual hand puppet suit with legs (which is a tad creepy but don’t think about it too much), as well as our main character (who's asleep), her little pillow friend, and oozes with humor. This is a very funny and sweet pre-show and ends with the cast showing off these kids’ amazing drawings up on the big screen. The theater erupts with thunderous applause, and the kids are guided off stage. I would say that this pre-show lasts about 15 minutes and before the show starts, they remind you to “turn off your cellphones, no flash photography, and no videoing.” Whoops, I was recording the entire pre-show, maybe that’s why I got “rubber band” fake snapped at me…

Any who, here’s where the mind-blowing, awe striking, at times terrifying fun begins! We learn about a daughter who has sadly lost her father. Her father has left to her his last animation project. He was never able to complete it. It’s a flipbook style, that she quickly begins drawing on. But nothing seems good enough, enters Miss Hesitation, the villain of our story. And so, our crazy ride begins! Warning: Word vomit about to ensue. (Definitely not in order of appearance.)

First performers that absolutely blew my mind, were The Lion King themed acrobats. These two individuals were astounding. One lay on his back with his feet in the air, while the other proceeded to backflip numerous times. He did this in quick succession and multiple times! He would also proceed to twist like a pretzel in the air and land “safely” on the man’s feet below him! I mean his body on the bottoms of another human’s feet!

Then came the drawn art come to life! They had an inflatable mat that unfolded beautifully allowing them to bounce to perform these flips and tricks in perfect synchronicity. They truly did look like an animator’s dream come true as they also reenacted different Disney cartoons. From Goofy playing baseball to Donald being angry (as always) to Steamboat Wille. All the while, there was page like theming wisping around the top of the stage, as the scenes played, it added to the whimsy!

Don’t even get me started on the unicyclists! One foot pedaling to no foot pedaling to standing on their seats, in an arabesque position. Creating a bridge look as they held hands, supporting one another. It felt like a combination between ice skating and ballet all a top their one wheeled vehicle. The image of beauty and grace as they flitted around in their blue, glittery fairy costumes.

Now Miss Hesitation had two forms of villains her trash can villains, used for the main characters “bad ideas” and her villain, villains (yep, couldn’t put it any better than that.) The trash can men were hilarious, little puppets running around with trash cans on their backs. But the villain, villains, performing death/gravity defying acts. Four performers are on the inside of a spinning wheel, they use their momentum to keep it spinning. The part that made me cover my eyes was, as the music intensifies, they begin stepping out of the safety of the inner platform and stand on the outer platform. They even brought jump ropes! There are no wires and no nets. Literally no safety as jump rope, jump, and walk on this spinning wheel. All I can say is, “don’t prick your finger on the spinning wheel.”

Now I don’t want to spoil everything, there is so much more to this show. The cowboy, horse, and violinist, the paint brush duo, the wife and husband dance, and much more! And of course, to remember this spectacular occasion, you can get a souvenir popcorn bucket with bluish green popcorn inside.

I hope you see it for yourself and experience these talented, incredible performers that make this show pure magic! Until next time.

Fun fact: Cirque Du Soleil means Circles of the Sun in French. Oui!