STAGE TUBE: Behind the Scenes of ZARKANA!

Cirque du Soleil is presenting its major new acrobatic spectacle, Zarkana, at the legendary Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Performances began Thursday, June 9, 2011 for a limited engagement through October 8, 2011. The premiere performance is June 29, 2011. Presented by iShares, Zarkana is written and directed by acclaimed film and theatre director François Girard (The Red Violin, Silk). Go behind the scenes of the spectacular with CBS News in the video!

Zarkana is an acrobatic rock opera that blends circus arts with the surreal to create a world where physical virtuosity rubs shoulders with the strange. The story follows Zark, a magician who has lost his powers - and the love of his life - in an abandoned theatre populated by a motley collection of off-the-wall characters and incomparable acrobats. He runs into the Mutants, four sirens as sinister as they are fabulous, who are determined to divert him from his quest.

Zarkana is a visual vortex set in a slightly twisted musical and acrobatic fantasy universe where, little by little, chaos and craziness give way to festivity and love regained. The diverse cast of more than 75 International Artists transports the audience into a fantastical and suspenseful world, blurring the boundaries between the real and imaginary.

Tickets range from $47 to $130 with a limited number of premium tickets available for all performances. For tickets, call 1-866-858-0008 or on-line at www.cirquedusoleil.com/zarkana. or at www.ticketmaster.com.

From a group of 20 street performers at its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil is now a major Quebec-based organization providing high-quality artistic entertainment. The company has 5,000 employees, including more than 1,500 performing artists from close to 50 different countries. Cirque du Soleil has brought wonder and delight to more than 100 million spectators in nearly 300 cities on six continents.