Review: Cirque Du Soleil's OVO at Capital One Arena

Cirque du Soleil is one of those attractions that is not easily explained because it has elements from many entertainment genres. Their shows have a very theatrical quality to them while melding circus elements in as well. At their core is fine storytelling, really good production values and dazzling circus skills. Another plus is that their shows always boast an international cast and crew. You will notice where each performer and artist come from in parenthesis throughout this review.

OVO is an older Cirque du Soleil show. It premiered in 1999 and has been going strong ever since both as a tent and arena production. It is in town through Sunday at Capital One Arena and is definitely worth your time to go see.

For those that are only familiar with Cirque du Soleil out in Las Vegas, OVO is a little less dazzling than say Mystère or Kà. There aren’t any cyclists doing stunts off of ramps or anything like that. Please don’t let that deter you though. Sometimes, good storytelling and understated aerialists make for just as good of a production.

When I was watching OVO, it just struck me how talented bugs could really be. In the land of Cirque du Soleil, they can bounce off trampolines up to the top of a high wall, slide down poles in positions my body can’t even think about and much more.

For example, the “Trampo Wall” features Oleg Kuzmin (Russia), Sergyi Rysenko (Ukraine), Wei-Liang ‘’Sky’’ Wu (China), Dmitry Fedorovskiy (Russia), Kilian Mongey (France), Christoffer Sogaard (Denmark), Mikhail Kostianov (Russia), Ramarni Levena (United Kingdom), Boris Samsonov (Russia), Wellington LIMA (Brazil), Dmitrii Nikitin (Russia), Nathanael Rivera Drydak (Canada), Nathan Shuh (Canada), and Ben Van Overberghe (Belgium) as bouncing crickets. The amount of height they reach every time they hit their trampolines is quite remarkable.

The show starts off with something known as “Chinese Poles”. Featuring Charlotte Fallu (Canada), Yann Masia (France), Jesse Harris (USA), Simon Lemire (France), and Brooke Locke (USA) as red ants slide down their poles landing in positions that will leave you asking “How?” to be sure.

I mentioned earlier that OVO has many aerialists and one of my favorites has to be “Aeriel Silk” artist Olivia Kapitany (Hungary). You can not possibly take your eyes off of her during her routine.

Another favorite for sure is the duo of Caitlin Quinn (USA), and Ernesto Lea Place (Argentina) as a pair of duo strap butterflies. The way they contort their bodies high over the stage is something to marvel at.

Lemaître Auger (Canada), and Maxime Charron (Canada) as a pair of fleas swing high atop the audience in perfectly balanced sculptural positions on the trapeze. It’s another moment where you are glued to the performers.

There are three main characters in OVO and while each character is very distinct, they all have one thing in common. Each speak this gibberish that I will call bugeeze. You have to wonder how the performers learned the script.

Robin Beer (United Kingdom) as The Voyager is a ladies man, and full of bravado. Neiva Nascimento (Brazil) is a ladybug with some attitude. As I don’t want to give the plot away, you’ll need to see the show to figure out how these two characters end up.

Gerald ‘’Gerry’’ Regitschnig (Austria) as Master Flipo is the mob boss to the bugs but he has a big heart despite his personae.

All three of these performers do very well with their characters. All of their performances are clear and concise and definitely larger than life.

Cirque du Soleil’s shows always rely heavily on music to help with the storytelling. The songs are sung by the terrific Alessandra Gonzalez (Italy/Australia) who hit notes that are as high as some of the aerialists.

The driving musical score was composed by Berna Ceppas who also serves as the show’s musical director. The music is played LIVE by a six piece band consisting of Band Leader / Oboe / English Horn / Flute: Caroline Lemay, Cello / Guitar: Giovanni Montesano (Italy), Percussion: Marco Antonio Da Luz Coelho (Brazil), Keys / Accordion: Carmine Ioanna (Italy), Violin / Guitar: Mitchell Grobb (Canada) and Banjo / Guitar: Robson Cerqueira (Brazil). The musical ensemble adds to the energy of OVO and Ceppas’ score takes off from the first nots and never looks back.

Lighting designer Eric Champoux uses lots of rich and deep colors to help tell the story to great effect.

The extravaganza was all directed, written, and choreographed by Debroah Colker. When OVO started 15 years ago, Colker was the first women to helm a Cirque du Soleil show and to say she did a fantastic job would be a huge understatement. One person can generally not do it all successfully but Colker’s vision and execution of OVO proves it can be done.

For diehard fans of Cirque du Soleil it’s something a little less spectacular than what you might be use to seeing but that doesn’t mean it’s any less wonderful. For first time viewers OVO is a perfect and more affordable way to be introduced to Cirque du Soleil before spending way more money on one of their shows in Las Vegas.

I had a good time at OVO and I’m sure you will too.

Running Time: Two hours and five minutes with one intermission.

OVO runs through September 15th, 2024, at Capital One Arena which is located at 601 F St NW, Washington, DC.

Lead photo credit: The company of Cirque du Soleil's OVO.

Photo by Max Bocanegra.

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