CORNWALL, Ontario – There is a lot of mystery in the lead up to Cirque du Soleil’s new show AXEL, which will be performed for the first time ever before a public audience on Friday, Oct. 4.
The Cirque du Soleil crew will be moving into the Cornwall Civic Complex on Sept. 15. Janice Robinson, Facility Rental Coordinator with the City of Cornwall said on the day that they move in, the building will be blacked out to help preserve the show’s secrecy.
“Every meeting room in the building will be used by Cirque for one of their different departments,” she said. “They make everything from scratch from the music to the sets. They will be bringing in 100,000 pounds of rigging into the ceiling.”
Cirque will be bringing 150 employees into Cornwall for the show, and they will be rehearsing for 21 days.
“Having this in our backyard is pretty amazing,” said Robinson. “They will be staying in Cornwall at the Nav Centre and they will be out eating and shopping locally.”
Robinson explained that Cornwall’s central location along the Hwy 401 corridor was very attractive to the Cirque du Soleil team.
“They don’t usually run shows in smaller venues, but because we are so close to their head office, it really helps them (Cirque) with costs,” said Robinson.
While Cirque du Soleil prepares the Cornwall Civic Complex for AXEL, the Cornwall Colts hockey team will be displaced to the Benson Centre for their practices and will be playing away games during Cirque’s stay in Cornwall.
Tickets went on sale to the general public on Friday, May 31. Out of the 3,000 tickets available for each night, there are less than 600 remaining for the Oct. 4 show and less than 700 left for the Oct. 5 show.
