Montréal world premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s new Big Top show Finding Utopia
Old Montreal and Old Port Summer Culture, arts and heritage
Cirque du Soleil presents the world premiere of their brand-new show Finding Utopia in Montréal’s Old Port on April 22, 2027. Finding Utopia tells the fictional tale of a troupe of surrealist artists in a fully immersive world with extraordinary acrobatics.
Cirque du Soleil’s 21st Big Top production, Finding Utopia is rooted in the company’s own history. Cirque du Soleil began in the early 1980s with Les Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul, a street-theatre troupe of stilt-walkers, jugglers and fire-breathers who roamed the streets of a small Charlevoix town and went on to change what circus could be. More than 40 years later, Finding Utopia brings that idea home to Québec: what happens when artists show up somewhere no one expected them, and everyone is changed by the meeting?
Finding Utopia’s main character Marguerite the farmer is comfortable and happy, but her predictable life is turned upside down and transformed by the arrival of a troupe of surrealist artists whose wild ideas disrupt everything she thought she knew about life.
Written and directed by Michel Laprise – who joined the Cirque du Soleil in 2000 before directing Madonna’s MDNA world tour in 2012 – Finding Utopia marks his Big Top return to the Old Port of Montréal since the premiere of his Cirque du Soleil blockbuster show Kurios in 2014.
“Ever since I did Kurios I have wanted to do another Big Top show because there’s something magical about it,” says Laprise. “The idea for this new show simmered in my head for many years. I wanted to do something about generosity and a garden of utopia where you can plant crazy ideas that grow. For me, Finding Utopia is a metaphor of Cirque du Soleil and a metaphor of the creativity that you find in Montréal.”
From sketch to stage
The show is now in rehearsal at Cirque du Soleil’s International Headquarters in Montréal, with top artists, musicians and performers recruited from around the world. “Everybody is welcome to express themselves on our stage,” says Laprise.
Finding Utopia brings together nine distinct acrobatic acts, with ensemble performances that rely on precision, trust and collective momentum. The production features disciplines never before performed under the Big Top, highlighted by a groundbreaking act that combines Icarian Games and teeterboard.
While the show was written and is directed by Laprise, the Cirque du Soleil visionary says Finding Utopia is a collaborative experience: “I write the story and basic challenges of the show, then work with my designers who nurture it. I’m the type of director who knows the name of every person working in the production. I don’t want to sound virtuous, but I know the key to the fabric of the show is not just the designer’s creativity, but all of the people who craft the show together.”
The show is currently moving into production mode. Artist training is underway with staging scheduled to begin in January 2027. In the coming weeks, the wardrobe team will begin fittings and makeup tests as the show’s costumes move from sketch to stage. Then in March 2027 the company will move to the Old Port to complete the show under the Big Top.
Cirque du Soleil’s Finding Utopia makes it world premiere under the Big Top on the Quay Jacques-Cartier in the Old Port of Montréal from April 22 to August 22, 2027. Click here to purchase tickets.
Montréal is the circus hub of North America. The city is home to the National Circus School and many circus companies such as the Cirque du Soleil. Click here to learn about the circus arts year-round in Montréal.
Richard Burnett
Richard “Bugs” Burnett is a Canadian freelance writer, editor, journalist, blogger and columnist for alt-weeklies, mainstream and LGBTQ+ publications. Bugs also knows Montréal like a drag queen knows a cosmetics counter.