Review and photos: Cirque du Soleil: OVO at Dr Pepper Arena in Frisco

by Rita Cook, Justin Press of Justin Press: Dallas Rock Music Examiner

The secret world of insects never seemed so loud, tender, or interesting.

Photo by Justin Press

On the right is OVO, the coveted egg.

FRISCO — The world of Cirque du Soleil: OVO, meaning egg in Portuguese, comes alive in a colorful ecosystem of life, as a strange egg appears in the midst of the insect’s world and they don’t know what to do. It's creative, of course. And even if it's hard to tell the flying crickets from the sexy spiders or those flexible fleas, we like it just the same.

The show is a day in the life of insects as they work, eat, crawl, flutter, and love non-stop from morning until night. The show included six red ants foot-juggling, a firefly tossing four spinning spools, two gentle butterflies dancing ballet, a contortionist, and aerial flyers, who finalized the day with a pas de deux of swooping and leaping.

Photo by Justin Press

He rides a unicycle upside-down on a tightrope!

One standout act to wow the crowd was a tour-de-force performance from a spider seemingly defying gravity as he navigated a metal wire with no apparent support. Hanging at a 45-degree angle over the ground, the final act was riding the rope on an upside-down unicycle.

The three main characters easily stole the show, especially the cute ladybug full of life and looking for love -- and she finally found it. When a foreigner entered the little bug kingdom carrying his strange egg, the female spider is no match for the diva-ish ladybug when she wants her man. Of course, the leader of the insect community, Master Flipo, kept the show alive in that French-style comedy, but it’s really the ladybug who managed to grab the show with her “larger than life” attitude.

The final scene is an extravaganza of greens and reds to the backdrop of a fusion of Brazilian and Cirque music as 20 performers, including the flexible grasshoppers, run and jump up a 24-foot wall combining the workings of a trampoline with the colorful dances of spiders and fleas. The secret world of insects surrounding us every day never seemed so loud, tender, or interesting.

Photo by Justin Press

The stage formed into a series of trampolines, where the praying mantises did endless tricks against the rock climbing wall.

With 53 performing artists from 13 countries giving OVO its breath of life, director and renowned choreographer Deborah Colker has raised the ante by adding an amazing twist to the trapeze act. Flyers, also called scarabs, pitched themselves 40 feet in the air. It was the biggest trapeze act of its kind to date for this Quebec-based group.

The only displeasure was the uncomfortable seats. The show begins at 8 p.m., and folks didn't walk back to their cars until 10:45 p.m. The evening is kid-appropriate, but only if your kid has the capacity to sit still that long. We would still suggest it for your family, or for a date night without the kids. Under the yellow and blue Grand Chapiteau, OVO is indeed trendy and different, and well worth your money.

See showtimes here.